The Most Devastating Sports Accidents In History

Goalie Clint Malarchuk played in the NHL for 11 seasons and has coached for several major and minor league teams. But despite everything else he has done in the sport, he will always be best known for surviving one of the most horrifying sports accidents ever aired on television. It happened on March 22, 1989. Malarchuk was in net for the Buffalo Sabres when St. Louis Blues player Steve Tuttle crashed into him. Tuttle's skate flipped up and slashed Malarchuk's throat wide open, severing his carotid artery (via ESPN).

Malarchuk collapsed and was only saved by the quick thinking of the team trainer, Jim Pizzutelli, who happened to be a former Army medic who had served in the Vietnam War. Drawing on his combat experience, Pizzutelli managed to stabilize Malarchuk long enough to get him to the hospital. He only missed a handful of games before returning to the ice.

Professional stock car racer Mike Harmon has competed in more than 250 races over the course of his career. But he will always be remembered for a terrifying incident that didn't even happen in the race. Instead, it was during a practice session at Bristol Motor Speedway in August 2002 when Harmon crashed into the track's entry gate (via ESPN). The gate swung open, and Harmon's car hit the exposed corner of the wall head-on. The car literally split in half, right down the middle.

Even worse — yes, amazingly, it gets worse — the remnants of the car were then obliterated by the car of Johnny Sauter, who had been racing right behind Harmon. Luckily, Sauter hit the half of the car that Harmon wasn't in. Through a combination of that and some other incredible miracle, Harmon wasn't even injured and walked away from the crash completely unharmed. Talk about luck!

Kevin Pearce was one of the biggest, brightest stars on the professional snowboarding circuit. At the 2008 X-Games, he became the first athlete in X-Games history to win three medals in a single day, bagging awards in the SuperPipe, Slopestyle, and Big Air competitions. But his rising star was suddenly eclipsed on December 31, 2009. 

While training for the 2010 Winter Olympics, Pearce attempted a difficult maneuver called the cab double cork. It went terribly wrong, and he smashed his head directly into the half-pipe (via The Telegraph). He was airlifted to a hospital with massive brain trauma, which he somehow survived, though he would spend the next six months in the hospital. In 2010, he bravely returned to snowboarding, but only recreationally — his career was officially ended by the accident that he was lucky to survive. According to Today, he has found new passions in things like meditation, yoga, and philanthropy.

Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison were one of Canada's top up-and-coming pair skaters when they entered the Four Continents Ice Skating Championship in Colorado Springs in 2007. Just the year prior, they placed in the Top 10 of the World Figure Skating Championships, per CNN. Dube and Davison were also a dynamic duo who, although speaking different languages, were of the same mind and always in sync. But that chemistry broke for a crucial moment during their routine when Davison and Dube launched into a side-by-side flying camel, which involves extending a leg while spinning, per The Denver Post. Spinning somewhere between 40 to 60 mph, Davison's blade came too close to his partner on his third revolution, slicing Dube in the face.

Dube fell as blood spilled onto the ice. She was given morphine and rushed to a nearby hospital, where the laceration cut into her cheek and nose and required surgery. She was given 80 stitches, and both she and Davison underwent post-traumatic stress counseling. Davison said he knew they were getting too close right before it happened, and he dealt with immense guilt in the aftermath. The injury could've been worse, either by hitting her eye or her jugular vein, per CNN. But only 10 days after the accident, the pair returned to skating and placed seventh in that year's World Championships. The two went on to have fruitful careers and received a bronze medal at the 2008 competition, per The Globe and Mail.

Ideally, Napoleon McCallum should be remembered for taking time off from the NFL to serve his time for the U.S. Navy, where he was also as a star running back for its football team prior to his professional career. But one footnote in his career ended up epitomizing how brutal the sport could be. Four years after returning from service, McCallum played the 1994 season opener with the team that drafted him, the Los Angeles Raiders. The group was on the road, and their opponents were the San Francisco 49ers. In a play that changed his life, he was tackled by Ken Norton Jr. The hard-to-watch video of the injury shows Norton landing on McCallum's leg, causing it to bend in the wrong direction. His left knee was hyperextended, leaving a ruptured artery, three torn ligaments, and nerve damage. His calf and hamstring muscles were cleaned off the bone.

Even with the grotesque injury, McCallum had hope for recovery and a return to the field. But his doctor dampened those hopes, telling him that his career was effectively over. What's more, the fate of McCallum's leg depended on a successful surgery. If it didn't go well, his leg could get amputated. Thankfully, the surgery went well, although there were six in total, not counting the physical therapy, per Sportscasting. Although football ended for McCallum, he kept active after his recovery by running, cycling, swimming, and playing basketball, per the Los Angeles Times. He also didn't blame anyone and didn't think it was a vicious play. 

Montreal Canadiens forward Trent McCleary was seconds away from death after a slapshot stuck a hockey puck into his neck. It was January 29, 2000, when McCleary put himself in between Philadelphia Flyers defenseman Chris Terrien and Canadiens goaltender Jeff Hackett. At first, McCleary thought the puck would hit his shin guard, but then he realized how high it was flying. Before he knew it, it hit his throat. He lay on the ice, spitting up large amounts of blood, per CBC. He couldn't breathe, which confused him, but he was able to stand up and skate to his bench. Moments later, he lost consciousness. It turned out McCleary had a fractured larynx and a collapsed lung. He required an emergency tracheotomy while still wearing his hockey gear and skates, and for 24 hours, he was in critical condition, per the Los Angeles Times. For a while, he couldn't speak. 

McCleary, who suffered two other major injuries in his career, tried to make a comeback, but his oxygen supply never recovered. He began a second career as a financial advisor and now coaches a bantam hockey team on the side. McCleary believes that the puck hit him in the unluckiest spot possible — where it would do the most damage — but he still doesn't regret his block and has gone so far to say that he would do it again if he could. The career-ending injury that nearly killed him also defined him, as he identifies with the moniker, "the shot," per CBC.

In a frightening, worst-case scenario, swimmer Anita Alvarez fainted underwater during a solo free routine on June 22, 2022. Alvarez was competing in the World Aquatic Championships in Budapest, Hungary when she started sinking to the bottom of the pool. Her coach, Andrea Fuentes, dove in and rescued her immediately. Fuentes was on top of the situation, having noticed that Alvarez's feet were paler than usual earlier that day, per CNN. It was also the second time she rescued her — the first happened during an Olympic qualification event. Alvarez was carried off in a stretcher, but a medical test conducted later showed that she was in good health. Alvarez said the last thing she remembered was not feeling well before fainting, per Fox News. But she shouldn't have felt too down about the situation — her mother thought it was her best performance ever. Besides the fainting, of course.

It might sound counterintuitive, but fainting in pools isn't completely abnormal for artistic swimmers. They're expected to hold their breath for stretches of time with the goal of improving their lung capacity, per CNN. Still, the situation was dangerous, so it was impressive when Alvarez expressed hopes of competing two days later after doctors gave her the clearance. In the end, she was sidelined, per the New York Post.