Disturbing Discoveries Found In Famous Athlete Autopsy Reports

Mike Webster was the center for the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970s, including the '75 Steelers team, but there was no coaching position, charity events, or broadcasting jobs in his future. According to The Atlantic, his post-retirement years were spent dealing with behavior that got increasingly erratic. He would threaten to kill strangers he met on the street, wander through the city and sleep where he fell, and when he couldn't sleep? He would use a taser on himself until he was shocked unconscious. And then — at the young age of 50 — he died.

It was a pathologist named Bennet Omalu who examined his brain, and he was looking for dementia pugilistica. That's what it sounds like, a type of severe dementia that was usually diagnosed in boxers that had suffered major head trauma. Omalu suspected that Webster's bizarre behavior was caused by this early onset dementia which had, in turn, been caused by repeated head trauma. Webster, after all, even held the record for most games played by a single Steeler: 220.

Omalu was so certain that he spent thousands of his own dollars to run a series of tests on Webster's brain, and found what he was looking for. So-called "neurofibrillary tangles" are protein build-ups that interfere with things like emotions, mood, and day-to-day functioning, and ESPN investigative reporter Mark Fainaru-Wada would go on to call the autopsy — proof it wasn't just boxers who were susceptible — "one of the most significant moments in the history of sports" (via NPR).

ESPN says that when Korey Stringer died, he was one of the best offensive linemen in the NFL. He was also extraordinarily well-liked by his teammates, and on the 20th anniversary of his death, former teammate Todd Steussie had this to say: "He was the guy who made you feel like you were his best friend."

Stringer died on Aug. 1, 2001, and it was unclear what had happened. Theories included things like complications from an injury or an undetected genetic condition, but when the autopsy results came back, it was even more heartbreaking — and, it should have been completely preventable. The New York Times reported that the official cause of death was "multiple organ failure due to heatstroke." The 27-year-old lineman had collapsed after leaving the practice field on a 99-degree day, and at the time, the potential for heatstroke was one that wasn't really at the forefront of sports medicine.

Stringer's widow, Kelci, has since partnered with other organizations — like Gatorade and the University of Connecticut — to found the Korey Stringer Institute. They're credited with kickstarting a complete overhaul of procedures both on and off the field, helping to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to other athletes. Stringer's brother, Kevin, summed it up like this: "Any time there is a major change in how society does things, it's typically because somebody died or got hurt in some way, shape, or form. I guess Korey's death was my family's turn to pay that cost."

Agnes Tirop may not have been a household name globally, but in Kenya, she was the woman to watch. She headed to the Tokyo Olympics, won world championships for long-distance running, and broke world records in her sport. Then, says DW, she was murdered. The BBC reported that she was killed in 2021 just a month after breaking a 10km road race record, and that her husband, Ibrahim Rotich, was almost immediately arrested as he tried to flee the country.

It wasn't until the completion of the autopsy that authorities realized just how gruesome her death had been. The final cause of death was a series of stab wounds in her neck, with The Standard noting that precise details weren't being released at the time. They did, however, add that she had also been bludgeoned, and sustained head injuries from blunt force trauma.

Reuters later reported that the brutality of Tirop's murder — along with the rape and murder of a 17-year-old student — was being used by activists to shine a light on a staggering statistic: About half of Kenyan women will be subjected to a gender-based attack during their lives, and a third of girls will be sexually assaulted before turning 18. The findings spurred the creation of the Agnes Tirop Conference, which Inside the Games says is working to promote inclusivity and safety for all athletes.

In 2021, news of another shooting hit the headlines, but this one was a little different. According to NBC News, the gunman was identified pretty quickly as ex-NFL cornerback Philip Adams. Reports said that he had shot and killed 70-year-old Dr. Robert Lesslie, his wife Barbara, grandchildren Adah and Noah, and a workman who had been at the home. Another man was wounded, and then, Adams turned the gun on himself.

The initial report mentioned that there had been suspicious that Adams — who had played in 78 NFL games — had suffered concussion-related brain injuries, but it wasn't until the results of his autopsy were released in December of the same year that the Boston University CTE Center confirmed (via NBC) yes, they found he had been suffering from Stage 2 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Stage 2 CTE is associated with things like aggression, paranoia, anxiety, and violent mood swings, and experts reported that most of the NFL players who have died then been diagnosed with CTE are in stage 2. They also said that his case was a little different, in that the worst of the damage was seen in the frontal lobes of his brain. That, says Healthline, is the part of the brain that governs things like memory, voluntary movement, impulse control, organization, motivations, judgment, and personality. Dr. Ann McKee explained: "We have ... seen homicidal behavior in individuals diagnosed with CTE. ... It is in fact, not what I would consider unusual in this disease."

In 2000, the Independent did a piece on just how grueling the Tour de France is, and how many cyclists turn to performance-enhancing drugs. It had been happening for a long time, and interviews suggest doping had been a problem way back to the turn of the 20th century. The race's history is littered with sordid tales; fast forward to 1967, and you'll get the death of a British cyclist named Tom Simpson.

The BBC says that he was the first Brit to make a name for himself in the world of European cycling. He was a big deal, but all his accomplishments were put in a different light after his death. That came 13 days into the Tour de France and 6,000 feet up the side of Mt. Ventoux: Simpson collapsed as he rode, was helped back on his bike, collapsed again, and died at a nearby hospital.

Simpson's autopsy revealed that it wasn't just the extreme heat that played a role in his death, but the amphetamines he'd been taking, too. The following investigation turned up more pills in his gear, and a retrospective in Cyclist called his death "a wake-up call for cycling's ethical issues."

There's a "but" here: When Simpson's daughter tried to confirm the autopsy findings, she couldn't. Originals were destroyed in the 1990s, and the family has never had or seen copies. Still, little changed in the following years: The New York Times reported on another big doping scandal in 2021.

Sometimes, autopsies can't give definite answers, and the findings still leave a lot to be desired, as far as reasons go. In 1963, defending featherweight Davey Moore squared off against Sugar Ramos. In the 10th round, Moore went down against the ropes and died 75 hours later. According to the Los Angeles Review of Books, that kicked off a massive movement to end boxing forever — but that was of undoubtedly small concern to the wife and five children Moore left behind.

While so many were so quick to condemn the barbarism of boxing, neurosurgeons in Los Angeles not only conducted an autopsy that suggested swelling of his brain had been the cause of death, but The Guardian says that the combination of the autopsy and close review of the fight footage revealed that the trauma hadn't come from not his opponent's fist, but a bad fall where he hit the ropes on the base of his skull, leaving a bruise that turned deadly.

Moore's death was used by everyone up to and including Pope John XXIII, and the condemnation went far and wide. But Time says the team who examined him called it a "one-in-a-million accident — something that could happen on your front porch if you fell down." And that's even more terrifying.