Career Ending Football Injuries

Bo Jackson

On January 13, 1991 Jackson was tackled by Kevin Walker of the Cincinnati Bengals and incurred a life changing hip injury. Bo, who was not only an allstar running back but also an all star left fielder for the Kansas City Royals, had his football carreer ended with that one tackle and it was speculated that he would be unable to return to professional sports altogether.

Jackson actually played shortly for a minor league Basketball team in Los Angeles and returned to play professional baseball for the Chicago Whitesox. On his first pitch back he hit a home run but, although his batting was still up to par, he could never get back his speed on his feet. He eventually retired from baseball as well.

The trainer for the Raiders has been quoted as saying the following of Bo’s hip injury, “Bo says he felt his hip come out of the socket, so he popped it back in, but that’s just impossible, no one’s that strong.”

Mike Utley

Utley was a starter but, playing a position as a right guard, he wasn’t the most well known player in the league, or even on his team. On November 17, 1991 in a game against the LA Rams, he suffered an injury to his sixth and seventh cervical vertebrae resulting in paralysis.

Utley gave the crowd a “thumbs up” as he was being transported off of the field. That spontaneous symbol of positivity turned Utley into an icon for perseverance. He later started a foundation hell-bent on seeking out a cure for paralysis.

Chris Spielman

Spielman was a 10 yr veteran and repeated 4-time Pro-Bowler when he retired in 1999. He was playing for the Cleveland Browns in an exhibition game when he collided with Chicago Bears center Casey Wiegmann and injured his neck.

He had already gone through neck fusion surgery only 2 years earlier for a prior injury and temporarily lost some feeling in his body when he was hit again. He reluctantly had to accept that his career was over because he had a family to think about, but he refused to be carried off of the field.

This is such a legendary sports moment that both Theisman and Taylor actually signed this photo of his leg being cracked in half.

Sterling Sharpe

Sterling’s football career ending in 1994 after a neck injury that affected the top two vertebrae on his neck. The damage was caused on a blocking play in which his head snapped back, but was later worsened in a following game. He was forced to retire from fear of future paralysis. In 1996, the Packers got their Super Bowl rings and Sharpe wasn’t there to receive one.

Sharpe was a franchise player and go to guy for QB Brett Farve when he retired. He was a 5 time MVP and his early retirement is still a sore subject in the Wisconsin area, but not quite as sore as if you bring up Farve’s Vicodin addiction.

Troy Aikman

Apparently someone felt that this moment was memorable enough to sculpt a statue for it.

Aikman had multiple Super Bowl rings, various accolades and awards, and even more concussions. His 10th and final concussion came at the hands of Washington Redskins linebacker LaVar Arrington on December 10th, 2000 and it ended his career

Steve Young

I think this image here really says it all. The sack that is responsible for this aftermath was delivered by Arizona Cardinals cornerback Aeneas Williams during a Monday Night Football game in 1999.

Young had received multiple concussions over the years but this one proved to be an incredibly vicious final straw. Steve displayed symptoms of post concussion syndrome and had to end his fruitful career.

Young is a strong supporter of overturning Proposition 8 according to political signs all over his property. The reason this is so shocking is because he is a high profile member of the Mormon Church. Maybe all those concussions knocked the Joseph Smith out of him.

Joe Theisman

Growing up, every time that Joe Theisman would appear on television, usually as a commentator, my older brother would make a comment about Lawrence Taylor breaking his leg in half.

The career ending hit from Lawrence Taylor, which resulted in a multi-fragmentary compound fracture, occurred during a Monday Night Football game between Theisman’s Washington Redskins and the New York Giants on November 18, 1985

Michale Irvin

“I stopped smoking crack for this?!”

When Michael Irvin caught his 750th catch and tied with Charlie Joiner for the all-time most catches in the NFL, it was bitter sweet.

As the receiver laid motionless while temporarily paralyzed by a herniated disc, the heartless Eagles fans of Veterans Stadium booed and mocked him. Tests later discovered that Irvin had actually been born with a narrow spinal cord which left him vulnerable to much more serious damage. He had played football for years, never aware of the risk that he faced on a daily basis. Due to his situation he was forced to retire.