Famous Athletes Convicted of Homicide By SportsYeah  [95 more lists]

Craig MacTavish has been many things during his long hockey career including a 19-year veteran in the NHL, a Stanley Cup winner with the New York Rangers, a coach for the Edmonton Oilers and unfortunately also someone convicted of vehicular homicide. MacT as he's known served prison time in the early 1980s after he killed a 26-year-old woman during an alcohol-induced car crash. The NHL was forgiving of his fault and he returned to the league soon after his prison release.

Former boxer Dale Crowe is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence for involuntary manslaughter, aggravated robbery and engaging in corrupt acts. Crowe was arrested in Ohio in 2006 after skeletal remains of 23-year-old Frank Banam were found in a trash bin. In 2002, Banam and Crowe allegedly got into an argument which ended with Crowe beating and strangling Banam. Crowe, who spends his days in the Warren Correctional Institution in Lebanon, Ohio, has a scheduled release date for 2026.

Once a promising football player with the UCLA Bruins and the Los Angeles Rams, Darryl Henley found himself in a heap of legal trouble starting in 1995. Henley was convicted of drug trafficking and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He apparently was not too pleased with that verdict as he allegedly hired a hitman to take out the judge and a key witness on the case. That earned him another 21 years to his sentence.

National Football League wide receiver Donte Stallworth had a notable football career with the Tennessee Volunteers and several teams in the NFL before he earned a season-long suspension for off-the-field troubles. In the early morning hours of March 14, 2009, Stallworth was driving a Bentley coupe in Miami Beach, Florida, when he hit and killed a pedestrian. Though he'd slept since last drinking, he was still legally drunk at the time of the accident, which led to DUI and second degree manslaughter charges. He served 30 days in jail, performed 1,000 ours of community service and paid a financial settlement to the victim's family. He returned to the NFL for the 2010 season.

Cornerback Dwayne Goodrich went from earning the Defensive MVP honors in the NCAA Football National Championship Game with the Tennessee Volunteers in 1998 to serving eight years in prison for criminally negligent homicide. Goodrich, who also played in the NFL for the Dallas Cowboys, was involved in a hit-and-run accident in 2003 that killed two people. He was fined $20,000 and sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison, a term that was later extended by five years. He was released in October 2011 after serving eight years.

Esteban De Jesus was a lightweight boxer who held the WBC Lightweight Championship title from 1976 to 1978. In 1981, De Jesus made headlines for another reason, that he killed a 17-year-old over a traffic dispute in Puerto Rico. He went to prison where he played baseball, became a preacher and acquired AIDS. At the age of 37, De Jesus received a pardon and was released, however he died one month later.

Soviet boxer Evangelos Goussis saw a great deal of success early in his career including winning the World Kickboxing Association middleweight title in the early 1990s. Later in the decade, Goussis was connected with the Melbourne gangland killings which claimed 36 lives of a 12-year span. Goussis was convicted of two murders and under investigation for a third, earning a life sentence with a minimum of 30 years behind bars before he is eligible for parole.

F*tatsuryu Jun'ichi takes the title as the only sumo wrestler to make this list for athletes convicted of murder. After his wrestling career, Jun'ichi took a coaching job with the Tokitsukaze stable, a position he lost in 2007 after a tragic hazing scandal lead to a death. Junior wrestler Takashi Saito collapsed and died after being struck in the head with a beer bottle and beaten for 20 minutes. Jun'ichi failed to give Saito medical attention after the incident, which led to the death. As a result, Jun'ichi was charged with accidental mortality and jailed for six years. He attempted to appeal the ruling but it was denied.

For former soccer player Gavin Grant, the legal problems came at the very beginning of his professional career and followed him until they ended his career abruptly. In 2005, right when Grant first signed with his first pro team, Grant was accused of murder, a charge that was later dismissed. In 2010 however he was found guilty of a separate murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Super welterweight boxer Harry Simon had nearly as many run-ins with the law as he did comebacks during his career which spanned from 1994 to the present. After winning the WBO Light Middleweight Title and WBO Middleweight Title, Simon was involved in two separate car crashes that killed a total of five people. He was convicted of culpable homicide in 2005 but was able to return to the ring while he appealed the ruling. In 2007, after his appeal was denied, Simon went to prison for two years, after which he returned to professional boxing once again.

Japanese baseball pitcher Hiroshi Ogawa was highly touted in Nippon Professional Baseball. That all changed in 2004 when he was charged with the murder of a 67-year-old woman. According to reports, Ogawa murdered the woman, who was a housekeeper for the chairman of company for which he worked, as well as stole 1.75 million yen (over $22,000) from the chairman after the housekeeper refused to loan him the cash and a struggle resulted. Ogawa was given a life sentence in prison for the crimes.

Better known for his time in the minors, Jim Mahady played just a single game in MLB, for the New York Giants in 1921. He was also known for his conviction on charges of second-degree manslaughter after he killed a woman in a drunk driving incident. Mahady was sentenced to 6-12 years in prison for the crime, a sentence that was reduced to three years after New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman commuted his sentence. Three years later, on August 9, 1936, Mahady died at the age of 35.

Race car driver John Paul, Jr., along with his son, John Paul Jr., had numerous convictions during their careers including for drug possession, tax evasion, possession of a false passport and importing marijuana. The kicker came when John Paul, Sr. attempted to murder a federal witness. Paul served 15 years in prison for the crime and has been on the lam since 2001 when he was named a person of interest in a missing persons case.

Speedboat racer, race car driver and motorcycle dealer Kaye Don is a former world record-breaking racer who later was involved in a tragic death of Francis Tayler. Don complained about poor steering in an MG Magnette car however the car was not altered before Don took the car out later that night with Tayler as a passenger. Don crashed, injuring himself and killing Tayler. He was charged with manslaughter and sentenced to four months in prison.

Defensive end Leonard Little played college football at Tennessee then in the NFL with the St. Louis Rams, including winning Super Bowl XXXIV, before retiring in 2010. During that career, Little also dealt with a multitude of legal problems including in 1998 when he struck and killed a woman while driving drunk in Missouri. Despite being double the legal limit, Little received only probation. Additional charges, which were later dropped, came in 2003 for making threats and harassing calls to the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department. Little also earned a second DWI in 2004 when he was caught speeding in Missouri. Again, he only received probation.

Jamaican cricketer Leslie Hylton was a fast bowler during his time playing but later was remember as the only Test cricketer to have been executed for a crime. In 1955, Hylton was hanged for the murder of his wife. Apparently his wife had some adulterous ways, which she made known to Hylton and which provoked him into shooting her seven times. Though he claimed he attempted to shoot himself, he was later convicted and hanged.

Nicknamed Gator, former professional skateboarder Mark Rogowski saw a swift rise to fame in the 1980s and 1990s on the pro skateboarding circuit. His career however dropped off in 1990 at which time he also battled alcoholism. Things changed again in 1991 when Rogowski beat, raped and murdered 22-year-old friend Jessica Bergsten. He eventually confessed, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to 31 years in prison. Rogowski, who was denied parole in 2011, will be eligible for parole again in February 2018.

Professional hockey player Mike Danton (born Michael Jefferson) spent five seasons in the National Hockey League with the New Jersey Devils and St. Louis Blues. In 2004, Danton was involved in a plot to kill his former agent, David Frost, though certain versions of the incident indicate the intended target was Danton's father, Steve Jefferson. Unbeknownst to Danton, the man he hired to complete the hit was actually a police officer. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, was sentenced to 90 months in prison, served 62 months and returned to professional hockey, though in Europe, in 2011.

Former professional football wide receiver Rae Carruth was selected in the first round of the NFL Draft and played three seasons with the Carolina Panthers before a horrific incident derailed his career. In 1999, Carruth was driving in Charlotte, North Carolina, when he stopped his car to allow friend Van Brett Watkins to shoot a woman in the adjacent car four times. That woman was a carrying Carruth's child at the time. The child was saved by doctors but the woman died. After a brief period during which Carruth was a fugitive, he was convicted of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and using an instrument to destroy an unborn child. Carruth was sentenced to 18 years and 11 months in prison.

Defensive end Robert Rozier enjoyed just a six-game NFL career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1979. The rest of his career came after he joined a black supremacist group and was arrested for a handful of crimes. Perhaps most notably, Rozier was arrested in 1986 after admitting to killing seven white people to please his group. He made a plea deal to testify against the organization and was sentenced to 22 years in prison. Rozier served 10 years and was released in 1996, however after bouncing nearly 30 bad checks in 1999, he returned to prison on the third-strike law and is currently serving 25 years to life.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter is a former middleweight boxer whose career ended in 1966 when he was arrested in a triple homicide in Patterson, New Jersey. Carter was allegedly involved in a shooting at a bar that claimed three lives. Initially, he was convicted with eyewitness testimony a crucial part of the first case but after those witnesses changed their story, Carter was granted a second trial. He was convicted again but later won an appeal and was freed in 1985. Carter currently serves as a motivational speaker and advocate for the wrongly convicted. The story was the inspiration for the Bob Dylan song "Hurricane" and Denzel Washington film, "The Hurricane."

Female bodybuilder Sally McNeil was a victim of an abusive and adulterous relationship with her husband, Ray McNeil, for several years before something snapped. In February 1995, McNeil shot her husband and was later found guilty of second-degree murder. She was sentenced to 19 years to live. McNeil currently sits in a California prison as her attorneys facilitate her appeals.

Running back Terry Underwood, who was once called a smaller version of Barry Sanders, had a promising career which ended in 1998 when he was convicted of murdering his pregnant wife, Theresa. Underwood swears he is innocent of the crime, which involved the pregnant woman being stabbed 88 times while two children slept in the next room. Despite his claim that he was coerced into making a false statement to police, Underwood was found guilty of the murder and sentenced to 60 years in prison. His appeals are pending.

Ugueth Urbina was a lot of things during his professional baseball career including a two-time MLB All-Star, the National League saves leader, a World Series champion in 2003 with the Florida Marlins, the only player in MLB history with the initials UU or UUU and in 2005, a convicted murderer. Urbina was arrested by Venezuelan authorities on charges that he'd attacked five farm workers with a machete and gasoline. In 2007, he was convicted of attempted murder and sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison.

Vallance Jupp enjoyed a long cricket career that began in 1909 and continued until 1938 in England. Later in his career, in 1934 and 1935, he did not play after he was convicted of manslaughter. Jupp was driving a car that struck a motorcycle, killing a passenger. He was sentenced to nine months in prison, served half of that and was released in June 1935. Jupp died at home home in 1960 at the age of 69.

Former West Indian first-class cricketer Warrington Phillip played nearly a decade and won several titles before retiring in 2000. In 2006, Phillip's wife was found dead in the back of her car with a slashed throat. He was arrested for the murder and, in 2008, found guilty of the crime. In February 2009, Phillip was sentenced to life in prison, a term he currently serves.