Steve Moore – Colorado Avalanche
Steve Moore’s NHL career was cut short after just three seasons, in 1998 he was drafted to Colorado Avalanche. Moore would play 69 games for the Avalanche from 2001 to 2004, scoring five goals and seven assists. However his career came to a tragic end on March 8, 2004, during a Vancouver-Colorado game, the incident that followed has been named, “The Bertuzzi incident”. Canucks Todd Bertuzzi couldn’t get Moore to fight so Bertuzzi did what he had to. He skated after Moore, punched him in the back of the head, and fell on top of him, plus Moore’s teammate Andrei Nikolishin and Bertuzzi’s teammate Sean Pronger also fell on top of Moore as a result. The combination that Moore sustained from the hit, fall, and piling-on resulted in three fractured neck vertebrae, facial cuts and a concussion. He never played again.
Steve Moore – Colorado Avalanche
Joe Theismann – Washington Redskins
Joe Theismann was an incredibly talented quarterback for the Washington Redskins – he’s a Super Bowl champion (XVII), the NFL Man of the Year (1982), the NFL Most Valuable Player (1983), a 2× Pro Bowl (1982, 1983) and the list could just carry on. Tragically, though, no one can ever forget his career ending injury which was actually voted the NFL’s “Most Shocking Moment in History”, and the tackle that forced him into retirement was dubbed “The Hit That No One Who Saw It Can Ever Forget” by The Washington Post. Theismann was sacked by New York Giants linebackers Lawrence Taylor and Harry Carson during a Monday Night Football game which resulted in a comminuted compound fracture of his leg. During recovery, there was insufficient bone growth causing his right leg to become shorter then the other which forced him into retirement at just age 36, Theismann has never blamed Lawrence Taylor for his injury.
Joe Theismann – Washington Redskins
