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(#4) Clifford Etienne
- 48
In 2005, boxer Clifford Etienne robbed a check-cashing facility in Baton Rouge, LA. After taking $1,900, he attempted to hijack a car with two children inside. He then attempted to hijack a second car also containing two children but wrecked the second vehicle. When police responded to the incidents, Etienne tried to fire at the two officers, but his weapon jammed.
In court, his lawyer tried to argue both that he was high during the offenses, and that he had suffered brain damage from his years of fighting, but the jury rejected these excuses. Etienne was sentenced to 150 years with no chance of parole.
His claim to fame prior to his arrest was being knocked out by Mike Tyson in only 49 seconds.
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(#8) Ryan Lochte
- 34
During the 2016 Rio Olympics, US swimmer Ryan Lochte claimed that he and several other US athletes were robbed at gunpoint while walking around Rio:
"We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over...they pulled out their guns, they told the other swimmers to get down on the ground – they got down on the ground. I refused, I was like we didn't do anything wrong, so – I'm not getting down on the ground. And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, 'Get down,' and I put my hands up, I was like 'whatever.' He took our money, he took my wallet—he left my cell phone, he left my credentials."
The robbery was later called into question due to inconsistencies, though Lochte continued to claim that his story was true.
When a video revealed that Lochte and the other athletes broke down a door at a gas station and fought with the attendant, the story fell apart. Lochte, already back in the US, was charged with filing a false police report while the other athletes were fined and ordered to leave the country. Brazilian authorities threw out the charges against Lochte.
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(#7) Steve Durbano
- Dec. at 51 (1951-2002)
NHL player Steve Durbano was infamous for his hot temper and violent tendencies on the ice, even earning him the nickname "Mental Case." After he left hockey in the late 1970s, Durbano made visits to Bolivia and Peru where he set up ties with drug dealers and often brought drugs back to his native Canada.
Speculation posits that in 1983, he attempted to take over $500,000 of cocaine into the country and served more than two years of a seven-year sentence in prison as a result. Similarly, theories persist that in 1995, he was once again arrested, in this instance for trying to recruit an undercover police officer into a prostitution ring, though neither of the latter two incidents can be corroborated.
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(#10) Clay Buchholz
- 34
When MLB pitcher Clay Buchholz was playing college baseball for McNeese State in 2004, Buchholz stole 29 laptops from a nearby middle school. After getting arrested and thrown off of his college baseball team, Buchholz played junior college baseball and was drafted by the Boston Red Sox, bouncing back from the incident relatively unscathed.
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(#2) Sally McNeil Shot Her Second Husband
Bodybuilder Sally McNeil had a volatile relationship with her first husband, Anthony Lowden. The pair split in1986 after four years of marriage when McNeil reportedly pulled a revolver on Lowden and dropped a 70-pound weight onto his car from a balcony.
Her second marriage to fellow bodybuilder Ray McNeil was equally dysfunctional, involving incidents such as Sally attacking a woman with whom she believed her husband was cheating. After seven years of marriage, the Mcneils' relationship reached a climax when Ray began choking Sally during a fight, after which she shot him twice.
Though Ray was conscious when the police arrived, he passed several hours after the incident. In 1995, Sally McNeil was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison. McNeil maintained that she was acting in self-defense.
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About This Tool
It is undeniable that many outstanding athletes have performed well in different sports they participated in, they won many championships, broke world records with incredible results, or surpassed many batsmen or scorers. However, their heinous behavior will completely redefine their reputation, sometimes these can be very stupid behaviors, and sometimes they made irreparable mistakes for fame or money.
Whether it is a moment of madness or a long-term mistake, it is possible to make them be a spurned athlete, even if they are champions, geniuses, or great people. Here are 15 of history's greatest athletes who had outrageous tales of bad behavior, the random tool has a short description for each one.
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