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We’ve all made those offhand comments: “This job is killing me,” “I’d rather die than go to work this morning,” and my personal favorite, “This job is sucking my will to live.” But sometimes people’s jobs really do kill them. I’m not too worried about myself; there probably aren’t a whole lot of freak writing accidents (fatal writer’s block? Paper cut to the wrist?) But racecar drivers, rock stars, baseball players and jockeys are all rather hazardous professions that sometimes cause on-the-job deaths. So next time you compare work to dying a slow death, think about these guys and remind yourself that your job isn’t so bad.
1. Frank Hayes, Jockey
Hayes got the last laugh when he beat 20-1 odds to win at Belmont Park in 1923. At least, he would have gotten the last laugh if he was still alive when the race was over. Hayes was not a jockey by trade - he was actually a stablehand who managed to talk the owner of a horse into letting him ride. Sweet Kiss, the horse, came in first, but Hayes had a heart attack and died during the race. He was strapped on to Sweet Kiss well enough that he stayed upright right across the finish line. Even though the horse was a proven winner, no one wanted to ride it after that, nicknaming him “Sweet Kiss of Death”. To date, Hayes is the only deceased jockey to win a race.
2.Les Harvey, Guitarist
In May 1972, Scottish band Stone the Crows lost their guitarist Les Harvey during a concert when he was electrocuted by a microphone onstage. His hands were wet and the microphone wasn’t grounded. This makes Harvey part of the 27 Club, which you can read up on in my previous post on curses that seem to be working.
3. Jane Dornacker, Traffic Reporter
Poor Jane Dornacker survived one helicopter crash in 1986, only to be killed by another one six months later. Dornacker was a traffic reporter for WNBC Radio in New York City. In the first crash, her helicopter landed in the Hackensack River and both she and the pilot were able to swim to shore. The second crash, however, proved to be fatal. The copter stalled in midair, plummeted, struck a chain link fence and ultimately ended up in the Hudson River. It sank in 15-20 feet of water, where she and the pilot were trapped for nearly 15 minutes. She died on the way to the hospital. The pilot survived. Before Jane’s days as a reporter, she was a rock star, comedian and actress.
4. Ray Chapman, Shortstop
Imagine being hit in the head by a 100 mph fastball, no helmet. Yeah, not good. That’s what happened to Cleveland Indians shortstop Ray Chapman on August 16, 1920, when he was beaned in the temple by a spit ball thrown by Yankees pitcher Carl Mays. He actually tried to walk to the clubhouse on his own, but collapsed before he could make it.
Surgery revealed that his brain was damaged on both sides - both from where the ball hit, of course, and also from when the force of the impact made his brain hit his skull on the other side of his head. Chapman died a few hours after the surgery. The 1920 Indians went on to win the World Series.
5. J.G. Parry-Thomas, Race Car Driver
Everyone knows about NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt’s untimely death at the 2001 Daytona 500, but Welsh driver J.G. Parry-Thomas predated him by about 65 years. In 1927, Parry-Thomas was trying to break the land-speed record of 174.22 mph. Around 170 mph, a exposed chain on the car snapped, pretty much decapitating him. Although there are varying reports, from what I gather, he set a personal speed record but did not beat the world record.
6. Tiny Tim, Singer/Ukulele Player
Tiny Tim almost died on stage – he had a heart attack during a concert in Minneapolis on November 30, 1996. He had been warned earlier that year that his heart was in a very fragile condition and that he should no longer perform, but he kept playing concerts anyway. He died later that day at a local hospital after doctors had attempted to resuscitate him for more than an hour.
7. “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, Guitarist
Yet another musician who died on stage in recent years is “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, Pantera’s lead guitarist. Although it wasn’t the job that actually killed him, it was the fame that came with being part of Pantera that caused a crazed fan to gun down Dimebag Darrell during a 2004 concert. The man who shot him was a paranoid schizophrenic who believed that the band could read his mind and was stealing songs from him.
8. Joe Burrus, Escape Artist
Before David Blaine, there was Joe Burrus. Burrus was an escape artist who idolized Houdini – fitting, then that he died exactly 64 years after his hero. On Halloween in 1990, Burrus was chained and handcuffed inside a clear acrylic coffin seven feet below ground. The coffin was topped with dirt, followed by concrete. The concrete had not quite filled the hole when suddenly it dropped by about two feet, making it clear that the plastic coffin underneath had broken. By the time rescue workers pulled Burrus out of his self-made grave, he was already dead. Hopefully David Blaine takes this lesson to heart.
Not quite “on the job” but worth a mention anyway:
8.5. Thomas Midgely, Jr., Inventor
Thomas Midgely, Jr., was a celebrated inventor and chemist, who, among other things, discovered Freon (that stuff used in refrigeration and air conditioning systems). When he was diagnosed with polio and left disabled in 1940, he just couldn’t suppress his inventor’s spirit – he built a pulley system to move him in and out of bed. Unfortunately, it was this system that did him in – he accidentally strangled himself with one of the cords.
There is also the man who died by working too much overtime on an assembly line in Japan.
posted by Diane on 12-20-2007 at 11:51 am
The Japanese guy worked for Toyota Motor Corp and died as a result of a irregular heart beat brought on by overwork - he logged 106 hours of overtime in the moth preceeding his death. So sad, but his family has finally been compensated after an appeal with the labour ministry. Several hundred people died in Japan last year due to overwork.
posted by Katie on 12-20-2007 at 12:22 pm
Don’t forget about Country Dick Montana, the wild and crazy singer/drummer of the Beat Farmers and long-time cohort of Mojo Nixon. He died on stage at 40 years old on November 8, 1995, in Whistler, B.C. during a Beat Farmers concert, shortly after completing work on his first solo album “The Devil Lied To Me”. Mojo later wrote a song about him called “The Ballad Of Country Dick”.
posted by Jason on 12-20-2007 at 12:36 pm
What about the people that die from not having jobs… like that kid in Japan that played Everquest for two weeks straight?
posted by Jared Probst on 12-20-2007 at 1:12 pm
Midgely also invented leaded gasoline. A LOT of people think that lead poisoning lead (HA!) to his demise.
He probably is one of the worst human beings ever, considering the amount of damage and disease brought on by lead in the environment and CFCs.
posted by Moon on 12-20-2007 at 2:29 pm
Well, Moon, if he knew that it would cause environmental damage, I’d agree, but isn’t it possible that he didn’t know at the time?
posted by Sillstaw on 12-20-2007 at 2:37 pm
Gary Stevens almost died and won a race on Storming Home in the Arlington Million a couple of years ago.
When they took him to the hospital, they didn’t think he was going to make - the horses behind Storming Home had no where to go but right on top of Gary. He was lucky.
Storming Home finished first, but was disqualified and you can still get a LIVELY argument going today, several years later, by just saying “Storming Home won that race” - be careful, though - punches have been thrown as a result!
posted by Moon on 12-20-2007 at 2:38 pm
There’s also Moliere. And Tommy Cooper died on live tv. Snopes has a list of people that died on stage
www.snopes.com/horrors/freakish/onstage.asp
posted by Vorple on 12-20-2007 at 2:50 pm
Ugh, I mean, “who died on stage.”
posted by Vorple on 12-20-2007 at 2:51 pm
What about Marie Curie? She died from complications of being exposed to radiation for a long time. Her notebooks and lab notes are said to be so highly irradiated, they cannot be kept in a normal library or museum, they have to be contained and handled as highly contaminated materials.
posted by Pamchao on 12-20-2007 at 4:32 pm
I´m about to die of a heart attack just thinking about being buried in a plastic coffin below dirt and cement. WHY DO PEOPLE DO THIS?! I´m getting the shakes just thinking about it…
posted by GTT on 12-20-2007 at 4:46 pm
No mention of Bill Masterton? A hockey player that died after falling and hitting his head on the ice. The event marked the beginning of NHL players donning helmets.
In his honor a trophy, the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, is awarded annually to the the NHL “player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication to ice hockey.” That is more than what baseball did for Ray Chapman.
posted by n2y2 on 12-20-2007 at 11:59 pm
Actor/comedian/singer Dick Shawn died of a heart attack while performing onstage. The audience thought it was part of his odd type of humor so no one rushed to his aid until it was too late.
I checked the IMDB to make sure if true.
www.imdb.com/name/nm0790071/bio
posted by Tdave on 12-21-2007 at 1:56 am
how is that posable?
how can you die from working to much?
please reply
posted by Tony Marshall on 12-21-2007 at 7:26 am
Working regular hours + over 100 overtime hours a month = stress + exhaustion = not taking care of yourself = heart attack
It is becoming increasingly common for people to put in extra hours and not use sick and vacation days in our need to have everything done yesterday world. In Japan and elsewhere hundreds of people a year die of “overwork”.
posted by Katie on 12-21-2007 at 9:04 am
Also, I’m not sure how much this factors into the cause of death but it sure couldn’t help, how hard is it to get a good meal when you never leave the plant?
Breakfast, lunch and dinner: cupcakes and popcorn from the vending machine. For a month. I’d off *myself*.
posted by Andie on 12-21-2007 at 10:31 am
Moon - Leaded gasoline allowed for more efficient running engines and had nothing to do with lead poison. That came from paint. Get your facts strait before appearing so ignorant.
posted by pabird on 12-27-2007 at 9:44 am
pabird,
Maybe check YOUR facts!!
posted by michrail on 12-27-2007 at 9:13 pm
Lead poisoning from gasoline still affects the world today. High amounts poisoned the ground in many countries, especially countries that still use leaded gasoline. The leader poisons the ground, plants absorb lead from the ground, people eat plant by-products. Traditionally, this is nothing to be alarmed about, yet, in high volumes, it can be fatal.
That’s really just an example, lead in the air also causes lead poisoning. Also, don’t forget about lead poisoning from pencil lead; from when they used real lead, not a graphite and clay mixture.
posted by adam on 1-6-2008 at 2:37 am
Pantera had dissolved and Dimebag was performing in concert with Damageplan at the time of his death.
posted by Ira on 1-18-2008 at 1:27 pm
Let’s not forget all of the herpetologists who have been killed by snakes.
And, the on-the-job loss I miss the most, Steve Irwin.
posted by Rusty on 1-18-2008 at 3:46 pm
Detroit Lions football player Chuck Hughes died on the field of a massive heart attack.
posted by eric on 5-5-2008 at 1:28 pm