The number one question people ask when someone commits suicide is:
Why?
Normally there is some sort of trigger, be it depression, mental instability, rage or in some people case, just the stress of being in a situation that can’t see themselves getting out of.
The latter is what seemed to have happen to Chicago Bears great Dave Duerson. Profootballtalk.com has the details.
Sean Jensen and Art Golab of the Chicago Sun-Times report that in September of 2010, Duerson filed for personal bankruptcy, listing almost $15 million in liabilities, including two multimillion-dollar bank loans, two mortgages on his home and $70,000 owed to his ex-wife on a divorce settlement.
Duerson also listed assets of almost $35 million, but nearly all of that was a judgment his company, Duerson Foods, had won — but not collected — in a lawsuit against food processing companies.
Aside from that uncollected judgment, Duerson had very little to show for his football career and his post-football business career; other than a car with 140,000 miles on it, his most valuable asset was a checking account containing $846.
Friends have said Duerson was shaken by his financial problems, as well as his divorce. Two months before his suicide, Duerson’s ex-wife sued him to try to collect his two Super Bowl rings (earned with the 1985 Bears and 1990 Giants) and his 1987 NFL Man of the Year trophy.
That is awful to hear even if not surprising. These type of financial stories we hear far too often in regards to athletes. The divorces are getting messier and messier by the day.
I don’t know what was Duerson legal situation with his wife, but any time you are trying to take a man’s Super Bowl rings and Trophies it just seems to me it is more of a personal vendetta than trying to reach an amicable settlement.
Duerson wanted his brain donated to science to study the long term affects from playing football and those wishes will be granted.
If you ever think you are in such a deep hole that you can’t get out of, please talk to someone before you make any rash decisions.
No coming back from death.