The extreme sports world lost a legend on Thursday, when BMX icon Dave Mirra was found dead of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot in Greenville, North Carolina. He was 41 years old.
Mirra was an accomplished BMX rider, and credited with popularizing the sport nationwide, as well as on video games. “Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX” was released in 2000, and a second installment hit shelves in 2001. Mirra participated in every X Games from 1995 through 2008, and picked up rally car racing after that. Greenville mayor Allen Thomas speculated that Mirra may have suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a condition that is developed from repeated head trauma.
CTE has become a dominant storyline for several years for the NFL, and is believed to have contributed to the suicide of NFL Hall of Famer Junior Seau, as well as the recent overdose of ex-Giants safety Tyler Sash. But now the issue is seeping into other sports as well.
Recently, Calgary Flames defenseman Dennis Wideman earned a 20-game suspension for cross-checking a referee after a hard hit went uncalled.
His defense is that he suffered a concussion and was disoriented when he accidentally made contact with the official. The Wideman incident comes on the heels of 12 ex-players joining a class-action lawsuit against the NHL that resembles the major lawsuit the NFL is dealing with that claims the league knew about, and hid, evidence of how damaging concussions could be.
As an extreme athlete, it’s difficult to fathom how many head traumas Mirra sustained in his lengthy BMX career. But pulling off feats like the ones in the video below likely entailed a lot of falling down first.
Mirra’s death, combined with other tragedies, has a chance to change the entire landscape of American sports.
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