Rich Athletes That Went BROKE!

#1 Allen Iverson

Iverson made over $200 million during his NBA career, but poor spending habits, bad investments and bad lifestyle choices helped him blow this total and declare bankruptcy.

#2 Bill Buckner

Buckner is best known for helping the Boston Red Sox lose the 1986 World Series, but the former first baseman saw an economic low in 2008 when he declared bankruptcy after his car dealership failed.

#3 Brad Friedel

Friedel was forced into bankruptcy in 2011 as a result of investing in a soccer academy that went underwater, but the Tottenham Hotspur backup goalkeeper has gotten back onto his feet in recent years.

#4 Curt Schilling

Schilling took a $75 million loan from the state of Rhode Island to start up a video game company that never really took off, and he ended up having to declare bankruptcy as a result.

#5 Antoine Walker

In a career lasting 15 years with five different NBA teams, he's collected one NBA championship and reportedly earned $110 million.

However, in May 2010, he filed for bankruptcy, claiming assets of $4 million and liabilities of almost $13 million. The filing lists a $2 million house in Miami with a mortgage of almost $4 million.

Walker's problems stem in large part from gambling. In 2009, he was arrested and charged with writing $800,000 worth of bad checks to three Las Vegas casinos.

#6 Diego Maradona

The Argentinian soccer prodigy who had an important "hand" in his nation's World Cup title in 1986 was also beloved by southern Italians during his seven seasons playing for Napoli in Serie A. But those achievements didn't stop the Italian tax agencies from accusing Maradona in 2009 of not paying some $53 million in taxes on the income during his Napoli days. Last year, tax collectors took additional steps to freeze Maradona's assets. He is currently unemployed.

#7 George Best

The late Best was one of the best players in Manchester United history, but alcoholism and excessive spending forced the winger into bankruptcy in retirement.

#8 Mark Brunnell

Brunell had $25 million in liabilities when filing for bankruptcy in 2010, which is absolutely staggering when one considers he had only $5.5 million in assets at the time.

#9 Tony Gwynn

While many athletes jump from team to team, Tony Gwynn played for just one, the San Diego Padres, for his entire professional career. During that time he distinguished himself as one of the most reliable batters in Major League Baseball, striking out only 434 times in over 9,000 career at-bats, and never once batting below .300 in any full season.

He earned a high salary with the Padres, but during his sixth season he filed for bankruptcy, citing bad investments, poor accounting and $1 million in back taxes. At the time of the filing, his assets totaled approximately $700,000, while his liabilities totaled over $1.1 million.

#10 Kenny Anderson

Kenny Anderson earned an estimated $60 million during his NBA career after playing for nine different teams. He was married three times, and the divorce from his first wife, Tami Akbar, had cost him dearly. She successfully challenged their prenuptial agreement and walked away with half his assets and $8,500 a month in child support. To celebrate her court victory, she had a custom license plate made that read "HISCASH."

In addition to monthly child support and alimony payments to Akbar, Anderson was also supporting six other children and two other ex-wives, as well as making monthly payments on his mother's house. He also owned eight cars and an estate in Beverly Hills, and gave himself a $10,000-a-month allowance that he referred to as "hanging out money". At the time of his bankruptcy filing, he had $41,000 in monthly expenses to pay.

#11 Vince Young

This quote from a Dallas financial advisor sums it all up: "If you wanted to write a manual about how to go into bankruptcy, Vince's story would be it." The former NCAA national champion signed a $26 million deal with the Titans in 2006 and proceeded to flush it all away over the next several years. Young reportedly spent as much as $200,000 a month, including $5,000 a week at a Cheesecake Factory restaurant during his rookie season. He even borrowed money to throw himself a $300,000 birthday party during the NFL lockout, when he wasn't being paid. His frivolous spending (along with child support payments for four kids with four different women) caught up with him when he filed for bankruptcy.

#12 Derrick Coleman

When the New Jersey Nets picked Derrick Coleman in the 1990 NBA draft, it seemed like a solid choice. He had been compared to no less a player than Charles Barkley, and it was assumed that he would turn in a similar performance on the court. However, it was not to be. Aside from being frequently injured and missing many games as a result, he also showed a tendency to gain weight and abuse alcohol. Many sportswriters accused Coleman of simply phoning in his performance.

Whatever his shortcomings may have been, Coleman earned over $87 million in his 15-year career, so many people were surprised when he filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy in March 2010. In the filing documents, he listed $1 million in assets, including a Bentley, five fur coats and $3,000 worth of jewelry. His debts totaled more than $4 million, which he owed to almost 100 creditors, including American Express, Verizon and even Detroit Mayor Dave Bing.

#13 Bjorn Borg

11 Grand Slam titles; former #1 men's tennis player in the world

Estimated earnings: $4 million + $4 million in endorsements per year

Borg's famous Swede cool never made it off the court. After retiring from tennis, Bork overdosed on drugs. Some people speculate that it was a suicide attempt, though Borg denies it. His wife left him after that. Borg then courted a string of women, one of whom police busted on possession of cocaine. He tried launching a clothing line, but failed miserably. Years later, Borg has rebounded after starting an underwear line and a new dating site.

#14 Deuce McAllister

New Orleans Saint's all-time rusher, 2-time Pro Bowl star

Estimated lifetime earnings: $70 Million

John Elway got out of the car dealership business early, but Deuce McAllister Nissan, based in Jackson, Miss., didn't fare as well. The business recently went bankrupt, with McAllister owing Nissan more than $6.6 million plus almost $300,000 in interest on his car dealership. Reports are that he will seek bankruptcy protection. If you want that new Deuce Pathfinder, you better pick it up in a hurry.

#15 Dorothy Hamill

Gold medalist skater; America's first darling Olympian

Estimated earnings: $1-2 million/year in endorsements

After receiving a gold medal in the 1976 Olympics, Dorothy Hamill became America's first Olympic darling. After that, her luck turned. A competing skater's coach tried to run her over. She made a bad purchase in the dying Ice Capades franchise. She survived breast cancer, two divorces, and a gig as a Vioxx spokesperson. A final, failed investment in an Arizona ice skating rink pulled her into bankruptcy.

#16 Jack Clark

MLB player since 1975

Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million

When Jack Clark declared bankruptcy on listed debts of $11.4 million and assets of $4.8 million, his lawyer made a statement. "He had some expensive hobbies, and I think they got ahead of him."

Ya think? The man owned 18 automobiles, including a 1990 Ferrari that cost $717k alone. His three customized, tricked out 1992 Mercedes Benzes cost around $125k each. All in all, he still owes money of 17 of his cars, as well as the failed drag racing course he meant to race them on. Add to that half a mil in back taxes, and you have some expensive hobbies, indeed.

#17 Travis Henry

Starting running back for the Buffalo Bills, Pro Bowl selection

Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million

Henry has 9 kids by 9 different mommas. He was indicted on charges of cocaine trafficking. He was also just jailed after trying and failing to temporarily reduce one of his nine child-support payments, stating he could no longer afford to pay $3,000/month. He also fell $16,600 behind in payments for his child in Frostproof, Fla. His estimated yearly payments for the children are roughly $170,000.

To top off his pain, he blew a $25 million contract with Broncos because of the narcotics trafficking thing and failed drug tests.

#18 Darren McCarty

Stanley Cup winner, 11-year Detroit Red Wings player

Estimated lifetime earnings: $10 million

McCarty declared bankruptcy after listing over $6 million in debts. He blamed his business partner for looting their company. One court filing states that MCCarty had a 20% stake in a company with one real asset: a truck stop. His partner took out a $3 million dollar loan on that one asset, then forged McCarty's signature for a $650,000 salary pull. Ouch.

#19 Scott Eyre

World Series champion, pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies

Estimated lifetime earnings: $10 Million

Eyre, like many of us, was taken for a fool during last year's stock market/investment madness. His money grew tied up in the $8 billion fraud allegedly perpetrated by Texas financier Robert Allen Stanford. Eyre told the New York Post that 99% of his fortune is frozen and possibly gone. After admitting that he was broke, the Phillies agreed to advance Eyre a portion of his $2 million salary.

#20 Scott Harrison

First Scottish boxer to gain the World Boxing Federation featherweight title

Estimated lifetime earnings: $5 million

The pride of Scotland had problems with drinking, drugs and consequently the law. A world champion in 2003, Harrison's life later spun out of control. In 2006, he pulled out of a fight to check into rehab.

It didn't work. The same year, police in Spain arrested him on charges of auto theft and assault. Officials stripped him of his title and his license to box for failing to show up for a fight and weigh in. Early in 2007, police arrested Harrison for valium possession, police assault, resisting arrest, and refusing to leave a pub. A few months later he was arrested again for starting a fight in a brothel. By July 2007, the ever-classy Harrison declared bankruptcy after losing his last fightover unpaid taxes.

#21 Raghib “Rocket” Ismael

Notre Dame/Dallas Cowboys star; received the largest 3-year deal in football history

Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 Million

No jail time, drug charges or bankruptcy here, just bad business moves. Financial vultures bled Ismael's riches by selling him their "fool-proof" investments. After bypassing the NFL as the presumptive #1 pick, Ismael went to the Canadian Football League and signed the largest deal in their history.

He played two years in Canada and 10 in the NFL, earning an estimated $18 million to $20 million in salary alone. He then started to invest in a series of ventures that went bust, including a Rock n' Roll Café, COZ Records, a movie, cosmetics, nationwide phone-card dispensers, and calligraphy proverbs kiosks.

Today, Ismael does a sports talk show for the Dallas Cowboysand looks very closely at any money he makes.

#22 Marion Jones

3-time Olympic gold medalist

Estimated earnings: $7 million per year

As the song goes, Ms. Jones had a thing goin' onwith steroids, check counterfeiting, check forging, committing perjury to the IRS, money laundering and more illegal drugs. The fastest woman in the world certainly ran a lot of scams. After being indicted, she lost all her medals, went bankrupt, and served 6 months in the big house.

#23 Dick “Night Train” Lane

14 yr NFL vet, Hall of Famer, Oakland Raiders defensive back

Estimated earnings: $5 million

Once married to Dinah Washington, Lane lived the high life, complete with drugs and booze. Investments in real estate, the music business and overseas scams took what little money he had left over from after binges. After losing his fortune, he survived on $800/month pension checks, crippled by old NFL injuries. He spent his final years in an assisted living facility without any help or care from his three sons or ex-wives. A man he met on a golf course took care of him until he died, penniless, in 2002.

#24 Mike Tyson

For a while, no boxer on earth was as feared as "Iron Mike" Tyson. The powerful puncher won his first 19 professional fights by knockout, some of which took place during the first round. He quickly became the heavyweight champion of the world, but in 1992 he was convicted of sexual assault and served three years in prison. When he got out, no amount of comeback matches could get him back his mojo, and after biting off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear during a 1997 fight, Tyson was disqualified. He never again won another championship.

Money shouldn't have been a problem for Tyson. After all, according to the New York Times, he had earned more than $400 million in his boxing career. However, he had spent almost all of it, frittering it away on extravagances like mansions, luxury cars and pet tigers. He also owed $9 million for his divorce settlement and $13 million to the IRS. When he filed for bankruptcy in 2003, he claimed debts of $27 million.

#25 Muhsin Muhammad

2-time Pro Bowl champ, Superbowl record-holder, touchdown dance pioneer, Carolina Panthers wide receiver

Estimated lifetime earnings: $20 million

Baylo Entertainment, Muhammed's music company, was being sued by Wachovia Bank for allegedly failing to pay back $24,603.24 on a Visa Business Rewards credit card. Muhammad's 8,200-square-foot lakeside estate, which boasts a custom spa and the "largest residential aquarium in the Southeast," was listed on eBay for $1.95 million, $800,000 less than he initially asked for.

#26 Scottie Pippen

6 NBA championships with Michael Jordan, forward for the Chicago Bulls

Estimated lifetime earnings: $120 Million

Pippen unsuccessfully sued his former law firm for losing $27 million of his money through poor investments. (He had earned about $110 million in salary alone over a 17-year career.) In February 2007around the same time as Pippen's failed NBA comeback attemptthe Missouri Court of Appeals upheld a ruling that the player owed U.S. Bank more than $5 million in principal, interest and attorneys' fees from a dispute regarding a Grumman Gulfstream II corporate jet that he'd purchased in 2001.

#27 Rollie Fingers

Hall of Fame pitcher, 3-time World Series champ; last played for the Milwaukee Brewers

Estimated lifetime earnings: $8 Million

Fingers retired in 1985 and made it four years before investments in pistachio farms, Arabian horses and wind turbines took him down. He filed for bankruptcy in 1992. Creditors claimed he owed more than $4 million; he listed his assets at less than $50,000. He resolved his predicament by selling baseball cards and going back to work. In 2007, a dispute over back taxes flared up, but Fingers was able to prove he did indeed pay, and was cleared of all wrongdoing.

#28 Evander Holyfield

4-time Heavyweight Champion of the World

Estimated lifetime earnings: $250 million

He had a deal with Diet Coke, a video game, the "Real deal" record label, the "Real Deal" grill, and appeared in numerous TV appearances and 3 films. Then, there was the dancing thing. One wonders how Holyfied had time to lose money. The answer: Children. Holyfield fathered 11 of them.

"I'm not broke; I'm just not liquid," 45-year-old Holyfield claimed when he narrowly avoided charges that he was around $9,000 behind in court-ordered child support payments. The banks foreclosed on his $10 million dollar home. Even a landscaping firm says the former champ owes them $500k for yard work. Ever since Tyson bit his ear off, it seems everyone wants a piece of the Champ.

#29 John Arne Riis

Fullback footballer for Liverpool; last played for Roma

Estimated lifetime earnings: $20+ million

Despite earnings topping $75,000 per week, this Liverpool soccer star declared bankruptcy in 2007 for unpaid debts. Embroiled in a dispute with his financial advisors and former agent, Einar Baardsen, over how his fortunes have been invested, the court has found evidence to link his case to a $4 million fraud investigation in Norway.

#30 Sheryl Swoopes

3-time gold medal Olympian, 3-time MVP for the WNBA, first pro women's basketball player

Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 Million

Swoopes, the "Michael Jordan of the WNBA," scored her own Nike deal for the Jordan-inspired "Air Swoopes" brand. Swoopes, a marketing machine, enjoyed a stint as the face of the WNBA, but her fortunes didn't last. She filed for bankruptcy in 2004, citing mismanagement by her agents and layers. She owed nearly $750,000.

#31 Michael Vick

Michael Vick is almost as well known for his activities off the field as he is for his achievements on the it. Prior to joining the Eagles, he played for the Atlanta Falcons, who had signed him to a record $62 million six-year contract, as well as a $3 million signing bonus. Then, three years later, he signed a ten-year extension worth $130 million, making him the highest-paid player in the NFL.

Everything seemed to be smooth sailing for Michael Vick until he went to prison for his participation in an illegal interstate dog fighting ring in 2007. The prison sentence sidelined him for almost two years, and during that time he lost his regular NFL salary and all of his endorsements, including a lucrative Nike sponsorship. The lack of income, combined with his own financial mismanagement, forced Vick to declare bankruptcy from federal prison.

#32 Lawrence Taylor

New York Giants MVP, sack leader, Hall of Famer, 2-time Superbowl champ

Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 million

After retiring from his superstar NFL career, Lawrence Taylor enjoyed his celebrity to the fullest. Known for cavorting with women, openly using cocaine and drinking late into the night, the former defensive end spiraled downwards after he left the league. Police jailed him three times for possession. The IRS caught him for filing a false tax return. Rumors claimed he was involved in a drug and gun ring. He finally declared bankruptcy in 1998. One year later, the Pro Football Hall of Fame rewarded him for cleaning up his act by inducting him.

#33 Lenny Dykstra

Not only did the spunky infielder file for bankruptcy, but he even committed bankruptcy fraud. After an 12-year MLB career with the Phillies and Mets, the three-time All-Star and '86 World Series champ became a self-taught "financial guru." Then in 2008, Dykstra started a high-end charter jet company which lasted about ten months until the company filed for bankruptcy with reportedly up to $50 million in liabilities against $50,000 in assets. On top of all that, he allegedly sold and destroyed some of his assets in violation of his bankruptcy agreement, which earned him a 6 1/2 month federal sentence in 2012. Dykstra was already incarcerated for three years on a grand theft auto charge.

#34 Leon Spinks

Beat Muhammad Ali for the heavyweight title; Olympic gold medalist

Estimated lifetime earnings: $4.5 million over two fights

Before he lost his second fight with Ali, Spinks' personal life slid downhill. Police arrested him four times for everything from driving the wrong way to cocaine possession. The WBC stripped him of the belt before the fight, but it went on for the WBA belt. Spinks' lawyers and managers allegedly spent or took all of his money. Thieves mugged him on the street. In 1990, he found his son shot dead inside in his girlfriend's car.

Spinks eventually worked for Mike Ditka as a Restaurant greeter. The company fired him. Most recently, he is stable and working at a gym again, only this time it is the YMCA, and he is the janitor.

#35 Latrell Sprewell

Four-time NBA All Star; last played for the Timberwolves

Estimated lifetime earnings: $50 million

This 13-year NBA veteran turned down the Timberwolves' $21 million offer to extend his contract for three years because the sum was too low. A mere three years later, federal agents repossessed Sprewell's yacht, on which he still owed $1.3 million. That was just the beginning. In early 2008, Sprewell defaulted on a $1.5 million mortgage, lost his home to foreclosure, stopped paying his motorsports' company's bills, and then defaulted on another home loan, this one worth $10 million.

#36 Johnny Unitas

Hall of Fame quarterback, 3-time MVP, Superbowl champion, 10-time Pro Bowl selection

Estimated lifetime earnings: $4 million

Widely considered one the best pro football QBs of all time, Johnny Unitas set several records that may never be beaten on the football field, like 47 games with a touchdown pass in a row.

He starred in professional football before salaries were measured in millions. His yearly contracts ranged from $7,000, his first in 1956 with the Colts, to $250,000 plus a $175,000 bonus in his last one with the San Diego Chargers in 1973.

After his playing days, he made some money as a TV commentator for CBS. He also invested in tanked business ventures, including a chain of bowling establishments, a prime-rib restaurant, an air-freight company, and Florida real estate investment. He and his wife, Sandra Unitas, filed for personal bankruptcy protection in 1991 after investing in a failed Reisterstown circuit-board manufacturer. He died 11 years later with a lawsuit from his estate hanging over all of his businesses.