array(1) {
[0]=>
string(156) "Grave of Mark Sandman. Mark Sandman was born on September 24, 1952 and died in Giardini del Principe, Palestrina, Italy due to Heart attack on July 3, 1999."
}
array(1) {
[0]=>
string(174) "Grave of Bunk Johnson. Bunk Johnson was born on December 27, 1885 and died in 638 Franklin Street, New Iberia, Louisiana due to Lingering effects of a stroke on July 7, 1949."
}
For 20 seasons—an eternity for a professional football player—there were few better linebackers in the NFL than Junior Seau. Strong, swift, and imbued with an fanatical work ethic, Seau terrorized opposing offenses so much that they largely avoided him, preferring to take their chances against his teammates. During his career with the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots, Seau was selected to 12 Pro Bowl teams and was an First-Team All Pro six times. As he walked away from the game at the end of the 2009 season, there was no question that Seau would be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Sadly he was suffering from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease from all violent and jarring hits his body and his head were subjected to during all the years in football beginning in junior high school and ending after 20 years in the National Football League. Consequently he took his own life at his home in Oceanside, California.
And There Is A Dark Side
According to a 2013 investigation by ESPN’s Outside the Lines, Seau was an inveterate drinker and gambler who frittered away thousands on frequent trips to Las Vegas. In 2010, months after his career came to an end, Seau’s girlfriend accused him of assault. Soon after being released on bail, the beloved athlete drove his car off a cliff in a suspected suicide attempt. (Seau claimed that he had simply fallen asleep.) Nearly all of the $50 million he earned in salary during his career had evaporated by the time of his death.
Cemetery Information:
Final Resting Place:
Eternal Hills Memorial Park
1999 El Camino Real
Oceanside, California, 92054
USA
North America
Map:
Map of Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside, CA
Grave Location:
Seau Family Plot
Grave Location Description
As you enter the cemetery from Fire Mountain Drive, continue straight (with the offices on your right) 100 feet and park. Look to your left for a concrete path to the Lakeview Mausoleum and look to your left for the Seau upright monument and bench.
cause_of_death: Cancer - an inoperable malignant tumor at the base of his skull and in his neck
claim_to_fame: Sports
best_know_for: Considered by many to be the greatest baseball player of all time, over the course of his career, Babe Ruth went on to break baseball's most important slugging records, including most years leading a league in home runs, most total bases in a season, and highest slugging percentage for a season. In all, Ruth hit 714 home runs—a mark that stood until 1974. The Bambino was among the first five players inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Andy Leonard
popular name: Andy Leonard
date_of_death: August 21, 1903
age: 57
cause_of_death: Hematemesis caused by stomach ulcers
claim_to_fame: Sports
best_know_for: Andy Leonard was one of the first professional baseball players of the 19th century (and firs of Irish descent), who played primarily left field. He played for a number of teams but was best known for his time with the Cincinnati Red Stockings (the first fully professional baseball team) and the Boston Red Stockings. His greatest success was with Boston where he won six championships during his seven seasons. He later worked for former teammate George Wright's sporting goods firm, Wright & Ditson, for several years before his 1903 death in Boston at age 57 of a stomach ulcer.
On Saturday September 9, 2017 The Leonard Family, Major League Baseball and The Society for American Baseball Research dedicated a monument for Andrew Leonard, one of the original ten professional baseball players at New Calvary Cemetery, 800 Harvard Street in Mattapan, Massachusetts. This is the second monument that MLB and SABR have erected in the United States.
Althea Gibson
popular name: Althea Gibson
date_of_death: September 28, 2003
age: 76
cause_of_death: Complications following respiratory and bladder infections
claim_to_fame: Sports
best_know_for: Althea Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title (the French Championships). The following year she won both Wimbledon and the US Nationals (precursor of the US Open), then won both again in 1958 and was voted Female Athlete of the Year by the Associated Press in both years. In all, she won 11 Grand Slam tournaments: five singles titles, five doubles titles, and one mixed doubles title. Gibson was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame and the International Women's Sports Hall of Fame.
