Players you know that dealt with Depression/Anxiety during or after their careers

[Islanders4Life*]

As for Bryan Trottier I'm not sure if its true but did he invest a ton of money into Hockey rinks across New York State only to lose most of his money? To me that coudl easily start depression. I seem to remember something about that.

Yea Trottier filed for bankrupcy a few years back and he talked about how he was contemplating suicide

 

[mcphee]

Yea Trottier filed for bankrupcy a few years back and he talked about how he was contemplating suicide

I believe Trottier spoke of this awhile after the fact. He said that there was a time after his financial problems piled up that he while driving his car, for an instant he thouyght that it may be easier if he just turned off the highway into a tree or a wall or something. He described it as an instant, not a period of time where he sat contemplating suicide. When he described the instant, it was reported differently. Just wanted to clarify how Trottier spoke of that time in his life.

 

[Snap Wilson]

Who's mask it that moneyp?

Dunno. It's just a pic I found on the internet in order to cheer the U.S. on to an 8th place finish.

 

[MiamiScreamingEagles]

Just on a serious note does anyone know any Hockey players who suffered from depression at any time? I know Ron Ellis is the most famous case of that I believe. I'm not sure if it was during his playing career with the Leafs or not, but I know after Hockey he went through depression (who wouldnt if your playing under Harold Ballard). In fact he's spoken publicly on that several times and I can remember a recent commercial he did regarding two big accomplishments in his life, one was winning the Stanley Cup and the other was beating clinical depression. Then he picked up the certificate he got for beating depression and said: "this one by far was the toughest."

Terry Sawchuk is another one that comes to mind, of course during his playing career he was often known as moody and isolated. Marcel Pronovost once said he was like that so he didnt have to deal with people, that way they kept their distance. I've heard it was bad nerves that Sawchuk had.

Not sure why some players go into depression, I guess they are just like anyone else, but I would think the causes might be that after Hockey they dont have anything to do, or that even with the money they make they still cant find happiness

I am reading Jim Jackson's "Walking Together Forever" book, about the members of the Flyers' Stanley Cup winning teams. He mentions each player in a chapter dedicated to their careers, the days that followed their retirement and their current occupations. Seems like a few players went through "What do I do now?" phase and some had it worse than others like Reggie Leach and his bout(s) with alcohol. Leach is now a successful landscaper. Bill "Cowboy" Flett, who is now deceased (1999, liver transplant), was involved in an auto accident while playing with the Oilers (79-80 season) that left his son physically and mentally damaged (his son did eventually perform and win the giant slalom and downhill in the Special Olympics). Gary Dornhoefer mentions wanting to "drive his car into a wall" when his wife asked for a divorce. He went to Australia for a month to cool off. He eventually remarried and he shares a love of animals with his current wife (they are active in a Greyhound Assoc. and have multiple pets). Rick MacLeish (heart attack and diabetes) eventually remarried after a divorce and is now a grandfather which helps keep him balanced. Bill Clement (who says all he had left financially was 40 $100 bills stashed away) went through serious bouts of uncertainty and a friend recommended a book called "Think and Grow Rich" which Clement says altered his life for the better. In December 1990, Ed Van Impe's daughter died in a car crash and Van Impe maintains that he was drunk every day for the next three years but was aided when his wife contacted the Flyers' team doctor who recommended detox.

 

[Form and Substance]

A lot of junior-midget aged players deal with depression. For some of these kids playing away from home in a pressure cooker, the sense of dislocation and isolation can be overwhelming. To survive as an athlete, you need a certain psychological filter which is why I never made it to the big leagues despite my generational talent.

 

[Malefic74]

Not sure if it qualifies as the kind of anxiety you guys are talking about, but Bill Durnan retired because his nerves were shot. He only played 7 years in the league, and towards the end of the 1949-50 season he suffered a deep cut to the scalp as a result of a blow from an opposing player's skate during a game against the Black Hawks at Chicgo. Durnan missed several games, but he came back at the beginning of the series against the New York Rangers, and it was in the middle of that series that he asked to be replaced.

Of the pressures and nerves Bill said a few years later: "I felt so bad that I could not sleep on the eve of a game. I could not even digest my food. This type of agony is unequalled."

 

[Form and Substance]

Not sure if it qualifies as the kind of anxiety you guys are talking about, but Bill Durnan retired because his nerves were shot. He only played 7 years in the league, and towards the end of the 1949-50 season he suffered a deep cut to the scalp as a result of a blow from an opposing player's skate during a game against the Black Hawks at Chicgo. Durnan missed several games, but he came back at the beginning of the series against the New York Rangers, and it was in the middle of that series that he asked to be replaced.

Of the pressures and nerves Bill said a few years later: "I felt so bad that I could not sleep on the eve of a game. I could not even digest my food. This type of agony is unequalled."

He also made good on his promise that he would retire if he didn't win the cup in his last year.

 

[Tb0ne]

Brian Fogarty had an extreame case of social anxiety from what I've read. Too bad the people around him didn't realise it.