Two former NFL players were found dead leading up to Super Bowl 60.
Super Bowl 60 took place on Sunday, February 8. The Seattle Seahawks topped the New England Patriots, 29-13, in a game that was never close. The Seahawks dominated the game from start to finish.
Leading up to the Super Bowl, the NFL was mourning the loss of two former players, both of whom were found dead in what are believed to be tragic accidents.
© Gregory Fisher-Imagn Images
Two former NFL players, Barry Wilburn and Kevin Johnson, were found deceased.
Wilburn played most notably for the Washington Redskins, winning a Super Bowl in the 1980s. He was an eighth round NFL Draft pick out of Ole Miss. He was found dead in Memphis, Tennessee.
Johnson, 55, played in the league from 1993 until 2001. He was an ArenaBowl champion in 1998.
Causes of death for the two former NFL players
Wilburn was killed in a house fire.
It happened in Orange Mound heading into Super Bowl weekend.
“Family and friends are mourning the loss of former NFL player and Super Bowl champion Barry Wilburn. Family confirms he was the victim of a house fire in Orange Mound early Friday morning,” Action News 5 confirmed.
“The Memphis Fire Department responded to a reported residential structure fire on Douglass Avenue in Orange Mound at around 2am Friday morning. They found an unresponsive victim in the rear hallway. He was pronounced dead at the scene.”
Johnson, meanwhile, was killed at a homeless encampment. He was killed from blunt force head trauma.
“Johnson, 55, was found Jan. 21 at a homeless encampment along a flood control channel in the Willowbrook area of South Los Angeles, suffering from what the sheriff’s department described as “head trauma,'” NBC News reported.
“The department said Tuesday night that three other homeless people have been killed in the area along East 120th Street on the southwestern edge of the Willowbrook community, all at homeless encampments along the same channel.”
Our thoughts continue to be with the friends and family members of all involved.