RICHES TO RAGS: Professional Athletes Who Went Flat Broke

Bad business investments. Drugs. Hookers. Divorce and child support. You name it, athletes have lost money because of it.

Chris McAlister recently petitioned the courts to lower his child support payments, claiming he's so broke he lives with his parents — despite signing a $55 million contract in 2004.

But McAlister is not alone, many other athletes have gone from millionaires to flat broke.

Dick "Night Train" Lane turned to drugs and lost about $5 million

Hall of Famer Dick "Night Train" Lane set quite a few records during his career, including one he still holds for most interceptions in a season.

Those records didn't help him retain his fortune however. He lost about $5 million when he became involved with drugs and alcohol and made some bad investments in real estate, the music industry and oversea scams. Lane eventually lost it all and spent the last years of his life in an assisted living facility.

Marion Jones lost about $7 million after secretly using steroids

The former holder of the "fastest woman in the world," lost her title, and her medals, when the world found out she used performance-enhancing drugs. Steroid use, combined with multiple run-ins with the government, including committing perjury to the IRS, cost Marion Jones about $7 million.

In attempt to revive her athletic career, Jones joined the WNBA in 2010, playing with the Tulsa Shock.

Rollie Fingers thought a pistachio farm would be a good idea and lost about $8 million.

The baseball star with the famous handlebar moustache was in 1992 the only second relief pitcher to be elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

He retired in 1985, after both Oakland and Milwaukee retired his jersey, and invested in pistachio farms, Arabian horses and wind turbines. In 1992, Fingers filed for bankruptcy. He paid his more-than-$4 million-debt by selling baseball cards and working and was eventually cleared in 2007 by the IRS. He still lost about $8 million though.

See the rest of the story at Business Insider

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See Also:

• Like Father, Like Son: The Most Famous Football Coaching Families
• PREMATURE ENDINGS: Athletes Whose Careers Were Derailed By Injuries
• The Colts Struggle Is Proving Peyton Manning Should Win MVP Every Year

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/businessinsider/sportspage/~3/LYCejEhBFxM/professional-athletes-broke-2011-9

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