From Icons To Outcasts: Athletes Who Ruined Their Legacies

Legacy in sports is a very fragile thing. Years of hard work and dedication to excellence can be gone in the blink of an eye with one bad decision. Certain athletes know that feeling all too well. Here are once legendary athletes that destroyed their legacy. Adrian Peterson is seen by many as one of the greatest running backs in NFL history, which is why many choose to gloss over the fact that a video emerged of him violently beating his son with a stick in 2014. While he did not go to prison, he did do community service and spent time on probation and he lost a lot of fans in the process. Oscar Pistorius was a beloved figure in the athletics world and a role model to disabled athletes everywhere in his heyday. The South African's reputation was ruined by one fatal decision when in 2013 he shot and killed his wife Riva Steenkamp. He was later found guilty of murder and sentenced to over 13 years in prison. When news broke of quarterback Michael Vick's involvement in a dog fighting ring, his status as a marketable star went out the window. He served a jail sentence for his crimes and lost all of his sponsorships. And while his career continued after his sentence, it was never quite the same. Seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong was a generation defining talent and brought millions of new eyes to the sport of cycling. When he was caught for PED usage, he lost 150 million dollars worth of sponsorships in a single day and was stripped of all of his titles. NFL legend OJ Simpson was accused of the double homicide of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. And while he was not convicted, much of the public thought he was guilty. He was later convicted of armed robbery which left a permanent stain on his legacy.