10 Athletes Who Retired in Their Prime
Andrew Luck surprised the world by retiring from the NFL at 29 years old. Here are all the professional athletes retired in their peak.
Jan 5, 2019; Houston, TX, USA; Indianapolis Colts quarterback Andrew Luck (12) celebrates after defeating the Houston Texans during the AFC Wild Card at NRG Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
We’re all familiar with the prototype of the aging star athlete who holds onto the game too long. He’s built his identity around being an athlete, and he can’t imagine life away from his sport. He can’t wrap his head around being an Average Joe and can’t bring himself to hang ’em up. Examples quickly come to mind: Brett Favre, Mike Tyson, Shaquille O’Neal.
But every once in a while, an athlete takes the opposite course of action. Due to circumstances like injuries, personal convictions, or the psychological toll of the all-encompassing, high-pressure pro sports environment, some players retire while they still are considered in their prime. They could clearly earn millions more and remain on their platform for years to come, but they instead choose to retire and move on to the next phase of life. Though such a decision is understandable, reflecting on these guys’ careers often leaves us wondering, What if?
We’re talking about this, of course, because Andrew Luck shocked the NFL last weekend by announcing his retirement. Luck, 29, was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2012 draft, a four-time Pro Bowler, and the NFL's Comeback Player of the Year last season. Indeed, he had his best season as a pro in 2018, and he looked poised to lead the Colts into Super Bowl contention this year. But injuries had taken their toll on both his body and mind, and he was simply ready for something new.
“I've been stuck in this process,” said Luck. “I haven't been able to live the life I want to live. It's taken the joy out of this game. The only way forward for me is to remove myself from football. This is not an easy decision. It's the hardest decision of my life. But it is the right decision for me.”
Luck’s retirement got us thinking about other athletes who retired in their prime.
Michael Jordan
We're referring, of course, to MJ's first retirement from basketball. In October 1993, the GOAT shocked sports fans by announcing he was stepping away from the court, saying he had lost his love for the game. It later became clear that the death of his dad, who had been murdered three months earlier, played a big role in his decision.
Jordan didn't only shock fans by quitting basketball, though; he also did it by signing a minor-league baseball contract with the White Sox months later, in February 1994. His run on the diamond was short-lived. After putting up meager numbers at the plate (hint: Space Jam wasn’t all that exaggerated), MJ announced his return to hoops in March 1995, amid the MLB strike. He announced his return to the Bulls in classic MJ fashion, with a two-word press release that simply said, "I'm back."
And he was. Jordan led the Bulls to yet another three-peat from 1995-1998, led the league in scoring all three seasons, and won two more MVPs (1996 and 1998). He immediately resumed his mantle as the best player in the game.
His Airness retired from the NBA again in 1998, only to return with the Washington Wizards from 2001-2003. Jordan is now trying to lead the Charlotte Hornets back to their glory days as principal owner. That endeavor has been...less successful than his ventures on the court.
Jim Brown
Jim Brown is one of the greatest running backs in NFL history. It was clear he was special from his college days, as he starred at Syracuse in not only football, but also in basketball, lacrosse, and track and field.
The sixth pick in the 1957 NFL Draft, Brown blossomed into the league’s Rookie of the Year and a three-time MVP. During his celebrated career, which included a championship in 1964, Brown made nine Pro Bowls and was an eight-time first-team All-Pro.
Brown, now 83, is the oldest legend on this list. He averaged 5.2 yards per rush, second-best in league history among running backs, and he's the only back ever to average more than 100 rushing yards per game (104.3). He held the league's all-time rushing mark until Walter Payton broke it in 1984. Brown has now fallen all the way to 11th on the list, but he remains the Cleveland Browns’ all-time leading rusher.
But the numbers don’t tell the full story of Brown’s greatness. You had to see the way Brown ran to truly understand. You simply weren’t going to bring him down with one defender. His balance and power were second to none.
In his nine-year NFL career, Brown eclipsed 1,000 yards seven times. In his last season, 1965, he amassed 1,544 yards and 17 touchdowns, not to mention 34 catches for 328 yards and four touchdowns—so I guess you could say he was still putting up decent numbers when he called it quits. Brown was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1971.
Barry Sanders
Get this—Barry Sanders played 10 seasons in the NFL, and he made the Pro Bowl 10 times. Sanders was a four-time NFL rushing leader and remains renowned for his incredible agility and athleticism. Few runners have ever been able to make defenders look silly like Barry could. Seriously, just go back and watch this guy’s tape. His moves were outlandish.
Any discussion of the best RBs in league history has to include the Lions legend, who was a six-time first-team All-Pro. Yet he retired in 1999, only one year after winning league MVP and while still one of the biggest offensive threats in the NFL. In his final season, Barry rushed for 1,491 yards and four touchdowns. Because he retired so early in his career, he's still only 51 years old—nine years older than Tom Brady!
Sanders’ retirement was both shocking and controversial. He had signed a new, six-year deal with the Lions just two years earlier, so there were still four years left on the deal. The Lions demanded that he return some of his signing bonus, but the 1988 Heisman Trophy winner from Oklahoma State refused, so Detroit sued him. He ended up having to pay part of the bonus back to the team after the dispute went to court.
Though some have suggested then-Lions head coach Bobby Ross was the reason Sanders retired–contentious player-coach relationships have accelerated retirements in the past—Sanders has repeatedly denied that narrative and said he admired Ross.
Yao Ming
The No. 1 pick in the 2002 draft, Yao was a sensation from the time he stepped onto the NBA court. Though he was technically a rookie, Yao had already established himself as a star in the Chinese Basketball Association and on the international scene while playing for the Chinese national team.
Eager to test himself against the best competition in the world, he negotiated his release from the CBA’s Shanghai Sharks, allowing the Houston Rockets to select him. He led Houston to four NBA playoff appearances, pairing with Tracy McGrady to form one of the league's top duos. Yao made eight All-Star Games, earning recognition on the All-NBA second team twice and the All-NBA third team three times and battling with the league’s best centers like Shaq.
But in July 2011, at the age of 30, he announced his retirement due to a long history of foot and ankle injuries. He had missed significant time down the stretch of his career and played in only five games in 2010-11, as he suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle in December.
Following Yao’s big announcement in Shanghai, praise for him poured in, with then-commissioner David Stern calling the center a "bridge between Chinese and American fans." The 7’6” legend, one of the most beloved figures in all of sports, has made it his mission to expand basketball's popularity in his home country and has played a vital role in the NBA’s Asian expansion.
Yao was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2016, and the Rockets also retired his No. 11.
Calvin Johnson
Sigh. We miss you, Megatron.
A six-time Pro Bowler and three-time first-team All-Pro, Johnson broke Jerry Rice's record for receiving yards in a single season, putting up 1,964 yards with Matthew Stafford in 2012. For reference, that's almost 125 yards per game. This guy put up absolutely insane numbers. In his nine-year NFL career, he had seven thousand-yard campaigns, and in 2011 he posted 11 touchdowns. He holds NFL records for consecutive 100-yard games (eight, a mark tied by Adam Thielen) and consecutive games with double-digit receptions (four). CJ was a physical specimen, both at Georgia Tech and in the pros.
Fresh off another impressive season, however, Johnson surprisingly announced his retirement in March 2016, devastating dynasty fantasy football league managers.
Johnson said his body was wearing down after taking a beating throughout his career, but he later admitted that playing for the Lions, who realistically had no hope of winning a Super Bowl, also factored into his decision.
“I was stuck in my contract with Detroit, and they told me, they would not release my contract, so I would have to come back to them,” Megatron explained. “I didn't see the chance for them to win a Super Bowl at the time, and for the work I was putting in, it wasn't worth my time to keep on beating my head against the wall and not going anywhere.”
Rob Gronkowski
Is he done for good or not? That question has not been fully answered. For now, the answer is that he's retired...for now.
A four-time first-team All-Pro, Gronk is arguably the best tight end the league has ever seen (Tony Gonzalez belongs in the debate). Gronkowski played a vital role for the Pats from his first season, as the 6-foot-6, 270-pound beast from Arizona was picked up in the second round of the 2010 draft. (Talk about a steal for Bill Belichick & Co., who lucked out because back surgery caused Gronk to miss his junior season and fall in the draft.)
Gronk racked up 10 touchdowns as a rookie but his status really took off in his second season, as he hauled in 90 passes for 1,327 yards and 17 touchdowns and established himself as one of the league’s top receivers. Despite a rash of injuries caused by his physical style of play and other teams targeting him, Gronk maintained pace-setting productivity throughout his decorated nine-year career. In sum, he caught 521 balls and had 79 touchdowns.
There were rumors that he might retire ahead of the 2018 season, but he elected to come back for one more go-round and ended up playing a key role in helping the Pats to their third Super Bowl title of his career. Starting 11 games in 2018-19, Gronk caught 47 passes for 682 yards and three touchdowns. He wasn't a game-changing physical force like the Gronk we once knew, but he remained one of the league's better tight ends.
Gronk is only 30, and given his on-field chemistry and off-field friendship with Tom Brady, it wouldn't be shocking to see him return to the Pats at some point this season. But for the time being, he belongs in the discussion of athletes who retired with plenty left in the tank.
Brandon Roy
Roy, who’s now 35, could probably still be playing in the league if his body hadn't betrayed him. Drafted with the No. 6 pick in 2006 after a celebrated four-year career at Washington, Roy was a stud immediately upon entering the NBA. He won Rookie of the Year in 2006, with the voting nearly unanimous, and it only took him two years in the pros to make his first All-Star Game. He hit that vaunted mark three times during his five-year NBA career.
Roy dealt with knee injuries throughout his career dating back to college. His knees were often in pain due to a lack of cartilage. In January 2011, after his knees had bothered him early in the 2010-11 season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on both of his knees. He returned to come off the bench and even had a couple stellar performances in that year's postseason, but the surgery didn't remedy the root of the issues, and he announced ahead of the 2011-12 season that he was retiring.
For the 2012-13 season, Roy tried to make a comeback with the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he only made it five regular-season games before requiring surgery on his knee that effectively ended his career. He's now a high school head coach.
Patrick Willis
Willis is another guy who was a machine from the time he entered the pro level. The No. 11 pick in the 2007 draft out of Ole Miss, Willis racked up an astounding 174 tackles in his rookie campaign.
He made the Pro Bowl in each of his first seven seasons, and he was a five-time first-team All-Pro. However, he retired after his eighth season. He had battled a toe injury for most of that campaign and had played in only six games. Before that season, he had been a reliable figure for the 49ers' defense, playing in an average of 15 games per season.
In his eight-year career, Willis eclipsed 100 tackles six times. He also forced 16 fumbles in his career and played a central role in San Francisco’s run to the 2012-13 Super Bowl, which it narrowly lost to Joe Flacco, Ray Lewis, and the Baltimore Ravens.
Willis is now involved in the Silicon Valley tech scene.
"I don't want to rest on what I've done and let that keep me from doing what I want to do," Willis told Mashable in 2016. "I'd rather be reading something or diving into something and trying to figure it out...I still respect (football). But my mind is past it."
Bjorn Borg
Bjorn Borg is one of the greatest tennis players of all time. He emerged on the scene as a teenage phenom and, with his iconic long hair, propelled his sport's popularity to new heights in the 1970s.
Borg went on a prolific run, winning 11 Grand Slam titles between 1974-1981. He was seemingly untouchable, as his accomplishments both on and off the court were unprecedented. He became the first tennis player to eclipse $1 million in earnings in a single season and was also a highly sought-after endorser.
However, being the face of tennis was exhausting. He played in only one tournament in 1982, falling to Yannick Noah (Joakim Noah's dad), and then announced in January 1983 that he would be retiring at only 26 years old. It was a stunning move given his status at the time. Borg tried to make a comeback from 1991-1993, but he didn't win a single match. He had lost The Juice.
In 1987, Borg was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. He went on to success in the business world, founding a self-named fashion label that maintains immense popularity in his home country of Sweden.
John Urschel
The pride of Canisius High School, Urschel was noted for his incredible math acumen during his career. While playing guard for the Baltimore Ravens, Urschel—who earned bachelor's and master's degrees in math from Penn State—was pursuing a PhD from MIT, and his peer-reviewed research had been published in academic journals. Not exactly a conventional hobby for an NFL player.
Urschel received the William V. Campbell Trophy, AKA the Academic Heisman, while playing for the Nittany Lions. He had both brains and brawn. A fifth-round pick in 2014, Urschel was never a star on the NFL field, though, so he’s distinct from the others on this list in that sense. He played in 40 games in his NFL career and started 13 of them. In 2015, he started seven games.
He was clearly conflicted about his football involvement, as it was (and is) no secret what often happens to football players' brains after years of repeated blows to the head. Finally, after three years in the league, Urschel relented and announced his retirement. He noted CTE was a factor in his decision.
In announcing his retirement, Urschel said it "wasn't an easy decision" but he was convinced it was the right one. He added that he was looking forward to pursue his doctorate full-time at MIT and spending time with his fiancee, with whom he was expecting his first child. He was only 26 and had earned only $1.5 million in his career, so he clearly chose preserving his brain over the big bucks of pro football.