There's a reason why we love athletes so much.
They put their bodies on the line to entertain, amaze, and push the limits of what people
are capable of.
But they're all still human, and their stories eventually end.
Here are the sports stars both old and young who passed away in 2018.
In the 2017 college football season, Washington State finished with a 9-3 record, good enough
for a spot in the Holiday Bowl.
The effort was helped with some impressive play from backup quarterback Tyler Hilinski,
who ended up starting in the game after regular QB Luke Falk was injured.
It was an impressive showing for Hilinski, who threw more than 200 passes as a freshman
and sophomore and was a virtual lock to become the team's first-string QB
Tragically, just a few weeks after the Holiday Bowl, Hilinski passed away.
On January 16, Hilinski missed a team practice, prompting police to perform a welfare check
at his apartment.
Hilinski was found dead in his apartment, having apparently taken his own life at the
age of 21.
Rasual Butler was a journeyman player in the NBA, spending time on many teams over the
course of a 13-season career.
His best stretch as a player came in the 2009 and '10 season, when the small forward and
shooting guard averaged 11.9 points per game for the Los Angeles Clippers.
Butler retired in 2016 to live in Los Angeles with his wife, R&B singer Leah LaBelle.
On January 31, both Butler and LaBelle lost their lives in a single-vehicle crash.
While driving at 2:30 am, Butler reportedly lost control of his Range Rover, with the
vehicle hitting a wall at high speed.
He was 38 years old.
Edwin Jackson was only just getting started in the NFL when he passed away.
The linebacker signed with the Indianapolis Colts in 2016, playing in all 16 regular-season
games, where he recorded 42 tackles.
The Colts placed Jackson on their injured reserve list for 2017, which set him up to
make a big splash in 2018.
But instead, tragedy struck.
Jackson lost his life in a roadside accident in the early morning of February 4.
Reportedly, Jackson was getting an Uber ride home, when he began to feel ill.
His driver, 54-year-old Jeffrey Monroe, pulled over to the side of the road on Indianapolis'
Interstate 70 so that Jackson could get out.
While standing on the side of the road, both men were struck and killed by a repeat offender
drunk driver.
Jackson was only 26.
Hal Greer was a formative figure in the NBA, popularizing the sport of basketball with
his on-court heroics.
His career spanned 15 years from 1958 to 1973, and he spent every minute of it with the Philadelphia
76ers.
Despite decades' worth of competitive company, Greer is still the team's all-time leader
in points scored, games played, and field goals.
He was named to 10 All-Star teams, led the team to the 1967 NBA Championship, and was
the first Sixer to have his number retired.
He passed away in April at the age of 81.
It's not easy to earn a nickname like "the Living Legend," but Bruno Sammartino was just
that good.
The influential wrestler immigrated to the United States from Italy as a child, landing
in Pittsburgh.
Small in stature and knowing little English, he responded to bullying by becoming a weightlifter
and bodybuilder, setting a world record bench-press of 565 pounds in 1959.
Starting in 1960, Sammartino wrestled with Capitol Wrestling Corporation, owned by Vince
McMahon Senior.
He went over the top in 1963 when he contended for the heavyweight championship in the World
Wide Wrestling Federation — which would later come to be known as the WWE.
He wrestled against the legendary "Nature Boy," Buddy Rogers, winning the match in an
astounding 48 seconds.
He held that heavyweight title until 1971, which still remains the longest-held championship
in WWE history.
Sammartino retired from grappling in 1981, and in 1984 returned to the WWF as a color
commentator.
He died in April at the age of 82.
A 10th-round draft pick out of Clemson University, Dwight Clark was a 6-foot-4 receiver who played
for the San Francisco 49ers for the entirety of his nine-season NFL career.
He ranks near the top of all-time franchise lists for catches, yards, and touchdown receptions.
But Clark will always be remembered by Bay Area sports fans for a legendary play known
simply as "The Catch."
His performance put the 49ers up 28 to 27, and made them NFC champions, on their way
to the first of five Super Bowl victories in the '80s and '90s. Clark died on June 4
after a nearly two-year battle with Lou Gehrig's disease.
He was 61.
The son of Jerry "The King" Lawler, Brian Lawler wrestled under the name Brian Christopher.
The sport was in his blood, and he enjoyed huge success during the WWE's late '90s "Attitude
Era" under the name Grandmaster Sexay.
He was a member of the Too Cool tag team alongside Scotty 2 Hotty and Rikishi.
Wrestling with trendy hip-hop style, the trio won the Tag Team title in 2000.
In early July, Memphis police arrested Lawler for driving under the influence and evading
arrest, just a month after nabbing him for allegedly skipping out on a hotel bill.
Tragically, Lawler took his own life in his Memphis jail cell.
Officers performed CPR and paramedics took him to a hospital, but it was too late - the
wrestler died at the age of 46.
After coming up in South Carolina's dirt track circuit, David Pearson gave professional stock
car racing a try, becoming NASCAR's Rookie of the Year in 1960.
The following year, he won the 1961 World 600 after blowing a tire, lurching over the
finish line with a wire rim scraping on the ground.
In 1966, he won 15 of 42 races, with his gray hair earning him the name "The Silver Fox."
In the '70s, races often felt like a two-man contest between Pearson and rival Richard
Petty.
His career total of 105 wins is second only to Petty's, even though he only started in
about half as many races.
In a 1999 Sports Illustrated poll, Pearson was named NASCAR Driver of the Century, and
in 2011, he was enshrined in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
The Silver Fox passed away on November 12 at the age of 83.
Jim Neidhart was known by a few names during his professional wrestling career, which came
during a time of extreme popularity for the sport in the 80s and early '90s.
He was known to many as "The Anvil," and was also a member of the legendary tag team collective
the Hart Foundation - a play on his own last name and that of his most frequent teammate,
Bret "Hitman" Hart.
Together with the Hitman, Neidhart was among the most recognizable faces in the ring.
Neidhart died at his home in Florida on August 13, hitting his head after a fall.
He was 63 years old.
Typically, pro racers only stick to one circuit - but Dan Gurney wasn't a typical driver.
Not only is Gurney one of the few drivers good enough to race at the top levels of NASCAR,
IndyCar, and Formula One, he's the first person to ever win a race in all three.
He also won the 24-hour Le Mans endurance race in 1967 with team member A.J.
Foyt - which is where he started the now common trend of celebrating a big win with a spray
of champagne.
Gurney died from complications of pneumonia at age 86 in January.
Yankees power hitter Oscar Gamble posted respectable stats during his playing career, but he became
a legend thanks to his wonderful head of hair.
It's commonly accepted that the man rocked one of the best afros this side of Billy Preston.
That huge dome of hair spilling out from under his baseball cap, along with his actual hitting
statistics, made Gamble one of the most iconic baseball players of the '70s.
Gamble's career stretched from 1969 to 1985, and saw him rack up nearly 1,200 hits, 200
home runs, a .265 batting average, and a devilish 666 RBIs.
He died of complications from a rare jaw tumor at the age of 68, passing away in January.
If you're a fan of the Montreal Expos, then you know the name of Rusty Staub.
He started with the team in 1969, the team's first season as a part of the MLB.
He served as a de facto ambassador for Canadian baseball, even learning French to better endear
himself to fans in Quebec, who affectionately nicknamed the redhead "Le Grand Orange."
Staub was a six-time All-Star, and later played for a few more teams, including the New York
Mets.
He died of a heart attack at age 73 on March 29.
If you ever took a taekwondo class in a strip-mall dojo, then you've got Jhoon Rhee to thank
for it.
Regarded in the United States as "the father of taekwondo," Grandmaster Rhee was an influential
figure in the growth of martial arts.
After emigrating from Korea in the 1950s, he opened his first American studio in Washington
D.C. in 1962.
At his career's height, he oversaw 11 different studios in the D.C. area.
Unlike other mid-century martial arts figures, Rhee didn't pursue film work, despite his
10th-degree black belt.
He starred in just one movie, 1973's When Taekwondo Strikes, alongside his friend Bruce
Lee.
Rhee passed away in April at the age of 86.
There may never be another person who loves baseball as much as Albert "Red" Schoendienst
did.
The athlete spent an astounding 76 years in professional baseball, beginning his long
career with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1945.
After stints with the New York Giants and Milwaukee Braves, Schoendienst returned to
St. Louis in 1961 for the last three years of his playing career.
After he retired as a player, he worked as a team coach and then a manager, and finally
the team special assistant - a title he would hold for virtually the rest of his life.
He could still be seen hitting balls in fielding practice when he was in his eighties.
He was enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1989, and lived to the age of 95 before
passing away on June 6.
Ray Emery stuck it out in front of the net for 11 seasons as an NHL goaltender.
The man they nicknamed "Razor" spent five years with the Ottawa Senators, playing with
the team during its first Stanley Cup appearance in 2007.
Emery also had stints with the Philadelphia Flyers and the Anaheim Ducks, and helped the
Chicago Blackhawks through their 2012-13 Stanley Cup championship season.
The following season produced one of Emery's most memorable moments: a rare goalie-on-goalie
fight with Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals, which led to a bench-clearing brawl.
On July 15, Emery went to Lake Ontario, near his hometown of Hamilton, to swim with friends.
He disappeared under the water and tragically drowned at the age of 35.
Hockey player Stan Mikita first hit the ice in 1958 for the Blackhawks and played his
entire career in Chicago.
Stan Mikita retired after a 22-season NHL career in 1980, and decades later he remains
the all-time leading scorer in Chicago Blackhawks franchise history with 1,467 points.
That puts him in a very impressive 14th place on the all-time NHL list.
His accomplishments include two Hart Trophies, four Art Ross Trophies, and the 1961 Stanley
Cup championship.
The Hall of Famer died on August 7 at the age of 78.
Tommy McDonald was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in 1957 NFL Draft, with many other
teams thinking the 175-pound man was too small to play in the big leagues.
They were all wrong.
McDonald suited up for five teams over his career, but his best years came in the City
of Brotherly Love.
In 1960, he teamed up with quarterback Norm Van Brocklin to hand the legendary Vince Lombardi
his only championship game loss.
The following season, McDonald led the league with 1,144 receiving yards and 13 touchdowns.
He retired in 1968 after 12 seasons.
Thirty years later, he became the smallest player ever enshrined in the Pro Football
Hall of Fame.
McDonald lived to the age of 84, with his death being announced on September 24.
MLB Hall of Famer Willie McCovey played for a few teams during his 22-year career, but
he spent most of his time with the San Francisco Giants.
That's also where he amassed most of his tremendous accomplishments.
He was the 1959 Rookie of the Year and the 1969 National League MVP.
He led the National League in home runs three times, hitting 18 career grand slams - which
is still a National League record.
When it was all said and done for Willie Mac in 1980, he'd whacked 521 balls out of the
park, leaving him at 20th on the all-time home run list.
The Giants have honored McCovey in several ways, with an annual Willie Mac Award being
given to the squad's most inspirational player.
When the team moved into a new ballpark in 2000, a body of water just outside the park
where home runs tend to land was named McCovey Cove.
He passed away on October 31 at the age of 80.
These athletes aren't the only ones we said goodbye to in 2018.
We'll also take a moment to remember...
If you or anyone you know is having suicidal thoughts, please call the National Suicide
Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255).