10 Athletes with Serious Debt

All professional athletes make a lot of money and most of them handle the responsibility fairly well. From time to time you’ll witness a very generous athlete who donates to charity, etc. Unfortunately, there are also some bone heads out there that are so poor with their money, TPH couldn’t help but include them on our Top 10 list of “10 Athletes with Serious Debt.”

John Daly

John Daly has always been regarded as a “good guy” with unreached potential by both his peers and the media. Daly’s reputation is special considering the man has made so many poor lifestyle choices. Daly has battled alcoholism his entire career, yet that is the least of his problems. His biggest vice is gambling, with a reported $50-$60 million lost at the tables. The gambling debt has taken most of Daly’s professional winnings, sponsorship money, and forced him into doing corporate appearances to make ends meet. Also not helping the finances: Daly has been married (and divorced) four times.

Evander Holyfield

Boxers are notorious for poor spending habits and a couple make this list. Holyfield nearly lost his $10 million mansion in a suburb of Atlanta, because he had defaulted on the loan he used to purchase the palace. Holyfield was also sued for falling behind on two months of child support, as well as “called out” for over half a million dollars of services he still owed to a landscaping firm.

Travis Henry

Former professional football player Travis Henry used protection on the field with pads and a helmet, but appeared to decline when in the sheets. How else would you explain the nine different children Henry has fathered, all of which are from different baby mamas. Even his lawyer admits that Henry is in deep financial loss (which is never good). Henry is currently paying an estimated $170,000 in child support each year, and it’s left him broke.

Jack Clark

Jack Clark, a former four-time baseball All-Star, owned a fleet of 18 automobiles before he filed for bankruptcy in 1992. Professional athletes do file for bankruptcy from time to time, but what made Clark’s case so interesting was the fact that he was still playing for the Boston Red Sox at the time of the report. At the time Clark filed for bankruptcy, he still owed money on 17 of his 18 automobiles, with a debt of over $11.4 million and assets of nearly $4.8 million.

Joe Louis

Joe Louis, quite possibly the greatest heavyweight boxer of all-time, had his heart set in the proper direction but constantly battled Uncle Sam. When Louis became successful, the top income tax level was 79%, and then during WWII, it rose as high as 90%. Louis donated money from two fight purses to the Navy Relief Fund and the Army Relief Fund, but those contributions were unable to be deducted, further complicating his tax problems.

After his initial retirement, Louis’ debt forced him to attempt a comeback in 1950 - but with a 90% tax rate, the comeback would not solve his financial woes. By the end of the ’50s, Louis owed over $1 million in back taxes. In attempts to make money, Louis turned to professional wrestling and appearances on quiz shows. Finally, Louis even took a job greeting tourists at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas to try to pay down his debts.

Bjorn Borg

Borg was notorious for making poor business decisions. Take for example, his plan to sell five of his Wimbledon trophies, along with two of his rackets for extra income. This may not sound like a bad idea, however the news sparked an outcry from fans and fellow tennis players, which convinced Borg to keep the trophies. Unfortunately, Borg had already given the trophies to the auction house, which meant he had to buy them back.

Borg’s company, Bjorn Borg Design Group, also filed for bankruptcy in 1989. One of his major problems was that he lived in Sweden where they endorsed a high tax rate. Borg eventually learned his lesson and moved to tax-free Monaco – quite possibly the smartest move he ever made.

O.J. Simpson

Who would have ever guessed that O.J. Simpson also made poor financial decisions? In 2007, the state of California released their Delinquent Taxpayers list and according to the record, Simpson owed $1,435,484.17 in personal income past due taxes. We could go on and on, but is Simpson really worth the time?

Michael Vick

In 2006, Sports Illustrated estimated that Michael Vick made $25.4 million. Now, Vick owes well over $10 million to a variety of different companies. Vick once humorously told a judge that he would work off the sum by doing construction at $10 an hour. Now, I really suck at math, but at $10 an hour, Vick would pay off the $10 million in under 500 years. Lucky for him, the Philadelphia Eagles decided to give him another chance.

Latrell Sprewell

Sprewell once famously declared, “I have a family to feed,” after he turned down a three-year, $21 million dollar NBA contract. In August of 2007, a federal marshal seized his $1.5 million yacht after Sprewell had failed to pay his mortgage on the boat. Last year, the bank foreclosed his home in River Hills, Wisconsin and the state later filed a lawsuit for unpaid taxes. We really feel bad for him.

Mike Tyson

Tyson was very, very good at boxing (won a reported $300 million over his career from matches), but even better at spending money. In 2003, he filed for bankruptcy. His debt reached over $27 million, about half of which was to the IRS.

It’s hard to feel bad for a guy who owned two Bengal tigers for $140,000 apiece, and also paid a trainer to supervise the specialty pets for another $125,000 a year. Tyson also spent a reported $4.5 million on vehicles and a bathtub for his first wife that exceeded $2 million dollars.