Athletes on the front lines: the athletes who left the courts to go to war

Since the 20th century, the history of sport and war has constantly intersected. Professional athletes who are forced to enlist or who do so voluntarily putting patriotism before life. Many have died on the battlefield, some managed to return and regain glory, while others were never able to resume their sporting activity.

The case of the former Olympic champion of Ethiopia Haile Gebrselassie it is added to the long list of athletes who took up arms. On Wednesday, the 48-year-old medalist, who set 27 long-distance records, will join his country’s Army to fight rebel forces in the area of Tigray, in a conflict that has already left thousands of deaths and has forced more than two million people to leave their homes.

“What do you do when the existence of a country is at stake? You drop everything. Unfortunately, nothing ties you down “, he confessed to Reuters.

These are some cases of athletes who went to war since the beginning of the 20th century:

Donald Bell (Great Britain, World War I)

Bradford City defender Donald Bell is considered the first professional soccer player to join the English army. Bell participated in the famous Battle of the Somme, one of the longest and bloodiest of the First World War (1914-1918), where he finally died in 1916 at the age of 25.

The second lieutenant was the only English professional footballer to receive the Victoria Cross, his country’s highest military award for bravery.

Bell’s story serves to tell how about 2,000 English professional footballers ended up enlisted in the Great War. When the conflict broke out, only those players who had the consent of their clubs could be called up to the ranks, permission that was almost not given, which generated a great debate in English society at that time.

Due to pressure, that consent was lifted and hundreds of first and second division footballers began to be recruited, including entire teams from Arsenal, Manchester United and West Ham United.

Foy Drapper (United States, World War II)

The American athlete was a member of the 4×100 meter quartet that won the gold medal at the 1936 Berlin Games alongside the historic Jesse Owens. In World War II he was a fighter pilot and his missions focused on North Africa.

The Spanish journalist Ángel Cruz, in his blog Carros de Fuego, recalls that on January 4, 1943, Drapper participated in a bombing in Tunisia, but was shot down and died along with his two crewmates.

Bob Feller (United States, World War II)

The Iowa-born baseball player was one of the most recognizable pitchers in the Major Leagues. On December 8, 1941, the Cleveland Indians pitcher voluntarily enlisted in the US Navy, becoming the first Major League Baseball player to go to World War II after the Pearl Harbor attack, which occurred on December 7. .

Due to his participation in the war, especially on Iwo Jima, Feller lost four seasons. Upon his return, he resumed his sports career. He was awarded 5 ribbons and 8 combat stars. He is the only one with the military rank of Chief Petty Officer who belongs to the Baseball Hall of Fame. He died in 2010 in Ohio.

Al Blozis (United States, World War II)

The son of Lithuanian immigrants, Blozis was a complete athlete. At Georgetown University he not only stood out as a footballer but also as an athlete in different disciplines, being considered in 1941 by the UPI agency as one of the three most outstanding athletes in the country. Eventually, the New York Giants football team called him up and he became one of their main attackers.

However, he was enlisted and participated in World War II. He died at the age of 26 during the Battle of the Ardennes, in 1945.

Blozis was one of 638 NFL players who served in that war. Of them, 355 were officers, 66 were decorated and 21 perished in combat.

Rocky Bleier (United States, Vietnam War)

The 75-year-old legendary footballer was one of the Pittsburgh Steelers’ key players and won four Super Bowl titles with the team. In 1968 he was enlisted to serve in the Vietnam War as an infantryman.

In August 1969, he was seriously wounded in both legs when he received a blast from a submachine gun. He lost part of his right foot and was flown to Tokyo for recovery.

After being decorated by the military, he rejoined the Pittsburgh Steelers, where he ended his career in 1980.

Pat Tillman (US, Afghanistan War)

Shortly after the attacks of September 11, 2001, Arizona Cardinals defender Paty Tillman abandoned his rising professional career and decided to voluntarily enlist in the Army, serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He died in 2004 on a mission in Afghanistan, near the Pakistani border, a victim of friendly fire.

Abdel Baset al Sarout (Civil War in Syria)

Until 2011, the goalkeeper was a celebrity in the Syrian Premier League playing for Al Kamara. However, his career was cut short after that year’s popular uprising against the Bashar al Assad regime.

Al Sarout became an icon of the protests against the regime and ended up taking up arms to fight against the government’s military forces.

Al Sarout perished in June 2019 at the age of 27 during fighting in the northwest of the country. Although there were rumors that he had joined the ranks of the Islamic State, the former archer did not become part of the then caliphate.

Omar de Felippe (Argentina, Falklands War)

He had just turned 20 years old and was about to finish the tests in Huracán to be part of the professional team. But the Army’s call interrupted his expectations and changed his destiny.

De Felippe was drafted and fought in the Falklands War in 1982.

“I don’t close my eyes to remember, I do it while awake. These are situations that I experienced and will always be present: starving, suffering cold, being decomposed, having to steal to eat, having to eat the fat that was left over, hearing the first bomb, throwing all the bullets “, De Felippe told La Nación de Argentina.

After the war, Huracán gave him the opportunity again and played for the club for two seasons. Then for Arsenal, Once Caldas, Villa Miter, Rosario and Olimpo, where he retired in 1994. Since then, he has been technical director of various Argentine teams, including Vélez and Newell’s.

Like him, dozens of soccer players were recruited and were among the more than 23,000 fighters who had to go to the Falklands War. Some survived and resumed their careers, while others returned with trauma, wounded or died on the battlefield.