18 Years Ago, a Suicide Attempt by a Seattle Athlete

A Dallas police report indicates that Cowboys receiver Terrell Owens tried to kill himself last night.

One of Owens' most notorious stunts, signing a football with a pen after he scored a touchdown, happened in the first year of Seahawks Stadium. Since then, the guy's been pilloried from coast to coast.

We don't feel that it's particularly well-known, but one of Seattle's greatest athletes, Ken Griffey, Jr., also once attempted suicide.

In January of 1988, seven months after being the #1 pick in the MLB draft, and after a successful season of pro ball with the Bellingham Mariners, he swallowed 277 aspirin.

Said Griffey, in a 1992 piece by the Seattle Times' Bob Finnigan:

"Dad wanted me to pay rent or get my own place," the son said. "I was confused. I was hurting and I wanted to cause some hurt for others."

"It seemed like everyone was yelling at me in baseball, then I came home and everyone was yelling at me there," Griffey recalled. "I got depressed. I got angry. I didn't want to live."

He thought about killing himself a couple of times, he said, "with my father's gun or something."

"The aspirin thing was the only time I acted," he said. "It was such a dumb thing."

Griffey seems to ascribe his own suicide attempt to immaturity. He was 17. Terrell Owens is 32. But if there's one thing we can all agree on, it's that Terrell Owens is immature. And perhaps what Griffey told Bob Finnigan in 1992 is something that Owens, whatever dark place his mind inhabits, can learn from:

Looking back on the time he tried to kill himself, Junior says, "It scared all of us. It scared me for sure, but I didn't take the time to think.

"Kids shouldn't act impulsively. Talk to people. Go another way. Don't kill yourself. It ain't worth it and I'm a great example. No matter how bad it seems at the time, work your way through it. Who knows how your life is going to turn out?"