2. Raghib Ismail
Raghib “Rocket” Ismail signed the richest contract in North American football history, paying him $4.55 million per year to play with the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Unlike many other NFL stars, he didn’t blow away all his money on frivolous houses, cars, and nights out with friends. Rather, he threw away all his money on a sequence of bad and mismanaged investments.
How about that “rock n’ roll”-themed restaurant, of which he has no idea whatever happened to it? Or the millions he invested in faith-based inspirational movies and a record label? Or the cosmetic surgery idea to pump oxygen into the skin of people to make them look younger? At some point, his poor investments were beyond just a simple string of bad luck.
1. Bernie Kosar
A 2009 story by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette brilliantly summarized why former NFL quarterback Bernie Kosar eventually went bankrupt: “a bad economy, bad advice, a bad divorce and a bad habit of not being able to say ‘no’ have ravaged him.”
He declared bankruptcy that year, having only $44 in his checking account, making less than $1,200 per month in income, and owing more than 10 times that amount, per month, in child support (among other liabilities he was still responsible for). And this is all from a guy who has a wing named after him at the University of Miami’s business school.