Leon Bender was an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 defensive tackle. He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders

Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...

 in the 1998 NFL Draft

1998 NFL Draft

The 1998 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 18-19, 1998...

 out of Washington State

Washington State University

Washington State University is a public research university based in Pullman, Washington, in the Palouse region of the Pacific Northwest. Founded in 1890, WSU is the state's original and largest land-grant university...

 in the second round. However, on May 30, 1998, five weeks after the draft, Bender died and would never play an NFL game. Bender graduated in 1993 from Santana High School in Santee, California.

Death

Bender was found dead on May 30, 1998 in the home of Terry Bolar in Marietta, Georgia

Marietta, Georgia

Marietta is a city located in central Cobb County, Georgia, United States, and is its county seat.As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 56,579, making it one of metro Atlanta's largest suburbs...

. Bender was visiting Bolar, an associate of Eugene Parker, Bender's agent. The Cobb County (Ga.) medical examiner's office confirmed on June 10, that a seizure disorder was the cause of death.

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