Junior Seau’s death only the latest for 1994 San Diego Chargers Super Bowl team

When Junior Seau died of a gunshot wound to the chest at the age of 43, he became the eighth member of San Diego’s 1994 AFC championship team to die before reaching the age of 45.

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Former NFL star linebacker Junior Seau (55) was found dead of a gunshot wound to the chest at his home in Oceanside California on Wednesday. Seau, 43, spent the first 13 seasons of his 20-year NFL career with the San Diego Chargers and helped lead the team's 1994 Super Bowl run. Seau became the eighth member of that Chargers team to die at a young age.

Sean M. Haffey | Union-Tribune /

Junior Seau, shown hoisting the Lamar Hunt Trophy after helping the New England Patriots to the 2008 AFC title, died Wednesday at his Oceanside, Calif. home. His is the latest in a tragic string of deaths involving players from the San Diego Chargers 1994 Super Bowl team.

Winslow Townson / AP

Defensive tackle Shawn Lee died of cardiac arrest in 2011. He was 44.

Jamie Squire / Getty Images

Center Curtis Whitley played for the Chargers from 1992-94. He died of a drug overdose in 2008 at the age of 39.

Craig Jones / Getty Images

Linebacker Doug Miller died when he was struck by two bolts of lightning in Colorado in July, 1998. Miller was 28 years old.

San Diego Union Tribune / SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

Defensive end Chris Mims played for five seasons in San Diego and retired from the NFL in 2000 after a nine-year career. He died of an enlarged heart in 2008. He was 38.

Doug Pensinger / Getty Images

Running back Rodney Culver played the final two seasons of his four-year NFL career with the Chargers. Culver and his wife, Karen, were among 110 people who died when a ValueJet plane crashed into the Florida Everglades shortly after takeoff in May, 1996. Culver was 26.

Kevin Terrell / NFL

Linebacker Lew Bush, who played seven seasons with the Chargers, died of an apparent heart attack last December. He was 42.

David Taylor / Getty Images

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