Ed Kea
Adriaan Jozef Kea was a Dutch-born Canadian ice hockey defenceman.
Born in Weesp, Netherlands, but raised in Collingwood, Ontario, Kea started his National Hockey League career with the Atlanta Flames. He also played with the St. Louis Blues. His career lasted from 1974 to 1983. Kea was the father of stand-up comedian Gabe Kea from Cincinnati, and uncle of Jeff Beukeboom and Joe Nieuwendyk.
He was playing for the Salt Lake Golden Eagles, the Blues' Central Hockey League affiliate in Salt Lake City in 1983 when he suffered severe head trauma as he fell and hit his head on the ice during a game. The injury left him physically and mentally disabled. Because he was playing in a minor league game, NHL benefits for catastrophic injuries did not apply to his case, and he and his family struggled financially for several years because he was unable to hold a job.
On September 1, 1999, Kea accidentally drowned at his family's summer home in Six Mile Lake, Ontario. He was 51. In 2012, Dave Bidini claimed in an opinion article for the National Post that Kea committed suicide due to undiagnosed injuries and concussions from his playing career.
