Fact check: Claim about fitness pioneers dying early, vice pioneers living longer, misses mark

Ella Lee, USA TODAY
·6 min read

The claim: Several athletes and fitness pioneers died young, while inventors in the tobacco, alcohol and fast food industries lived much longer

It's long been tradition to create resolutions for the new year. But a post on Facebook suggests goals meant to better health or wellness aren't worth pursuing.

The post lists a number of inventors and industry pioneers, claiming the ones who sought healthy lifestyles died young, while proponents of purported vices died much older.

"How did smart people come to the conclusion that exercise prolongs life?" reads the Jan. 3 Facebook post, which received more than 400 likes and shares in 10 days. "The rabbit is always jumping up and down, but it lives for only two years, and the turtle, that doesn't exercise at all, lives for 400 years. So in 2022 chill, stay cool, eat, drink and enjoy your life!"

But the post gets many of the inventors' ages at death wrong, invalidating this line of thinking.

USA TODAY reached out to the Facebook user who shared the post for comment.

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Post gets most ages at death wrong

Inventor of the treadmill

William Staub invented the first at-home treadmill, selling early models under the brand name PaceMaster, according to his obituary in the New York Times. The precursor to the modern treadmill is credited to British engineer Sir William Cubitt. Cubitt created the "treadwheel" in 1818 as a device for forced labor in British prisons, but it was banned as inhumane there by 1900.

The post claims the inventor of the treadmill died at 54 years old. But Staub died at 96 , and Cubitt died at 76.

"Inventor" of gymnastics

Friedrich Ludwig Jahn – who invented the parallel bars, the rings, the balance beam, the horse and the horizontal bar – is considered the "father of modern gymnastics." Jahn died at 74 years old. The post claimed he died at 57.

"World bodybuilding champion"

It's unclear who the post is referring as the "world bodybuilding champion," as there is not one, sole world champion.

Since 1965, there have been 15 champions of the Mr. Olympia contest, the world's premier men's bodybuilding competition. Of those winners who have died, all but one lived well into their 70s. Shawn Rhoden, the 2018 winner, died in November 2021 from a heart attack at 46, according to TMZ and the strength sport news site Generation Iron.

The post claims the supposed world champion died at age 41.

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The "best footballer in the world," Diego Maradona

The post claims Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona died at 60 years old, and that's true. The athlete died of a heart attack in November 2020 just two weeks after being released from a Buenos Aires hospital following brain surgery, ESPN reported.

James Fuller Fixx, who popularized running

The post claims that James Fuller Fixx, who popularized jogging for exercise with his book "The Complete Book of Running," died of a heart attack at 52 while on a run.

That's true. Obituaries by the New York Times and the Washington Post both confirm Fixx died on a solo jog in Vermont in July 1984.

Kentucky Fried Chicken inventor

Colonel Harland Sanders, whose fried chicken recipe spurred the creation of the global chicken chain Kentucky Fried Chicken, died in Louisville, Kentucky, in December 1980. He was 90 years old – not 94, as the post purports.

Cigarette maker "Charles Winston"

There is no cigarette maker named "Charles Winston," but there is a cigarette brand called Winston. The brand was owned by the R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., whose namesake, Richard Joshua Reynolds, died at 68.

The company's first filter-tip cigarettes, Winston Cigarettes, were introduced in 1954, when the company was run by Bowman Gray Jr. and John C. Whitaker. Gray died at 62, and Whitaker died at 86. The post claimed the cigarette maker died at the age of 102.

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"Inventor" of opium

The post claims the "inventor of opium" died at 116, not from old age but in an earthquake. Opium, a drug derived from the opium poppy, has been known and used for more than 7,000 years, according to History Today. It has no known "inventor."

Hennessy whiskey creator

Richard Hennessy is thought to have founded the brandy firm Hennessy Cognac after being injured at the Battle of Fontenoy.

It's unclear when exactly Hennessy was born, though a number of records show he was born in the 1720s. He died in 1800, by that mark, in his 70s. The post claims Hennessy died at 98.

Hugh Hefner

The post claims Hugh Hefner, who created Playboy magazine, "died at 90 on the job or shortly thereafter." Hefner died in September 2017 at his home, the Playboy Mansion, according to his obituary by the New York Times. He was 91.

The rabbit and the turtle

The post also claims that rabbits – which are "always jumping up and down" – live for just two years, while turtles – which "don't exercise at all" – live for 400 years. That's not quite right.

Judith Pierce, adoptions director at the San Diego House Rabbit Society, told PetMD that domestic rabbits usually live between eight and 12 years, while wild rabbits may only live a few years due to natural circumstances.

Turtles do live vastly longer, but not as long as the post suggests. Most turtles live between 25 and 100 years, on average living around 40 years in captivity, according to PetMD.

Our rating: Partly false

Based on our research, we rate PARTLY FALSE the claim that several athletes and fitness pioneers died young, while inventors in the tobacco, alcohol and fast food industries lived much longer. Most of the inventors and pioneers named died at different ages than described in the post. Notably, many of the inventors connected to vices died younger than the post claimed, while many connected to fitness lived much longer.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fact check: Partly false post about inventors' death ages