Sean Taylor became the latest former University of Miami player to be touched by tragedy when he was shot in his home Monday. Ten other incidents during the past two decades:

• Dec. 14, 1989: Kevin Gibbs, the Hurricanes' second-year freshman running back, died at SW 110th St. and South Dixie Highway when the car he was riding in crashed into a metal utility pole, killing him instantly. Gibbs, who attended Coral Gables High, was 20.

• May 3, 1992: Shane Curry, the former Hurricanes standout defensive lineman, was shot in the head after 1:30 a.m. during an argument over a blocked vehicle in a parking lot outside Brandy's Lounge in Cincinnati. Curry, 24, died an hour later. Police charged a 15-year-old boy with felonious assault. Curry was going to be entering his second season with the Indianapolis Colts.

• June 25, 1992: Jerome Brown, one of the greatest defensive linemen in Canes history, lost control of his Corvette after he left a dealership in Brooksville, Fla. The car hit a utility pole and flipped, killing the 27-year-old Brown -- who played for the Philadelphia Eagles -- and his 12-year-old nephew.

• April 13, 1996: Marlin Barnes, a Hurricanes linebacker at the time, and friend Timwanika Lumpkins were murdered in a UM campus apartment complex. Labrant Dennis, Lumpkins' ex-boyfriend, was convicted of fatally beating them to death. Barnes and Lumpkins were 22.

• May 11, 1996: Robert Woodus, the former UM offensive lineman, died in the ValuJet airline that crashed into the Everglades. Woodus, who was en route to North Carolina to spend the weekend with his girlfriend, quit the team in November 1995 after missing most of the season with a knee injury. Woodus was 23.

• Feb. 16, 2002: Chris Campbell, the former Canes linebacker who had completed his eligibility, died when his car struck a tree in Coral Gables. He had been engaged to Tombi Bell, sister of Phoenix Suns (and former FIU guard) Raja Bell. Campbell was 21.

• March 20, 2003: Al Blades, the former UM safety, died when the car in which he was a passenger struck a bridge abutment and plunged into a canal. Witnesses said the car was racing with another car on Northwest 22nd Ave. in Miami. Blades was 26.

• April 26, 2005: Stanley Shakespeare, the former UM receiver who was on the program's first national-championship team in 1983, drowned when a wave knocked him overboard as he returned to Jupiter Inlet from a fishing trip. He was 42.

• Nov. 7, 2006: Bryan Pata, a senior defensive tackle, was murdered in his apartment complex in Kendall. He was 22. The case remains unsolved.

• Sept. 9, 2007: Buffalo and former UM tight end Kevin Everett fractured his cervical spine in a game, and doctors initially called it a ''life-threatening injury'' and had doubts about whether Everett would walk again. But Everett has made a wonderful recovery, and NBC reported last week that he has been able to walk ``to an extent.''

-- BARRY JACKSON

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