Police in North Carolina say one of the most celebrated names in X Games, Dave Mirra, has died in North Carolina at the age of 41. 
 
 Greenville police confirmed on Thursday night that Mirra’s body had been found earlier in the day. Authorities responded to reports of an apparent suicide and discovered Mirra’s body in a truck. 
 
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 “We mourn the loss today of a great friend and wonderful human being who touched the lives of so many around the world with his gift. He called Greenville, North Carolina home and was as humble a guy talking with kids on a street corner about bikes as he was in his element on the world stage. A young life with so much to offer was taken too soon,” said the Greenville mayor, Allen Thomas. 
 
 Mirra was a brilliant BMX rider and won 14 gold medals at X Games, despite the fact that his career was nearly ended in 1993 after he was hit by a drunk driver. But Mirra recovered and he won X Games honors at an astonishing rate between 1995 and 2008, his record of 24 medals over a career was only broken in 2013 by Bob Burnquist. 
 
 He was also a rally driver and competed in ironman and triathlons. “Ironman competitions are an entirely different ballgame. The level of competition is much higher, and there are way more athletes,” Mirra told Sports Illustrated. 
 
 
 
 Mirra was married with two daughters. 
 
 Tony Hawk (@tonyhawk) Goodbye Dave Mirra, a true pioneer, icon and legend. Thank you for the memories... we are heartbroken. pic.twitter.com/RHpTe7Qzwi 
 
 ESPN, the broadcaster of X Games, released a statement paying tribute to Mirra. “Dave Mirra, your courage, determination and natural skill in everything you pursued pushed the world of action sports to become a better place. From all of us at X Games and ESPN, we salute your contributions,” read the statement. “Our sincere condolences go out to Dave’s wife, Lauren, his daughters Mackenzie and Madison, the BMX community and friends of Dave Mirra.” 
 
 Mirra’s friend and fellow BMX rider TJ Lavin expressed his sorrow at the news. “I just wish he would have called me,” he told TMZ. “I would have jumped on a plane in a second. There’s always another way. If anyone needs help, just please get it. I feel sick about this.” ||||| BMX rider Dave Mirra made a name for himself with his high-flying tricks and multiple recoveries after big crashes. He was found dead at the age of 41 on Feb. 4. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) 
 
 In a decade-old video, BMX star Dave Mirra spoke of riding a bike in terms usually reserved for the priesthood. BMX wasn’t just a trend, he said, but a vocation — and a life sentence. 
 
 “I was born in 1974 in a small town in upstate New York — a time when bicycle motocross was just about to blow up the scene,” he said. “By the mid-’80s, freestyle BMX was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. It was a movement, and I was part of it. Just about every kid across America was riding BMX. There was at a time in high school when most kids traded their bikes for a car. I had to make a choice: Follow them or follow my heart. … I just kept on riding. As far as I was concerned, I was sentenced to life.” 
 
 Now that Mirra — found dead Thursday of a gunshot wound in his truck at his home in Greenville, N.C. — has apparently killed himself, it’s easy to forget the great dangers he faced everyday in pursuit of his calling. BMX bikers are in peril every time they compete or practice, defying gravity as casually as the rest of us change toner in the copier. 
 
 [BMX icon Dave Mirra dead at 41 of apparent suicide] 
 
 Or, sometimes, not: 
 
 And, in his career, Mirra endured — and triumphed over — at least two terrible accidents that devastated his body and left him wondering whether he would ever compete again. 
 
 In the first, he was just a pedestrian. In 1993, at age 19, Mirra — who had just gotten out of high school and gone pro — was leaving a club in Syracuse when a drunk driver plowed into him, fracturing his skull and dislocating his shoulder. 
 
 “A car going 45 hurts a lot more than you falling from 15 feet and hitting the ground,” he later said. “But it all hurts.” 
 
 The accident left him with a blood clot in his brain. 
 
 “They said that if I was a football player, they’d never let me play again,” he said, “but I wasn’t going to let that control my destiny.” Besides, giving up riding wasn’t really an option — and there was no one to stop him. 
 
 “They couldn’t control what I did because it was an independent sport,” he said. “Maybe at first I was a little nervous, but I missed it so much.” 
 
 Mirra was riding again within a year. 
 
 “The blood clot went away real soon, and I was fine,” he said. “Basically, I just figured I’d been riding my whole life and I’m not going to stop now.” 
 
 Getting hit by a car wasn’t really that different than getting hassled by squares, he said. 
 
 “It was a setback, but something I overcame. It doesn’t even mess with me at all,” he said. “It’s no different than that teacher in sixth grade telling me I wasn’t going to go anywhere — a roadblock. In life there are obstacles you have to go through. Whatever it is, you overcome eventually. I’m fortunate not to be hurt physically so that I can move on. Back then it was a big deal, but it’s behind me.” He also once noted: There was “no brain damage that I know of.” 
 
 Although Mirra wasn’t really the type to preach, the crash that almost ended his career certainly made him a fan of designated drivers. 
 
 “I haven’t been involved in any public service announcements, but it is my stand that drunk driving is not safe, and I would urge people not to drink and drive,” he said. “It’s not worth it.” 
 
 Mirra in 2005. (Nick Laham/Getty Images) 
 
 In 2006, Mirra had another close call he later called his “worst crash ever.” 
 
 “It was the first day of BMX park practice before the Summer X Games,” he told Men’s Fitness — a publication impressed by “what extreme athletes put their bodies through” — in 2007. “I did a few practice runs and started to push it a little bit each time. The final hit was a mess. I missed the landing and came down flat. As I leaned back to suck it up, my ass hit the back tire, my bike instantly stopped, and I went straight over the bars to the ground. I basically fell 16 feet straight to my head. Just after I hit the ground, I thought for sure I broke all the ribs on the right side and my sternum was smashed. I couldn’t breathe, so a collapsed lung crossed my mind. I knew something was wrong.” 
 
 It turned out Mirra had almost destroyed his liver. 
 
 “I ended up with a Grade 4 laceration on my liver — Grade 5 is the worst you can get,” he said. “I spent two days in ICU and had to stay off my bike for close to four months. The biggest challenge is getting back to 100 percent mentally. But after four months off my bike, I was ready to take some chances again. I spent so much time preparing myself in my mind to ride that I was ready to go when the time came.” 
 
 For a guy used to pushing his body to the limits, recovery demanded patience. 
 
 “I realized there’s nothing you can do about an injury or having a bad day,” he said of the healing process. “My mind-set right now is all about having fun when I’m out riding and not putting too much pressure on myself. I’ve won enough; I’ve proved myself. Winning feels good — I’m still out there riding my best and keeping up the standard for riding, and I don’t plan on slowing down anytime soon. I’m just focusing more on enjoying myself: staying positive and doing what I do best.” 
 
 If Mirra did take his own life, something tragic led him off of this positive path. But, when remembering the obstacles he did overcome, perhaps it’s also best to remember his nickname: “Miracle Man.” ||||| Skip Ad Ad Loading... x Embed x Share BMX legend Dave Mirra suffered from CTE before his death in February, multiple neuropathologists have confirmed, according to ESPN. Time_Sports 
 
 Former BMX rider Dave Mirra in June of 2015. (Photo: Ed Reinke, AP) 
 
 The brain of BMX star Dave Mirra showed signs of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a Toronto-based neuropathologist confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday. 
 
 Mirra died at age 41 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound in February 
 
 and the family sought out the University of Toronto and the Canadian Concussion Centre. University of Toronto neuropathologist Lili-Naz Hazrati oversaw the examination of Mirra’s brain. 
 
 Mirra is believed to be the first action sports athlete to be diagnosed with CTE, a progressive disease linked to repeated head impacts that can lead to depression and the lack of impulse control. Earlier Tuesday, another group of researchers announced former All-Pro defensive end Bubba Smith was the 90th former NFL player diagnosed with CTE. 
 
 Hazrati said Mirra’s brain had the telltale signs of CTE and research remains underway on what stage the disease was in at the time of his suicide. 
 
 “We still need to do more work to understand the staging,” Hazrati told USA TODAY Sports. 
 
 ESPN was the first to report Mirra’s CTE diagnosis. The family said in a statement “leading neuropathologists from the U.S. and abroad unanimously confirmed the diagnosis of CTE.” 
 
 “We would like to thank our family, friends and the overwhelming number of Dave’s fans who have supported us during this difficult time,” Mirra’s wife, Lauren, said in a statement. “We ask for your continued support in honoring Dave’s legacy and for your patience as we plan to create a platform for CTE awareness and research.” 
 
 Greenville, N.C., mayor Allen Thomas, who was also a friend of Mirra's, mentioned at a news conference in February that Mirra — like many action sports stars — absorbed several big hits in his career. He suggested that that Mirra could have suffered from CTE. 
 
 “This is young man that had a pretty had a pretty rugged sports career and took a lot of injuries in his career," Thomas said. "You have to give pause, think and wonder as we hear about brain trauma in football and other sports, whether that played a factor."
– The BMX world is shocked and mystified by the apparent suicide of Dave Mirra, one of the sport's biggest names. The 41-year-old, who was married with two children, was found in a truck in Greenville, NC, on Thursday afternoon, dead from what police say was a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Los Angeles Times reports. One of his final Instagram posts was a photo of himself in a boxing ring, with the message: "Fight to win! We all have battles to fight. Never back down. Love you all. #diewithyourbootson," the New York Daily News reports. Mirra—who was nearly killed by a drunk driver in 1993—won a total of 24 X Games medals, a record only broken by Bob Burnquist in 2013, the Guardian notes. In recent years, he switched to competing in Ironmans and triathlons. Mirra's death has brought many tributes. He called Greenville home and "was as humble a guy talking with kids on a street corner about bikes as he was in his element on the world stage," says Mayor Allen Thomas. "Dave was nothing short of the most iconic BMX rider of all time and single-handedly inspired generations of riders to come," writes Justin Benthien at RideBMX magazine. "It is with very heavy hearts that tonight we must say goodbye to the Miracle Boy." "We'll never know exactly why, but that's not our place to question," adds Ryan Fudger. "Our job is to honor the guy that pushed the boundaries of BMX both on the bike and off of it and give our condolences to his family. Rest in peace, Dave."