When Kevin Turner retired from professional football in January 2000 after five seasons as a fullback with the Philadelphia Eagles, the letdown was steeper than he expected.
“I just turned into a loser overnight and I couldn’t figure out what was wrong,” Turner, 42, told reporters. “It was a very scary proposition.” Turner’s tally of ailments grew until August 2010 when doctors told him he had amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, the incurable, devastating neurological disease that killed baseball great Lou Gehrig. As he began coping with the disease, Turner said, he learned of a half-dozen other former NFL players who had ALS.
“I look at all of these guys and see the positions they play,” Turner said. “I know what they do. I’m not a scientist and I’m certainly no genius but I know two and two make four.”
Turner joined Mary Ann Easterling, widow of former Atlanta Falcon safety Ray Easterling, to announce the filing in Philadelphia of the “master complaint” covering thousands of former players who say they have debilitating brain disease because the National Football League concealed the risks of repetitive brain concussions.
“Let’s face it and be honest,” Turner said in a news teleconference with lawyers. “I feel like the NFL has over the past couple of decades, or at least until ’08 or ’09, kind of turned a blind eye to the seriousness of . . . concussive hits.”
Ray Easterling, 62, despondent about his rapidly progressing dementia and the prospect of institutionalized care, committed suicide April 19. “I firmly believe the NFL could have and should have done more to protect Ray,” said Mary Ann Easterling, who broke down describing his post-career decline. “Life with him in the first part of our marriage was wonderful,” Easterling said. “It was like a light went off, a switch was flipped. He no longer enjoyed being around his family or doing the things he once enjoyed.”
The Easterlings’ lawsuit was the first, filed in federal court in Philadelphia last August on behalf of them. They were joined by six other players including former Eagles quarterback Jim McMahon, and four spouses.
The suit, which seeks NFL-funded medical monitoring for former players, has been consolidated with more than 80 others filed nationwide for more than 2,000 ex-players in a proposed class action before U.S. District Judge Anita B. Brody.
Long after the heady days of professional football and cheering fans, many ex-NFL players are finding themselves crippled by neurological problems that took years to develop and that prevent them from earning a living.
The lawsuit comes after several years of researchers’ warning coaches from elementary school up that there is no such thing as a mild concussion and that they require medical care and enforced rest.
Most recently, the Winter 2011 issue of the Journal of Neuropsychiatry & Clinical Neurosciences reported the sobering results of a study of the brains of 100 current and former NFL players that concluded “playing professional football is associated with a significantly higher risk for permanent brain damage.”
The study was authored by seven scientists, including Andrew Newberg, director of research at the Jefferson-Myrna Brind Center of Integrative Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, and Daniel Amen of the Amen Clinics Inc. in Newport Beach, Calif.
Each player – average age 57 – was interviewed about medical history, and underwent computerized brain imaging exams and screening tests for cognitive functioning.
The brain images showed significant decreases in blood flow across the brain “consistent with the lasting effect of traumatic brain injury.”
The cognitive functioning tests showed 4.5 percent of the players under 50 tested in the abnormal range, compared with 0.1 percent of general population. By age 74, the study found, 100 percent of players had abnormal scores.
Dave Duerson, 50, a defensive back with the Chicago Bears 1985 Super Bowl champion team, killed himself Feb. 17, 2011. Two weeks after Easterling’s suicide, on May 2, Junior Seau, 43, a former star linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, killed himself.
NFL lawyers have declined comment on the lawsuits. The league says in court filings that the suits should be dismissed because they are preempted under federal labor law by the players’ collecting-bargaining agreement.
The NFL contends that the agreement governs player safety, medical care and “return-to-play” decisions on injured players. The league also says the contract mandates arbitration to resolve player disputes and bars players from suing the NFL.
The players’ lawsuits contend that NFL officials knew since the 1970s that multiple concussions were associated with a greater risk of future brain damage and dementia. Nevertheless, the suit continues, the NFL “turned a blind eye” to players being coached to use their helmeted heads to block, tackle, butt and spear opposing players. The NFL’s motive: to keep the “fan base excited and interested in the violence of this sport,” the suit says.
The suit cites a 2009 scientific study that the NFL commissioned – and later disputed – that found 6.1 percent of retired NFL players over 50 had been diagnosed with dementia or other serious memory problems compared with 1.2 percent of all U.S. men in the same age group.
Source: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120608_For_NFL__legal_blitz_on_safety.html?page=2&c=y
Players know what they are getting into when they play in the NFL. It is a violent game and players have to be violent in order play for any team. They’re paid well and almost all of them would continue playing even when they know ther’re hurt. To say that the NFL did not let them know about what multiple concussions can do is a bunch of nonsense.
My 34 year old son played youth league, HS, and college football and conservatively suffered 8 concussions where he experienced memory loss (short and long-term) as well as total confusion. Following his youth league and HS concussions, he lost a lot of his ability to visualize key concepts and plays. Prior to the concussions if a play or situation was described to him, he could see it very clearly in his mind. Folowing his brain trauma, he lost much of that ability and almost always had to see things on paper before it would register with him. Abstract concepts become much more difficult for him, and he became more argumentative – which continues some into today. He was able to get into an Ivy League school based on athletic (two sports) and academic strengths and was later drafted by a professional baseball team. I see tremors in his hands and, at times, faulty logic as he attempts to defend positions and beliefs that he has taken. He is still single although young women find him very attractive and fun to be around – to a point. Much more could be said, but I wish he could be examined and treated before he goes too much longer.
I just read what you wrote about your 34 year old son. You could have been describing my son. He played in high school, had two minor concussions (one worse than the other) that we know of. He didn’t take much time off at all when he was hurt. In retrospect I see all the changes you described, but at the time the changes were gradual and we didn’t put two and two together. Memory loss, depression, argumentative, loss of focus and concentration, faulty logic, etc. My son too is still single. What kind of help is out there for him?
Why can’t the NFL make it possible for a player that signs a contract to have an option to put some of the huge amounts of money they make towards their own healthcare.? Then each individual player could have the option in investing in their brain or not. The past is over and it is unfortunate that former players have taken their own lives just to get the rest of the NFL and public to take notice. Although it is my hope that the football players would win in court, it is too late for those that have paid the price with their own lives. There has to be a solution to the problem….let’s figure out it out before more innocent individuals pay with their own blood. At least the door of communication has been opened!!!
This is coming from an unknown survivor of a severe TBI. I’m not famous, but by a miracle, was kept alive to have a voice for others regarding TBI’s.
Thank you for reading what I have to say….my brain damage is forever, but I am still intelligent and remember how to type. Kerry L. Mischka
I am curious to know if the AMA and doctors in general haven’t already known and warned against the dangers of jarring hits to the head and body. Is it really newer information that brain injuries/concusions are serious and permanent. I imagine this information has been around for decades. Am I wrong?
How sad it is that in our quest to win we go to such great lengths and often find that when the game is over there is not a lot to cheer about. Football players “bulk up” to be bigger and use more force on their opponent in order to win the game. I began wondering about all this when my kids were involved in high school sports. If you didn’t go to a sport camp you probably would not make the grade or be selected. Pressure all the time to win. What happened to playing the game. Just playing the game.
In 2001, my 15 year old son sustained a TBI during a Basketball Charging Drill. This unnecessary, punishing drill changed my son’s life forever as well as his loved ones. That was 11 years ago and frankly the neurologists simply told him it was just a concussion. The time has come for society to understand the severity of a concussion and there is no such thing as just “a concussion.” I drove my wonderful, happy, loving son to school one December morning, and never saw him again. Instead the son I picked up after sustaining his concussion (his body flew through the air, crashing onto the hardwood floor, his head hitting the wood several times, seizing, awakening to amnesia concussion), was a totally different young man. Someone I am still getting to know. After reading about athletes diagnosed with ALS, I gasp and hope that is not int he future for my son. I sincerely hope we can educate society with this communication.
It is true that the individuals who pursue football as their career know what they are getting into and their character is such that it is more important to play than to protect their health. Duh.
However, most young, competetive men who are faced with the possiblity of the huge success that comes with making it in the world of football are not considering their mortality and infallibility too seriously.
Therefore, I charge that the NFL and every fan in a sense exploits these individuals’ denial. Even if a player were to demand more caution be used in how he is played, it is likely that he would be passed over for a less ‘cautious’ player. Who knows, maybe this is already happening. I am sure that there is huge pressure to ‘tough it out’, and continue playing with injuries and to ignore the concerns.
I am sorry to say that I agree it is kind of tough luck for the players of the past. They knew what they were getting into and consented to the circumstances. Some were paid enough that had they been responsible with their copious amounts of cash, they could pay for the best medical care and be independently wealthy for life. I do feel bad for the ones who were not paid much and can not function now. I would like to see them get some sort of help now, since they never were paid enough to begin with for risking their lives on the football field.
This is certainly a call to monitor the practices of the NFL from here on out. It is clear that these players are not going to protect themselves in their desperation for success, and neither is the NFL.
Jake Locker is an athlete and a leeadr. Pure and simple. He made a great run in 2009 and put up great numbers, but the players around him last season were less than spectacular which is why he struggled. Jake has great size, great agility for a QB and toughness is definitely not something an NFL team needs to worry about. If Jake can get picked up by a team where he can learn behind an established QB on their way out like McNabb, Kerry Collins or Chad Pennington then he will be a very effective NFL QB. If Jake gets thrown into the league as a Rookie with expectations that mirror the success of Mark Sanchez, Matt Ryan and Sam Bradford, than Jake Locker will be destined to fail. (David Carr, Ryan Leaf)Jake Locker has all of the tools and can make all of the throws that an NFL QB needs to be able to make, it is just a matter of having the patience to work with him for longer than 1 training camp before making him the 1st string QB.
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