The History of CTE in Football

Hello. In this blog, I will discuss the history of CTE in football and the crisis that has surrounded it for over a century. Football is America's most beloved sport. During the NFL season, millions of people tune in every week to watch grown men knock the heck out of each. But despite how fun this may sound, there are consequences that so many players must face every time they step out onto the field. In his article, "Does Football Have A Future?", Ben McGrath explains the history of the NFL's concussion crisis and backlash that they have received because of it. When football was first being exposed to the public in the 1890s, much of the backlash was driven by not only fear of head injuries, but also death. McGrath says, "But the prevalence of skull fractures soon prompted unflattering comparisons with boxing and bullfighting. Another image, which ran in the New York World, depicted a skeleton wearing a banner labelled 'Death,' and was titled 'The Twelfth Player in Every Football Game.' Campaigns in Chicago and Georgia to outlaw the sport were covered breathlessly in the New York dailies." This fear sparked outrage amongst civilians as propaganda and protests spread amongst sports fans and spectators. The sport became such a concern that even President Theodore Roosevelt fought to reform the sport during his presidency in 1905. McGrath goes on to mention, "Roosevelt, whose son was then a freshman football player at Harvard, summoned college coaches to the White House to discuss reforming the sport before public opinion turned too far against it. Eighteen people had died on the field that year. The idea, or hope, was to preserve the game’s essential character-building physicality ('I’ve got no sympathy whatever with the overwrought sentimentality that would keep a young man in cotton-wool,' Roosevelt wrote) without filling up the morgue. The next year, the forward pass was legalized, thereby transforming football from a militarized or corporatized rugby to something more like “contact ballet,'." Soon after the legalization of the forward pass, more reforms were put into place revolving around rules and how the game is played such as calling a play "dead" as soon as a player's knee hits the ground; and other reforms revolving around equipment such as facemasks and chinstraps, which would help spark the beginning of football's rise in popularity in the US that would make football the number one sport in the country, surpassing baseball. However, as McGrath mentions in his article, even though the game was becoming safer, "it was evolving in such a way that it also became more dangerous, as players, comfortably protected by their face masks, learned to tackle with their heads instead of with their arms and shoulders.". Head injuries and concussions remained a talking point surrounding the NFL despite the lack of uproar the issue once caused. In 2002, former Pittsburg Steeler was the first person to be diagnosed with CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). He would eventually become homeless and die of a heart attack. His teammate, Teddy Long, was also diagnosed with the disease and later committed suicide. Justin Strzelczyk, another NFL player, was diagnosed with CTE after he died from driving on the wrong side of a freeway. Ever since the discovery of this disease and the symptoms that come along with it, many people have continued to criticize and push for the NFL and other levels of football to start taking CTE and head injuries more seriously for the well-being of the players.

McGrath, Ben. "Does Football Have a Future?" New Yorker 31 Jan. 2011: n. pag. Web.