HJNO Jul/Aug 2026

CTE Part VI: Football and the Brain Damage We Keep Watching CTE: FOOTBALL’S AFTERMATH A U.S. HEALTHCARE JOURNALS SERIES In 2005, football was put in the league of boxing with regard to “punch drunk,” or chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), when the brain of a dead-too- young 50-year-old former NFL football player was examined. Other CTE confirmations soon followed, as families of NFL players whose loved ones had changed during life donated their brains for analysis. Colleges and high schools hoped beyond hope that this was just an NFL problem. It is not. The NCAA was just hit with a $140 million verdict involving J.T. Davis, a former Southern Methodist University lineman who played from 1955 to 1959 and EDITOR’S NOTE: was later found after death to have Stage IV CTE. He was 79 years old when he died. [To all of you former college players: Make sure your family donates your brain for CTE analysis when you die. Boston University will do it for free anywhere in the country. Your families should now benefit tremendously from the head hits you took while playing in college and from the NCAA’s failure to warn players about the long-term risks of this game.] Even the U.S. Congress knows college players have CTE. The Protect College Sports Act of 2026, now being considered in theU.S. Senate, would create a $60 million-a-year trust fund to help cover post-eligibility medical care and long-term conditions, including CTE 18 JUL / AUG 2026 I  U.S. HEALTHCARE JOURNALS