Daniel Te’o-Nesheim was a quiet and loving person with an extraordinary work ethic. His tenacity helped him become a legendary defensive end at Hawaiian Preparatory Academy (HPA) and then set the all-time sacks record for the University of Washington. He was drafted in the third round of the 2010 NFL Draft and played four seasons in the league with the Philadelphia Eagles and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After the NFL, Te’o-Nesheim kept much of the physical and emotional pain he suffered from his friends and family but found success coaching football back at HPA. On October 29, 2017, Te’o-Nesheim died in his sleep unexpectedly.
Marie Aiona, Te’o-Nesheim’s sister, shared his story to honor his legacy of giving back to others.
On behalf of our entire family, I would like to thank everyone for all the love and support shown to us since the passing of our beloved Daniel Te’o-Nesheim. Your prayers and various acts of kindness throughout the years continue to help us find peace and some sense of closure given that he was called home so suddenly. We also want to thank his lawyer Samuel Katz and his firm Athlaw LLP, his agent Eric Kaufman, Bobby Abdolmohammadi of Boston University, and Lisa McHale with the Concussion Legacy Foundation. We admire the guidance of the teams at the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank and the Concussion Legacy Foundation to help us navigate systems to find more in-depth answers and help us carry on Daniel’s legacy.
Daniel was born June 12, 1987 in American Samoa. He was always an energetic, humble boy with a smile that could lighten any mood. When he was 3, we moved to Seattle where he began playing soccer, baseball and basketball. When he was 12, we lost our dear father and our whole world changed.
In 2001, Daniel was given the opportunity to attend Hawaii Preparatory Academy (HPA), a boarding school in Hawaii. He flourished and continued to play basketball, baseball, and found a new love for football. Many times, you would find him in the weight room after hours training.
In 2005, Daniel graduated and was blessed with a D1 scholarship to the University of Washington. He was ecstatic to return to our father’s hometown and continue his football career where he chose to study art and photography. Daniel flew home to Hawaii as much as possible and visited his family and friends where he would continue to train and spend quality time with us.
On December 5, 2009, Daniel plowed his way into the UW record book by setting the school’s all-time sacks record with 30.
“If anyone on our football team or anyone in this conference deserves a record, it’s Daniel Te’o-Nesheim,” said then-UW head coach Sarkisian. “There is not a guy who practices harder.”
In 2010, Daniel was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 3rd round with the 86th overall pick. His lifetime dream came true. He continued this dream for five years, ending his career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2015. Daniel traveled home less during this time and after his career ended, he decided to return home for good. From 2015 to 2017, Daniel coached football back at HPA and he enjoyed every minute.
Seeing him more on a regular basis, we noticed Daniel complained daily of headaches and excruciating pain in various parts of his body. He forgot crucial commitments and unintentionally blew off friends. He would go to the grocery store with a list in his mind and only come back with two out of five things but felt he had purchased everything on his list. We thought this was just him getting sidetracked and harmless forgetfulness.
Although we occasionally confronted him about the differences we saw, he refused to seek help and would defiantly insist that everything was fine. He brushed off requests to see a doctor or he would forget about appointments, even with reminders.
Daniel’s untimely passing on October 29th, 2017 was like déjà vu to when our father passed. Both times were without warning and neither allowed any of us to say goodbye. However, this time around, I pledged to step up to find out why someone so young, vibrant, and essentially in good physical condition had gone so soon. More importantly, I will honor my brother and ensure that his legacy lives on through raising awareness about the causes, signs, symptoms, and impacts of concussions.
Even though he was the youngest sibling, Daniel tried to shield us from so much of his pain and suffering because he did not want to worry us with his struggles from football. It wasn’t until his passing that we learned about the grueling pain he endured from his years playing the game he loved. We now know about steps he took to get help with the physical, emotional, and neuropsychological agony he was facing every day. We learned after his passing that Daniel reached out to a former colleague four months before his passing about issues he was dealing with. Daniel knew this athlete was going through much of the same issues and was suffering from many of the same disabling symptoms. Daniel reached out for help. Thankfully, his friend introduced Daniel to Sam Katz of Athlaw LLP.
In early October 2017, Daniel traveled to Texas for a physical with the NFL. In true “protector” fashion, Daniel simply told us he had to “go finish some NFL things.” Unfortunately, the NFL scheduled Daniel’s neuropsychological and neurological tests for a different date and were unable to evaluate Daniel’s cognitive issues during his physical. This made it impossible for Daniel to be fully mentally and physically evaluated, despite Sam telling him how important it was for him to attend both appointments and get fully evaluated. Even amid his struggles, Daniel always put the kids he coached first because he wanted to inspire others. That’s just who Daniel was. Instead of going for his necessary appointments, Daniel showed up to a football game and inspired a youth team.
When he returned home, he said the appointment in Texas went well. The doctor said he had the ankle arthritis of a 70-year-old, degeneration in both of his knees, neck pain with movements, radiating pain in his back, shoulder pain that caused him difficulty with activities, among other substantial functional disabilities. Daniel mentioned that he may need to go back but never mentioned any more specifics beyond that.
The morning after his death, we were trying to find answers about what happened to Daniel. We recovered his paperwork from various medical exam records during the NFL. It looked like a college textbook. We read through these painful visits, unknown surgeries, and journal entries of experiences during the NFL. We saw daily reminders on his cell phone for simple, everyday tasks. We then realized the depth of his pain. When we found notes from Sam Katz, we reached out to Athlaw LLP and started to piece together the many parts of Daniel’s life that he kept to himself.
With Sam’s help, we were able to learn Daniel missed the neurology and neuropsychology portion of testing. Sam also let us know about the amazing work being done at Boston University by Dr. McKee and Dr. Jesse Mez. We were also made aware of the work by Dr. Chris Nowinski and the team at the Concussion Legacy Foundation and that we had the option of donating Daniel’s brain to Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center. Due to Daniel’s sudden death and him being so young, I called the medical examiner and insisted they perform the autopsy immediately as it was a very rare incident and we needed answers immediately. When my mother and I agreed to donation, I contacted the medical examiner at Kona Community Hospital and explained what we were trying to accomplish. The medical examiner was honored to help and performed the autopsy on October 30, 2017.
Daniel’s agent Eric Kaufman helped us realize Daniel was experiencing very major symptoms associated with CTE during his final years in the league. I wish I had known more about this degenerating disease that stems from repetitive head injuries so I would have been able to help Daniel seek the help he needed. Looking through and filling out surveys from BU, I began to see he had almost all the symptoms of CTE.
In the aftermath, knowing what we do now, we can look back and see the signs that we missed and were untreated for so long. We missed mental and behavioral changes from Daniel’s years of playing high school, through college for the University of Washington, and in the NFL, that are now obvious because we know more about the signs and symptoms of what he and many former players have gone through. Daniel loved football, and he gave his life to the sport, but a diagnosis and cure must be found for this terrible disease!
As we continue to face the realities of this life without Daniel, we are committed to furthering his legacy, celebrating his love of football but recognizing the risks it poses and trauma that can result from it, which contributed to his sudden death at an early age. Our family is committed to doing our part to raise awareness about concussions and CTE, including taking steps to protect our athletes, educating them on how to recognize signs and symptoms if affected, as well as developing a stronger network of support for struggling athletes and their families. Together with experts in the field, we join the ranks of affected families and are now passionate about making sure no one else has to go through the pain of losing a loved one to this disease as we did.
Our family misses Daniel tremendously. Daniel was like a big brother to his niece and nephews and his loss has hit them hard. We are comforted in knowing Daniel’s name and legacy lives on, as we have become advocates for concussion awareness, support, and research and have also created an award named after Daniel at HPA. Daniel loved the game of football and his unique love for inspiring children is why we created The Coach Daniel Te’o-Nesheim Award to acknowledge a senior football player who is recognized by coaches, staff, teammates, and peers as exhibiting the rare combination of qualities that made him special:
-Unrelenting effort
-Dedication
-Preparedness
-Quality execution
-The highest respect for competition
The award goes to a player who inspires teammates to elevate themselves, who is respected as a leader on and off the field, and who has a clear and honest love for HPA. Through this award, Daniel will live on through the youth he loved to inspire even during his darkest times.