Posted: April 26, 2016

On April 26^th, 2010, a shockwave ripped through the social fabric of Parkland School District: one of our greatest sons, Owen Thomas, killed himself. The shocking news spread like wildfire across text-message lines, Facebook inboxes, and phone calls, and within an hour, hearts all across the United States were devastated over the loss of a brother, a friend, a student, a son. He was 21 years old.

Owen Thomas was more than your average man, far more. He was an A-type personality, a vibrant smile, and a bull of a body with a thick neck and flowing orange hair. To the girls who passed him in the high-school hallway or had class with him, Owen was a gentle giant, a gentleman. He was also the brightest mind in all of his classes, humbly keeping a GPA above 4.0; his friends only knew if they asked. To his opponents on the football field, Owen was a mythological creature. The fiery tips of his sweat-glossed hair, which flared out of the bottom of his helmet, were his calling card; running backs did not run towards that hair, nor did quarterbacks throw. To his coaches and teachers, he was one in a million, an inspiration to those whose job it was to inspire. Owen’s teammates, who unanimously voted for him as captain, thought of him as a fearless leader, similar to the way Scotsmen felt about the brave William Wallace as he proudly galloped out in front of the modest Scottish army. No matter what their odds were in the fight, Owen’s teammates were ready and willing, confident of victory with O.T. leading the charge. Those who were closest to Owen knew that he was all of these things and more.

There was, however, a heavy price that Owen paid to be such a fierce and dynamic person. He was a dedicated student who would often lock himself in his room, working for hours with the Beatles playing in the background until every assignment was completed flawlessly and to the satisfaction of his teachers. His work ethic when it came to academics was baffling to his friends. Even greater was his dedication to competitive athletics – especially football.

Whether it was running sprints, powerlifting, or practicing on the field, Owen’s tenacity was unmatched.  He seemed to enjoy the pain and struggle that everyone else dreaded. Owen never complained, and he was never hurt. In fact, he challenged his own teammates to question whether they were truly injured, or just “banged up a bit.” It was a coach’s dream to have Owen around because he would raise the entire team’s effort simply with his stoic presence on the field.

Owen Thomas was the embodiment of old-school American football – hard-hitting, nose-for-the-ball, hit ‘em in the numbers football. On Fall Friday nights under the lights of Orefield Stadium, when the tests and papers had all been turned in and a hard week of practice had ended, Owen shined. Thousands of fans watched in awe as #31 went to work, pouncing on the ball-carrier like a hungry lion. After high school Owen moved on to the University of Pennsylvania where he was admitted into the illustrious Wharton School of Business; he continued to be a dominating force on football field for the Penn Quakers. It was not surprising for his friends and family back home to learn that he was quickly endeared by everyone he met at Penn, where he was voted team captain and helped lead the team to an Ivy League Championship.

He played the brand of football that people wanted to see – the brand of football that made it America’s favorite pastime. Owen’s style was similar to Chuck Bednarick, Jack Lambert, and Dick Butkus: he was not blazing fast, but he would always find his way to the ball, and when he got there, he was mean. All the good that came from Owen’s abilities, the 17 straight wins at Parkland High School, the Ivy League Champion ring, the trophies, the entertained fans, the community pride, it all came with a price – a sacrifice.

Owen was a pitbull without a leash on the field, and it was silently killing him. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, developed in his brain as a result of head trauma from football. Scientists believe this disease causes symptoms of depression and affects rational decision-making. In 2010, in his apartment, Owen took his life. He is the youngest and one of the first football players to be diagnosed with CTE. Since that day, awareness of the disease has skyrocketed. Campaigns to make athletics safer have resulted in rule changes from youth sports all the way to the NFL, and new equipment has been designed to prevent head trauma.

 

In six short years since his death, the whole persona of football has changed. The helmet-to-helmet hit is no longer glorified, and that is a good thing. Concussions are treated as life-threatening injuries, because they are. CTE is being studied and cures are being researched. In general, our society is having a revolution in sports safety that is keeping the passion of the game intact while caring for the health of athletes.

We should revere and respect the way Owen and others like him played their sports with passion and unmatched tenacity.  We should also learn from their stories. We should join the fight to make sure that athletics do not die out, but grow stronger and better – safer.

Learn more about Owen Thomas’ story from Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History podcast episode, ‘Burden of Proof'” at https://www.pushkin.fm/episode/burden-of-proof/ 

Posted: April 20, 2016

What separates Hogshead-Makar from other Olympic greats, however, is her work after her distinguished swimming career ended. She is the founder of Champion Women, an organization that advocates for girls and women in sports. Prior to founding her organization, she was the Senior Advocacy Director at the Women’s Sports Foundation, a lawyer at Holland & Knight, and was a law professor at Florida Coastal School of Law. Often her work has brought her to testify before Congress on behalf of women’s rights. She’s been honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Women Owned Business Association, the Title IX Advocate Award from the Alliance of Women Coaches, NOW’s Courage Award, and induction into eleven halls of fame.

During the VA Brain Trust Summit in Washington, D.C. held Wednesday, April 20 by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Hogshead-Makar announced she is pledging her brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation’s My Legacy campaign. The setting was significant to Hogshead-Makar, who has three uncles who served in World War II, one of whom is still living, and a nephew who is a Second Lieutenant in the Army.

Hogshead-Makar has always found that sports helped prepare her for life and she wants to make sure future generations have the same opportunity. We asked the Olympian, lawyer and advocate why she’s pledging her brain in pursuit of that goal, and what she wants her legacy to be.

Why are you pledging your brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation? What are you hoping comes from it?

All of sports need to band together on the issue of brain health, concussions, and safety measures. Yet while doing so, we don’t want to scare parents into withdrawing their kids from sports altogether; we all want to affirm the importance of youth sports for kids, letting families know that they can play safely. Donating my brain is part of the effort to make sure youth sports are safe.

What do you want your legacy to be?

I am a civil rights lawyer. I concentrate on issues of girls’ and women’s participation in sports;  things like girls and women having equal participation, scholarships and treatment, free from sexual violence and abuse, and LGBTQ and employment discrimination. Part of that comes from wanting to increase the opportunities for all kids to be able to play sports, and to do so safely. I’m committed to increasing opportunities for kids to play … in safe ways, in ways that lead to positive-life outcomes like more education and employment, more STEM graduates and better emotional health measures.

Years ago, I noticed the concussion discussion was very football-centric and very much centered around men’s high-profile sports. I wanted to make sure that women and youth sports were in the messaging, so when new safety measure emerged, they weren’t limited to a small segment of sports.

We know, in the aggregate, that sports provide really unique educational and growth opportunities for kids. I always say the least important thing I got out of my swimming career is my Olympic gold medal. Don’t get me wrong— it’s very important to me — but the most important thing swimming did for me was learning about winning and losing, postponing short-term gratification for long-term rewards, and teamwork – things that are hard to learn on a blackboard. It’s what I want my kids to get out of sports. Sports participation isn’t just associated with better college graduation rates and more full-time employment; it’s been shown to cause these positive outcomes.

With clear scientific research, all of sports, whether it’s swimming, gymnastics, soccer, football or anything else, need to stick together and take a stand for the future of youth sports, by making sports as safe as possible.

How will pledging your brain affect youth sports?

By pledging my brain, I’m hoping to encourage others to do so. We must get as many athletes as possible to pledge their brains to make youth sports better and safer.

Would you like to see more prominent female athletes step forward and pledge their brain to research?

Of course. And I think they will when we get the word out. The importance of the Concussion Legacy Foundation mission will lead to more athletes, both women and men, pledging their brain for this important cause of brain health.

You’ve been a huge advocate of physical fitness among children. How will pledging your brain help promote that cause?

Anything I can do to be part of the team to increase brain health is a worthwhile endeavor, including pledging my brain.

My goal is to have more kids involved in sports, regardless of socioeconomic status or zip code. I’d hate for football to become like boxing; keeping the same rules and relegating the sport to kids with very few life-alternatives. I’ve read that participation numbers in youth football are going down. My hope is that these kids aren’t dropping out completely, and have safe sports alternatives to football.

At the same time, it is impossible for any activity or sport to be concussion-free. My niece got a concussion on the 4^th grade playground, just horsing around. It took her out of school for almost four months, and she benefitted from the research from the Concussion Legacy Foundation. We’d have a concussion every third year on our team, as someone whacked the wall coming in from a hard backstroke set, or fell on the wet deck. All sports, including non-contact sports, need to be aware of brain health.

You have an illustrious post-athletics career in advocacy, namely for women and children in sports. What took you in that direction?

Without a piece of legislation called “Title IX,” I would not have had my college athletic career or my Olympic medals. No matter how good I was— American and world records – that no matter how hard I worked – I was in the water four hours a day, lifting weights and running – none of that would have mattered if it hadn’t been for this statute which said that schools that received our tax dollars had to provide men and women with the same educational opportunities. I was lucky; I graduated from high school in 1980, hitting the new flood of collegiate sports opportunities and scholarships at the right time. Unlike those that have always known opportunities, I was acutely aware of my good fortune, and I wanted to make sure many more women had that opportunity.

A good sports experience can set a person up for future success in life in every way; physical health, emotional health, and economically productive. A high school sports experience means at least a 40% decrease in breast cancer. It is the best proven way to reduce adulthood obesity. I could go on and on about the research here, but the point here is that these are outcomes that are good for everyone; for our country.

The solution to the new research on brain injuries and brain health is not to throw out these long-lasting benefits with the cleats, saying goodbye to the playing field altogether. Instead, our common goal is to eliminate head injuries as much as possible, and treat them the right way at all levels of sport, so kids can continue to play sports in a safe way. The question becomes: how do you make concussion safety universal in youth sports, so more and more kids can be involved in a safe way? I think donating my brain, being here today is the best way to accomplish those goals.

Posted: March 3, 2016

Hundreds of thousands of youth, high school and college soccer careers were inspired by Chastain’s left-footed boot in 1999. A soccer lifer, she continues to be involved with and give back to the sport. Chastain is a Volunteer Assistant Coach at her alma mater, Santa Clara University, and is a vocal advocate for Safer Soccer, the campaign that encourages delaying the introduction of headers in youth soccer until high school.

The soccer icon isn’t stopping there, however. Chastain has pledged her brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation as part of My Legacy. During an age in which we’re seeing an ever-increasing need to prevent, manage and treat concussions and brain damage from soccer, one of the sport’s biggest legends is giving all she can to help make the sport safer for future generations.

Why are you donating your brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation?

With more information, the greater public can make better choices. I won’t be witness to the results when I donate my brain, and I hope that day is a long way from today, but I’m hoping that my donation helps change things for the positive. I hope my experience in soccer and what I am able to give back helps put soccer in a better place than it was when I started.

Having played soccer since I was little, I can’t even attempt a guess at how many times I’ve headed the ball. It’s a significant number. It’s scary to think about all the heading and potential concussions that were never diagnosed in my life, but it’s better to know.

How do you envision this research being used and making a difference for future generations?

Making a pledge like this, ultimately I’m thinking about the players. How do we evaluate what happened in my brain – when I started doing things like repetitive heading – and then take those results to improve the way we coach our young players? Can what we learn help change rules even more? Maybe by the time they study my brain, we’ll have other testing for things that aren’t even in our vision at this time. To move forward, you have to examine what’s happened in the past and see how we can change things for the future.

What do you want your legacy to be?

My experiences through sports have all been amazing, and I’m so grateful that I lived in a community that supported me participating. Because of my experiences, I have an opportunity to influence other coaches, players, and parents. Through working with Chris Nowinski and Dr. Robert Cantu I’ve learned a lot about the health and wellness of our athletes in a way that I never thought about before. We’ve asked questions that no one ever posed before. Because of these conversations and these interactions, as a parent I see my legacy changing from a soccer player to an athlete ambassador. I want to protect my kids – and it’s not just my kids, but every kid who steps onto the soccer field. I want to protect them and make sure that they get to have the kinds of experiences I had through soccer, while being safer and cared for.

You’ve been very involved with the Safer Soccer campaign to eliminate heading for kids under 14. That campaign saw a victory in November, with U.S. Soccer announcing its new rule prohibiting heading for players under 11 and limiting headers for players aged 11 to 13. What was your reaction to that news?

It’s a positive step that there’s been an amendment on the age, but there’s still a long way to go to provide a safer soccer environment for our kids, and for all of our players. We’d love U.S. Soccer to stand up and say, ’11 is still too young. Let’s protect these kids even longer.’ And what we’re pushing for doesn’t just apply here in the U.S., it’s really on a global scale. Soccer has a great influence on the world, and it has the opportunity to stand up and make a statement that as a unifying organization it wants to really make a difference in the lives of people, especially the youngest and most vulnerable people playing its sport.

Is donating one’s brain to research something that you’d like to see catch on among other former athletes?

This is such a personal issue, but what I would encourage is that everybody who’s had experience in sports should feel compelled to participate in helping make their sport better. If you have been a player who’s had multiple concussions or repetitive heading, to me it makes sense to donate and to be a part of a solution.

For so long, players with concussions have in many ways had to be in the dark on their own, dealing with symptoms, diminished capacity, or eventually experiencing the pain of having to step away from their sport. When you feel vulnerable and you feel like there are no answers, you feel alone. This is a chance to be empowered. By knowing that we’re not alone, and by working together and getting more people to follow suit, maybe in the future, we have less reason to worry about concussions. Ultimately, that’s where we want to get to. We’d like to be out of the job of talking about this.

RELATED: Pledge your brain to research

Below is a full transcription of Brandi’s interview:

WHO IS BRANDI CHASTAIN?

My name is Brandi Chastain. I’ve been in three World Cups and three Olympic Games.

ON THE CULTURE CHANGE IN SOCCER:

When I was with the national team as a player we talked about the legacy that we would leave and what we were doing on the field and how it would impact the game. Initially, it was about playing hard and being a team and, you know, setting goals and learning leadership skills and all the things that you need in life to be successful. But no one ever talked about being safe.

ON WHETHER KIDS SHOULD BE HEADING:

I don’t think anybody below the age of 14 should head the ball. Being more knowledgeable about what can happen to a small person whose musculature is not developed enough, and their brain is not developed enough, they don’t have enough life experience. They don’t understand space and time and awareness. These things that really allow a professional player to make good decisions and to protect themselves that these young kids don’t they just don’t possess these tools yet. Every sport has a chance to evolve. I think this is a part of our evolution.

ON SAFER SOCCER AS HER LEGACY:

Safer Soccer is the legacy that I’m hoping to leave for the long haul, for the future of this game, where we’ll have more people who will start the game as youngsters and play the game longer because they’ll be safe.

Posted: February 11, 2016

I played highly competitive tackle football for nearly a decade. My playing days were at the tail end of the concussion-ignorance era. Concern over concussions was new territory, with little information and little support. Back then, there were no real tests except for balance and the presence of headaches. To this day, I’m not sure if I had repeated concussions (mostly from football), or if I had a few that I simply never healed from. Regardless, I stopped reporting (e.g., caring) after my 6^th concussion made it to the medical report.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t the stereotypical jock who lived and breathed football. I was in the church band, an honors student, and an aspiring writer. I could remember anyone’s name and little details about them years later. My friends hated that I could bring up an old memory just to embarrass them around their girlfriends. But I was also 16, barely a sophomore, and just wanted to play ball.

In 2009 (concussions, a torn ACL, and a fractured back later), my playing days were over. I had a few recruitment letters collecting dust on my desk, but I had another set of contact info on top of them: the Concussion Legacy Foundation (called the Sports Legacy Institute at that time). They had made some small ripples in the sports community touting Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) before anyone would accept its existence. I emailed them, and found out there was no way to diagnose CTE in a living person.

Since then – despite the advances amazing doctors and researchers have made – the only way to officially diagnose CTE is still post-mortem. They open the brain and look at the tissue in search of build-up of an abnormal protein called tau.

Most readers probably know about CTE or have seen the movie Concussion (disclaimer: I haven’t yet, mainly out of fear I’ll cry in the theater). According to the Concussion Legacy Foundation, symptoms of CTE can include “memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, paranoia, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, and eventually progressive dementia. Symptoms can begin to appear months, years, or even decades after trauma has ended.”

I love sports and being active. I love football and the glory that came from hitting a quarterback. I love barreling down Mt. Hood on my snowboard and riding a jet-ski at 40 mph on the Columbia River.

But I hate the headaches, I hate the days my eyes can’t focus, and I hate the ringing in my ears. I hate no longer recognizing people that have played significant roles in my life. I also hate the idea of kids not being able to enjoy life, living in some computerized bubble, because parents are (rightfully) afraid of them developing CTE like Junior Seau, Frank Gifford, or Tyler Sash.

That’s why after considering the future of the next generation, I’ve pledged to donate my brain to research. I don’t want to hit my mid-50s and no longer recognize my kids.

By pledging to donate my brain, I’m pledging that I want my legacy to be just one of the ripples making sports safer. I want to be remembered for making a difference, helping future generations be able to be healthy and active. I want my legacy to be that I helped save lives and revolutionize brain safety.

My future and the possibility of CTE is not something I can dwell on, but it’s something that I have to live with. So until we find a solution, let’s stand up – let’s not live in fear, but strive to make a difference. Do everything you can for yourself, or for someone that you love who has gone through multiple concussions: raise awareness, fund-raise, or even pledge to donate your brain.

We all have a responsibility for today, tomorrow, and tomorrow’s tomorrow. That’s my legacy. What will yours be?

Posted: February 5, 2016

As a star tight end at Syracuse University, he quietly and peacefully made inroads into the discrimination that permeated society, building lifelong friendships that transcended ethnicity and socioeconomic backgrounds.

With the Baltimore Colts, John revolutionized the tight end position and was selected to the Pro Bowl five times, accomplishments that earned him a place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame and praise from Mike Ditka as “the greatest tight end to ever play the game”.

As the first president of the National Football League Players Association following the merger of the NFL and AFL, he fought for better pension and disability benefits for players, and gained the right to free agency that today’s NFL players still enjoy.

John’s advocacy efforts – his determination to give back – didn’t stop with the NFLPA or end with his NFL career.

He partnered with Jack Kemp to launch a non-profit that gave educational assistance to disadvantaged children. He actively supported the civil rights movement that changed the course of history. He reached out to others, whether it was to offer guidance on career choices or to advocate for recognition of an under-appreciated teammate.

That’s the kind of person John Mackey was.

Although dementia robbed John of his powerful voice, his private battle with the disease became the public face of the link between head trauma and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). He was the catalyst for the 88 Plan that provides financial assistance for those affected, for the advocacy and fundraising efforts of his Baltimore Colt teammates that helped so many former NFL players, and for my own involvement in the Concussion Legacy Foundation. When John died on July 6, 2011, the widespread media coverage focused as much on these later-in-life accomplishments as on any of his achievements earlier in life. Even in illness and in death, he changed the world.

That, I believe, is John Mackey’s greatest legacy.

Sylvia Mackey
Mrs. #88

Posted: December 23, 2015

As an outspoken advocate for player health, Winston made headlines this season by calling out the shameful execution of concussion protocols by the St. Louis Rams on November 22 when quarterback Case Keenum took a vicious hit to the head and struggled to get up off the ground. Showing clear signs of concussion, Keenum was not removed from the game and evaluated, but instead dangerously stayed in the game for his team’s potential game-winning drive.

Winston is taking his commitment to player safety a step further. He has pledged his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for CTE research when he passes away as part of the My Legacy campaign. So what’s it like being the president of a union, how does he view concussion awareness among NFL players, and what kind of legacy is leaving by pledging his brain?

Why are you donating your brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation?

Research on this issue is moving at such a fast pace, but each additional piece of scientific data helps inform players about the risks and allows us to make decisions about making the game safer. Ultimately, I want to be a part of that process that helps the next generation of athletes at all levels have a greater understanding of what science says about head trauma and hopefully that will lead to better treatment and prevention.

What do you want your legacy to be?

First, I want to be known as a player who did the right thing and approached my career in a way that helped other players. I love the game of football and all that it has done for me and my family, but when I look back years from now, it is important that other players appreciate the positions we are taking to make things better for them. Hopefully I’ll be using my brain for a lot longer – I’m hoping I get another 60 years out of it. But if contributing to this research can just help move the needle some, then I will leave the game better than I found it. I really believe in that.

 

Cincinnati Bengals player and NFL Players Association President Eric Winston has pledged his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation for research. Others can do the same. To learn how to pledge your brain, click here.

I’m sure your role as President of the NFLPA has given you a perspective that you might not have had before. What has that experience been like – what’s the most important thing you have learned?

Whenever you have a responsibility like this, you realize how much effort and work it takes to make even minimal gains. I have always felt that I have a responsibility to our players – past, present and future – but when you’re president of the union it adds that weight to it and people look to you to continue a legacy of building upon what has been done in the past. The challenges are very real, but I learned that the best way to improve things for the lives of players is to be uncompromising about certain principles, and health and safety is one of those. At the end of the day, I want to leave this union better for the next guy that comes in, and I think that’s really what it’s always been about. We should be proud of what we have accomplished over the past few years, but we also know we have a long way to go.

Do you think incidents like the Case Keenum concussion playing out in front of a national audience will help spur action in the right direction?

If I have my way, then yes, I hope it will change something and inspire additional improvements. That’s the thing – it’s not just about Case, it’s always about being better. We have made important changes and to the NFL’s credit, they have been willing to work with us on those changes. At the same time, we know that the main reason why they want to work with us on these issues is because we hold them accountable to certain standards. We want the NFL to now hold the teams accountable to the protocols that are in place. Accountability and responsibility cannot fall squarely on the shoulders of players; the same standards that apply to us should apply to the teams, and to everyone. The trainers are professionals, the doctors are professionals, everyone in this league is a professional. We want greater accountability to the hard work and improvements that we have worked together to implement, otherwise it means little. There’s no such thing as a perfect system. There are always going to be things that we fix, and we keep getting better at, and that’s what we’ve got to keep doing.

Read the USA Today article covering Winston’s pledge to the Concussion Legacy Foundation.

Imagine you were a rookie coming into the league again. What would you tell the 22-year-old Eric Winston as he was starting his career?

I could probably write a short book about everything I would tell myself both on and off the field. Over the last ten years I’ve learned so much. In a lot of ways, I’ve become an adult. When I say adult, I mean a real professional. What it means to be a pro, to carry that responsibility. I’m married and have a family now, so when I look back to when I was 22, I look at myself almost like I was a silly kid. While some of that was fun, at the same time it’s almost like I was a totally different person. So in a lot of ways I wish I could have sped that process up. Because you look back and say “oh man, if you were just a little bit better of a pro” – so I would tell myself to learn what it means to be a pro as fast as possible. Because it took me a little bit, and once I got it I think I really ran with it.

How much have players’ perceptions of concussions and head trauma changed since you first entered the league?

I think especially those in my class who were drafted in the mid-2000’s and played for a long time, our careers have run alongside this concussion legacy. When I came in the league, it was still at the point where you might hear, “here’s some smelling salt and get back out there.” There were still lots of big hits over the middle. ESPN was still rolling “Jacked Up” when I was in the league. So a lot of that was still going on. We didn’t understand a lot of it. And in the mid-point of my career, we’ve switched and we’ve changed, and started to understand this whole thing. Even in the last three years it’s evolved. The guys that are coming in the league now, and are two or three years in, are way different than the guys that are 10 and 11 year vets. No one ever wants to leave a game due to injury and risk losing their job to a replacement, but guys these days are willing to risk it in the sense that they know this isn’t a sprained ankle. This isn’t a hurt knee. Their outlook is totally different, and it’s because of this awareness and all the information we’ve been pushing. And that’s a very good thing.

Do you think NFL players are properly informed about the risks of head trauma?

I think we have done a great job of making the information available to players. At the end of the day we want to make sure we are fully transparent about what we know. It is scary to think how fast information on this issue is flowing and often times it is hard to separate the fear from realities of what is out there. When I first got in the league no one was talking about anything. Now, there are movies, documentaries and books coming out, there’s so much information out there and that’s a good thing. Players need to hear from us, namely the NFLPA, about what science says about the risks and then players have a choice to make about what to do. In the long run, we know that embracing, supporting and funding research can help us learn more.

To learn how to pledge your brain for research, click here.