Dave Duerson. Photo / AP
Mired in financial and personal problems, the two-time Super Bowl champion Dave Duerson turned his gun on himself in a suicide that has become another sign of a developing crisis in American football.
Duerson, 50, shot himself in the chest, so that - as he requested in texts to his
family - his brain could be studied for signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative condition associated with dementia, depression and suicidal thoughts.
CTE, believed to result from the accumulated effects of concussions and other bangs to the head, has emerged as the foremost safety concern in contact sports.
American football's governing body, the National Football League, is trying to extend the professional season from 16 to 18 games as science suggests players could be between five and 19 times more likely to suffer CTE than the rest of the population.
Duerson had expressed his fears he was suffering from the condition. CTE was also found in the brain of Andre Waters, a former Philadelphia Eagles player who killed himself in 2006, and - in its early stages - in Owen Thomas, a 21-year-old college player who hanged himself last year.
Dr Chris Nowinski, at the Centre for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at Boston University School of Medicine, said: "You can never link a single act to a disease, but a large percentage of CTE cases have committed suicide."
Within the NFL and its players' union, the debate appears to have shifted from whether football and CTE are linked to how to minimise the risks of head injuries, large and small. The risk is that player lawsuits could cripple the sport if it emerges that the NFL could have done more earlier to mitigate the dangers, while in the long run the authorities fear young people will shun the sport.
- INDEPENDENT
