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Ken Stabler, a Magnetic N.F.L. Star, Was Sapped of Spirit by a Disease of the Brain
By JOHN BRANCH
FEB. 3, 2016
Shortly before he died in July, the former N.F.L. quarterback Ken Stabler was rushed away by doctors, desperate to save him, in a Mississippi hospital. His longtime partner followed the scrum to the elevator, holding his hand. She told him that she loved him. Stabler said that he loved her, too.
“I turned my head to wipe the tears away,” his partner, Kim Bush, said recently. “And when I looked back, he looked me dead in the eye and said, ‘I’m tired.’ ”
They were the last words anyone in Stabler’s family heard him speak.
“I knew that was it,” Bush said. “I knew that he had gone the distance. Because Kenny Stabler was never tired.”
The day after Stabler died on July 8, a victim of colon cancer at 69, his brain was removed during an autopsy and ferried to scientists in Massachusetts. It weighed 1,318 grams, or just under three pounds. Over several months, it was dissected for clues, as Stabler had wished, to help those left behind understand why his mind seemed to slip so precipitously in his final years.
On the neuropathologist’s scale of 1 to 4, Stabler had high Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., the degenerative brain disease believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head, according to researchers at Boston University. The relationship between blows to the head and brain degeneration is still poorly understood, and some experts caution that other factors, like unrelated mood problems or dementia, might contribute to symptoms experienced by those later found to have had C.T.E.
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The NFL Network recently did an episode of "A Football Life" dedicated to Stabler. If you get a chance, seek it out. I was not even a teenager during his prime, so while I remember him as a really good QB, I didn't realize how good he was until I saw old film of him.
The whole story of him turning the Houston Oilers into contenders in the late 70's early 80's is pretty cool.
But he definitely took a beating. He probably should have retired after his Houston stint, but took a pounding his last couple of years in New Orleans.
Anyway, RIP to the Snake. He was quite a character.
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We will see more and more reports of professional sports figures who will have been reported to have had CTE. At this point the ONLY definitive test for CTE can be done posthumously. Here is a story about an athlete that was diagnosed with CTE prior to death and some things about the technology that may allow tests to be done before death. Unfortunately there is NO cure. But at least understanding may help to some extent the people that are left to deal with the issue.
CTE in the NFL: The tragedy of Fred McNeill
P.S. Near the end of the article you can page through a listing of a number for former atletes diagnosed with CTE.
Last edited by tennyson (2/04/2016 3:26 pm)