Advertisement CTE and football: Coaches defend sport’s safety in light of jarring study Share Shares Copy Link Copy

New research shows 87 percent of former football players studied have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE.The study comes from the Boston University CTE Center, where neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee has made it her life's work to study the brains of former football players, including former Iowa Hawkeye Tyler Sash. Last August, McKee showed KCCI the brain of a former NFL player who she suspected had CTE, which is caused by repeated blows to the head.McKee’s findings were released Tuesday in the largest case series on CTE ever published.Out of 202 former football players’ brains, McKee diagnosed 177, nearly 88 percent, with the degenerative disease.“There was a shockingly high percentage of CTE amongst the brain donors,” McKee said.CTE was found in 110 out of 111 former NFL players’ brains and in 48 out of 53 college players’ brains.Tyler Sash was one of the youngest players diagnosed. At age 27, his brain showed severe damage.“Even though we sent his brain in, we really didn't expect that,” said Barney Sash, Tyler Sash’s mother.McKee admits the study is skewed because all the brains studied were donated by families that suspected CTE, but her findings also show the disease in three high school players.McKee calls the findings a public safety concern for all young athletes.“There is no question,” McKee said. “I wouldn't let any of my relatives play football. It's too dangerous.”High school coaches in central Iowa said football takes the blame for injuries any athlete could sustain.“I think the game of football gets a bad rap at times when it comes to health, safety and injury numbers,” Valley High School football coach Gary Swenson said.“Football is out there, and everybody wants to talk about that being the sport where they get the concussions but really, it can happen anywhere,” Dowling Catholic High School head football coach Tom Wilson said.Swenson and Wilson said the game of football has never been safer.“We are doing an awful lot of things that we weren't doing 10 years ago, 20 years ago (or) 30 years ago in the sport of football to help make it safe,” Wilson said.Now, there is a concussion protocol players have to go through before they get back into the game, and a program called Heads Up that educates coaches and players on safe tackling and blocking. “For years, we've been trying to change rules to make the game safer. We’ve been trying to take the head out of the game for a long time,” Swenson said. McKee said she hopes the findings present a better understanding of CTE and how to prevent and stop it.“We are all concerned about it,” Swenson said. “We've all looked at it, and I think we're all taking steps to make this game safer.” Barney Sash told KCCI Tuesday that she hopes this study educates people on CTE and that having children play football is like playing Russian roulette with their health.