It’s possible you’re tired of reading stories like Nick Buoniconti’s. There have been plenty of them. I’ve written about some of them.
But they’re only going to keep coming out. Probably more and more often.
Buoniconti played from 1962 through 1976, perhaps most memorably as a Pro Bowler on the ’72 Dolphins. He also led a bit of a larger-than-life, well, life; he graduated law school while playing in the NFL, became an agent after retirement (including for baseball stars like Andre Dawson and Bucky Dent), and even served as a top executive for US Tobacco, along with a long stint as a co-host of Inside the NFL.
On MMQB, S.L. Price has a very detailed longform piece on Buoniconti’s current battle with the effects of CTE. It’s wrenching at times, as many of these pieces are:
But few saw Buoniconti teeter as he walked off the stage, perhaps because of the atrophy to his right frontal cortex seen in 2015. Fewer noticed Nick motioning for Lynn as he bolted from the ballroom, perhaps because of the neurodegenerative dementia diagnosis just a month ago—or the yet-unspoken opinion that his condition could actually be corticobasal syndrome, complicated by an atypical Parkinsonian Syndrome or CTE or Alzheimer’s.
He had to pee. And Lynn had to stand by to unbutton and unzip him and ensure that he’d emerge from the men’s room dry and unexposed.
And no one here saw him before all that, when Buoniconti stood up in the hotel lobby and headed toward the ballroom. “I feel lost,” he said. “I feel like a child.”
There are many more details in the story, and the entire thing is obviously worth reading. Buoniconti’s story also includes that of his son Marc, who was rendered a quadriplegic after dislocating his neck while playing college football.
In one family, we see football’s ability to injure its participants both in one instant and through many smaller ones over time.
Something has to change at some point, but it’s too late for entire generations of players whose stories we’ve heard and will continue to hear.
[MMQB]