What Did Mike Webster's Autopsy Find?

Roman Mars says that in 2002 a doctor named Bennet Omalu found unusual patterns in the brain of Mike Webster, a Pittsburgh Steelers legend. The brain was full of tau proteins. Omalu concluded Webster had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, the damage that usually follows years of blows to the head. After that autopsy it was clear regular football concussions could cause it. A study published this year found at least a quarter of NFL players who died between 2016 and 2021 had CTE, and the researchers said the share could be higher with more data. The diagnosis is possible only at autopsy.

About a third of former NFL players in a recent poll believe they have it. Roman Mars talks with George Visger, a defensive tackle who won a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers in 1982 and played only a couple of NFL games. Visger says a routine helmet-to-helmet hit left him falling backward on his first step. He describes balls of light, hearing that came and went with his heartbeat, nine emergency brain surgeries, and arrests he cannot remember. He still carries a notebook because he cannot recall where he parked.