4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS WATCH SCHEDULE CONNECT TOPICS ABOUT SHOP TEACHER CENTER S U P P O R T P R O V I D E D B Y FRONTLINE > Sports > League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis > Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis October 8, 2013, 9:57 pm ET by Lauren Ezell E - M A I L T H I S Tw eet 30 Recommend 1.3k 11 2 What did the NFL know and when did it know it? To help answer that question we’ve created a dual chronology, with growing scientific concern about the link between football and brain disease on the left-hand column, and the NFL’s public statements on the right. Click on a year to learn more. 1994 1995 1997 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 1994 1994 NFL CREATES MTBI COMMITTEE NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue creates the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury committee, and appoints New York Jets team doctor and rheumatologist Dr. Elliot Pellman as chair, despite lacking any previous experience in brain science. When asked about the issue of concussions in 1994, Pellman tells Newsday: “‘We discuss it on the list of things every time we have a league meeting … We think the issue of knees, of drugs and steroids and drinking is a far greater problem, according to the number of incidents.” Pellman also tells Sports Illustrated that “concussions are part of the profession, an occupational risk.” January 1994 TROY AIKMAN’S CONCUSSION Dallas Cowboys quarterback Troy Aikman takes a knee to the head during the 1993 season NFC Championship game, landing him in the hospital that night. Aikman later tells the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that he can’t remember the game: “I didn’t know what planet I was on. I still to this day have no recollection of ever having played in that game. So whenever I see footage of that game, it’s like somebody else is out there doing it.” Aikman’s agent, Leigh Steinberg, visited him in the hospital that night and recalled the story to FRONTLINE. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/league-of-denial/timeline-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/ 1/38 4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS October 1994 MERRILL HOGE RETIRES DUE TO CONCUSSIONS Citing the dangers of returning to football after sustaining several concussions, Chicago Bears fullback Merrill Hoge announces his retirement from the NFL. Two weeks earlier, he had taken a knee to the head, leaving him briefly unable to recognize his wife or brother. Hoge tells Sports News: “This is messing with your brain.” December 1994 COMMISSIONER TAGLIABUE DISMISSES THE CONCUSSION PROBLEM NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue describes concussions as a “pack journalism issue” during a panel on the future of sports: “On concussions, I think is one of these pack journalism issues, frankly… There is no increase in concussions, the number is relatively small… The problem is a journalist issue. “ 1995 February 1995 LEIGH STEINBERG SOUNDS A WARNING With growing concern for the health of his clients, Leigh Steinberg, agent to star quarterbacks Troy Aikman and Steve Young, holds a seminar on the effects of concussions in Newport Beach, Calif. Players listen to a panel of medical experts describe the symptoms and dangers of concussions. San Diego Charger Gary Plummer tells The Press Enterprise: “By their standards, I must’ve had 200 concussions.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/league-of-denial/timeline-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/ 2/38 4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS 1997 March 1997 NEW RETURN-TO-PLAY GUIDELINES The guidelines from the American Academy of Neurology say that repetitive concussions can cause brain damage, and suggest that players be removed from the game if they lose consciousness or exhibit any concussion symptoms 15 minutes post-injury. “Repeated concussions can cause cumulative brain injury in an individual over months or years,” the report warns. 1999 April 1999 MIKE WEBSTER CLAIMS FOOTBALL GAVE HIM DEMENTIA After years of struggling with cognitive problems, Mike Webster files a disability application with the NFL Retirement Board, claiming his NFL football career caused him to have dementia. September 1999 STEVE YOUNG KNOCKED OUT COLD 49ers quarterback Steve Young is knocked out for 30 seconds during a game against the Arizona Cardinals. It would be Young’s last NFL game. October 1999 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/league-of-denial/timeline-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/ 3/38 4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS NFL RETIREMENT BOARD RULES MIKE WEBSTER PERMANENTLY DISABLED The NFL Retirement Board rules that Mike Webster’s head injuries from his years playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs left him “totally and permanently” disabled as “the result of head injuries he suffered as a football player.” The ruling isn’t made public until it’s uncovered by FRONTLINE/ESPN reporters Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru- Wada. Webster’s attorney, Bob Fitzsimmons, says the ruling shows that the league should’ve known there was a link between football and brain damage. “It’s pretty devastating evidence,” he said. “If the NFL takes the position that they didn’t know or weren’t armed with evidence that concussions can cause total disability — permanent disability, permanent brain injury — in 1999, that evidence trumps anything they say.” December 1999 MTBI CHAIR SAYS SERIOUS BRAIN INJURIES ARE A RARITY IN THE NFL Dr. Pellman tells The Chicago Tribune that the MTBI committee’s studies have found that brain injuries in football are relatively uncommon and minor. The paper reports: “After four years of keeping close track of head injuries, Pellman claims the numbers have remained ‘remarkably the same’ throughout the league. He said there are about 180 ‘incidents’ per year of mild traumatic brain injury. ‘We’re talking the majority are minor injuries,’ Pellman said.” 2000 May 2000 May 2000 RESEARCH SUGGESTS MTBI MEMBERS QUESTION RETURN CONCUSSIONS MAY LEAD TO TO PLAY GUIDELINES NEUROLOGICAL PROBLEMS The New York Times reports that MTBI committee members, along with many NFL doctors, are criticizing the American While cautioning that their study was based solely on surveys, Academy of Neurology’s 1997 return-to-play guidelines, citing a Dr. Barry Jordan and Dr. Julian Bailes present startling results at lack of research to support them. an annual meeting for the American Academy of Neurology. Science Daily summarized their findings: “We don’t know whether being knocked out briefly is any more dangerous than having amnesia and not being knocked out,” “When compared to players who did not report any committee member and neurologist Dr. Mark R. Lovell tells the concussions, the group with one or more concussions reported Times. ”We see people all the time that get knocked out briefly significantly more neurological symptoms. These included and have no symptoms,” he added. ”Others get elbowed, go problems with memory and concentration, confusion, speech back to the bench and say, ‘Where am I?’” or hearing difficulties, numbness or tingling in extremities, and headaches.” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/league-of-denial/timeline-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/ 4/38 4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS September 2000 DALLAS OWNER SAYS AIKMAN SHOULD IGNORE CONCUSSION CONCERNS Dallas Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones tells ESPN that he’d push Aikman to ignore concussion concerns if it was a key game “since all data that we have so far don’t point to lasting effects, long-term effects from the head trauma.” 2001 April 2001 TROY AIKMAN RETIRES Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys Troy Aikman announces his retirement, citing his concussions and back problems. 2002 2002 DR. BENNET OMALU EXAMINES MIKE WEBSTER’S BRAIN Because Webster was suffering from mental problems, Allegheny County medical examiner Dr. Bennet Omalu decides to take a closer look at Webster’s brain, eventually discovering the first evidence of a brain disease that had never been previously identified in football players, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or CTE. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/league-of-denial/timeline-the-nfls-concussion-crisis/ 5/38 4/4/2014 Timeline: The NFL’s Concussion Crisis | League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis | FRONTLINE | PBS 2003 November 2003 November 2003 RESEARCHERS WARN ON MTBI CHAIR SENDS KNOCKED-OUT CONCUSSIONS PLAYER BACK INTO GAME Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, a sports medicine researcher at the According to a report by ESPN, New York Jets receiver Wayne University of North Carolina, publishes a paper suggesting that Chrebet gets knocked out cold during a game against the New repeat concussions may lead to slower recovery of neurological York Giants. Dr. Elliot Pellman, the Jets’ team doctor, who is also functioning: head of the NFL’s Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, examines him, and sends him back into the game. “Our study suggests that players with a history of previous concussions are more likely to have future concussive injuries than those with no history; 1 in 15 players with a concussion may have additional concussions in the same playing season; and previous concussions may be associated with slower recovery of neurological function.” October 2003 NFL BEGINS PUBLISHING RESEARCH IN SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL The first of 16 scientific papers by the MTBI Committee, is published in the journal Neurosurgery along with a guest editorial by NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.