Former professional football player and TV commentator Frank Gifford, who died in August at 84, suffered from a degenerative brain disease triggered by the effect of repetitive head trauma.
“We as a family made the difficult decision to have his brain studied in hopes of contributing to the advancement of medical research concerning the link between football and traumatic brain injury,” Gifford’s family said in a statement released Wednesday.
A team of pathologists diagnosed his condition as chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive degenerative brain disease, according to the statement.
Gifford played in the NFL for 12 years, all for the New York Giants.
The family said it decided to disclose his condition “to honor Frank’s legacy of promoting player safety dating back to his involvement in the formation of the NFL Players Association in the 1950s.”
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