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Former Detroit Lions running back Mel Farr, who once headed the nation's largest black-owned car dealership group, had Stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death in 2015, ESPN's Outside The Lines reports.
CTE is a progressive degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. Farr died suddenly on Aug. 3, 2015 from a massive heart attack due to undiagnosed hypertension. He was 70.
ESPN reports:
After his death, Farr's family donated his brain and spinal cord to Boston University School of Medicine where, since 2008, researchers have been testing the brains of deceased athletes for the presence of CTE, the progressive degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head.
CTE can only be confirmed with certainty after someone dies. Symptoms include memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression and, eventually, progressive dementia.
In recent years, the NFL has been coming to grips with brain injuries associated with playing the game.
