4 Decades Later, Famed NFL Team Copes With Brain Issues

Philadelphia Inquirer finds a high incidence of cognitive issues among 1980 Eagles players
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Sep 21, 2024 2:15 PM CDT
4 Decades Later, Famed NFL Team Copes With Brain Issues
Philadelphia Eagles coach Dick Vermeil yells from the sideline as his team plays against the St. Louis Cardinals on Nov. 7, 1976, in Philadelphia.   (AP Photo, File)

An investigative piece by David Gambacorta in the Philadelphia Inquirer offers a unique—and engrossing—angle on the issue of brain injuries among football players. Gambacorta looks specifically at the city's famed 1980 Super Bowl team to get a sense of how those celebrated Eagles players are faring four decades later. The answer is troubling:

  • The Inquirer "spoke with a dozen of the 1980 Super Bowl team's 22 starters, and with relatives of two who have died, and found that 12 of the 14, or 86%, developed a range of cognitive issues after retirement—from memory loss and depression to personality changes and movement disorders," he writes.

This was an era in which linemen were taught to "lead with your head" when tackling, as 76-year-old Stan Walters recalls. An era when players "got dinged" and were encouraged to shake it off and quickly return. A leading medical textbook on football injuries at the time deemed that to be a safe practice, notes Gambacorta. "How many concussions? Daily. I was getting them daily," says Jerry Sisemore, 73, who was diagnosed with neurological impairment in 2019 through an NFL settlement program and received $175,000. "Now I'm starting to stumble a lot. I get lost."

A good part of the story deals with former players' difficulty in navigating the settlement process, including the Catch-22-like issue of being unable to complete the tests needed to qualify. Three members of the team have been posthumously diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy, including center Guy Morriss, whose condition has not been previously disclosed. Read the full piece, which notes that former coach Dick Vermeil, now 87, has become one of his former players' strongest advocates. (Or check out other longform recaps.)

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