SPORTS

Always good to tone down glorification of sports violence, Roth says

Leo Roth
@leoroth
Dr. Ben Omalu, whose research and persistence forced the NFL to adopt a wide range of safety measures regarding concussions, was keynote speaker at Catholic Charities Community Services breakfast in Rochester.

We’ve come to the part of the NFL calendar where young, talented men who have worked very hard are being rewarded with riches and opportunity.

The start of free agency has produced its usual abundance of eye-popping pay days, such as cornerback Stephon Gilmore’s $40 million guarantee to jump from the Buffalo Bills to the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. Gilmore’s ship didn’t come in; his armada did.

Buffalo Bills strong safety Aaron Williams (23) is helped off the field, during the first half against the Miami Dolphins last October. He suffered a second neck injury and missed the final nine games. Williams, 26, was limited to 10 games over two seasons and is mulling retirement. The Bills released him at start of free agency.

Soon, about 1 percent of those who play college football will hear their name called in the NFL Draft as the league replenishes its work force with younger and cheaper players.

And yes, healthier ones.

The NFL is full of stories of players facing their football mortality. Like the Bills cutting safety Aaron Williams, 26, whose once promising career was derailed by two serious neck injuries in the span of two seasons, the last one the result of a violent cheap shot by Miami Dolphins’ receiver Jarvis Landry.

Williams, a well-liked and well-spoken team leader in Buffalo, is mulling retirement. But it’s difficult when the heart and the head are in conflict.

If it were up to Williams’ family and even many of his former teammates, the decision would be clear: Walk away. No amount of money or fame is worth it, especially since Williams also has a history of concussions.

I was fortunate to catch Dr. Bennet Omalu’s recent appearance at a concussion summit in Rochester.

The famed forensic neuropathologist was the keynote speaker at a fundraising breakfast at the Hyatt Regency benefiting Catholic Charities Community Services.

Fifteen years ago, Omalu, 48, was the first to identify the neurodegenerative brain disease called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), previously most associated with boxers, in NFL players.  He was portrayed by Will Smith in the 2015 movie Concussion.

Ex-Bill Steve Tasker on safety in youth sports

Glancing at the handsome Nigerian doctor, master of ceremonies Ginny Ryan of WHAM-TV (Channel 13) quipped, “Sir, Will Smith has got nothing on you."

And after the charismatic Omalu held the room spellbound with a 37-minute speech that was more like a sermon about faith and science and how the two aren’t that different, I wanted to add, “Sir, Billy Graham has nothing on you.’’

Omalu’s full name in Nigerian (Onyemalukwube) translates to “he who knows must come forward and speak."

And ever since conducting an autopsy on Pittsburgh Steelers’ Hall of Fame center Mike Webster in 2002 as a member of the Allegheny County Coroner’s office, Omalu hasn’t quit speaking.

Even though Webster’s brain appeared normal, Omalu suspected more and spent his own money conducting deeper tissue analysis. Webster, who was 50 when he died, suffered from years of dementia, depression and acute pain. A football hero, he wound up destitute and living out of his truck.

Omalu, who has battled depression during his own life, was haunted by Webster’s story.

“In Mike Webster, I saw myself,’’ he said. “That spirit that lives in you is the same spirit that lives in me. That’s what happened that Saturday morning between me and Mike Webster. I went to Mike Webster and I talked to his spirit. ‘Mike, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you, I think you are a victim of this game, a victim of the expectations of society. Come with me. Guide me. Lead me to the truth.’"

It took the deaths of many more retired players, a class-action lawsuit and many more years of research for the NFL to officially acknowledge the link between football and CTE.

Today, independent spotters have the authority to remove players suspected of a head injury from a game. Stringent return-to-play protocols for those diagnosed with a concussion are in place. Players are advocating for their own safety, unheard of decades ago.

Omalu, who didn't know what a quarterback was, let alone the guy snapping a ball between his legs, wondered why he was "chosen'' to play the role he did. But it had to be someone who had no “conformational intelligence'' of a sport so big and so ingrained in our culture. An American doctor was not going to question the NFL and what is today a $13 billion business. But a Nigerian might.

“Many think I’m here to talk about sports and condemn the NFL, no," Omalu said. “I absolutely love the NFL and want the NFL to make as much money as possible; that’s the free market. But nobody should take our humanity for granted."

Our humanity. It is one thing to know the risks of playing football and quite another to have them hidden from you. Today’s NFL players are equipped with knowledge their predecessors did not have, as are parents of children who want to play football or ice hockey or rugby or wrestling.

There is no helmet made that will prevent a head injury and a player doesn’t need to suffer a concussion to suffer brain damage, Omalu said. It’s the accumulation of blows that’s most worrisome.

That’s where coaches must take charge with practices that limit hitting time. Who must never joke, “Oh, you just got your bell rung.’’ That was so 2005 ago.

“Without minimizing the risks in sports, life is a risk," said Dennis Fries, the longtime Section V teacher, coach and administrator in Irondequoit who helped establish a concussion management program for high school athletes more than a decade ago. “All we can do is try and make it safer."

Dr. Bennet Omalu, left, and actor Will Smith
pose together at the cast photo call for the film "Concussion" at The Crosby Street Hotel on Monday, Dec. 14, 2015, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

Fries, Dr. Mary Dombovy, who started the brain injury rehabilitation program at St. Mary’s Hospital, and retired nurse and devoted Catholic Charities volunteer Nancy O’Mara were recognized for their work.

Seeing leaders in the sports medicine community, parents and educators come together to focus on brain injury made presenter Ray Ciancaglini feel deeply grateful and proud. The Geneva native and former boxer, who suffers from dementia pugilistica, a form of CTE, and Parkinson’s disease, founded the Second Impact organization to raise concussion awareness.

It used to be a one-man crusade. Not any longer.

“For many years, I have been advocating for concussion awareness and my many calls to the NFL and the NCAA fell on deaf ears," Ray, who is still recovering from a bad car accident, told me in an email. “I even heard remarks like, ‘Well, you are a boxer, what did you expect?  This doesn't happen to football players.’  It was a grand case of dismissing and denial of the issue. But after Dr. Omalu's findings, the evidence was there and my message no longer fell on deaf ears. For me, Dr. Omalu's research was the best thing that could have happened."

Onyemalukwube … “he who knows must come forward and speak." The sports world must never stop the conversation.