Former NFL Star Diagnosed With CTE After Dying At 52
01/09/2025 11:01 AM
In 2023 the NFL lost a beloved playoff legend who was responsible for one of the greatest plays in NFL history. A little over a year after his passing, we've now learned that he, like so many others, suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
On Thursday, the family of the late-great Pro Bowl tight end Frank Wycheck confirmed through a scientific study of his brain that he did, in fact, suffer from CTE in the final years of his life. Wycheck lost his life in December of 2023 after sustaining a fall.
In a statement, Wycheck's daughter Deanna shared that the family is grateful to learn of the diagnosis and said that it hopes to continue her father's "desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE"
"After my father's retirement from professional football, our family faced challenges in understanding the physical and mental changes he was experiencing. We initially believed it was simply an inability to adjust to 'normal' life after the intensity of being a professional athlete. We witnessed our father becoming increasingly isolated and experiencing drastic mood swings. He became more impulsive, and often inconsistent and undependable," Deanna Wycheck Szabo said in a statement, via WKRN.
"At the time, I mistakenly attributed his struggles to missing the spotlight and camaraderie of his playing days. But now in hindsight, I understand that he was suffering from the symptoms of CTE due to the repeated trauma his brain and body endured over 11 seasons in the NFL. My father put his body on the line throughout his career. He loved the game and even more so loved his teammates. After retirement, he fought for years to bring light to his post-NFL journey and the fears he had around his struggles and symptoms that he knew whole-heartedly was CTE. He often felt forgotten and ignored, and that his situation was helpless.
"Reflecting back, I wish our family had been educated on the signs and symptoms of CTE. Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control.
"Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father's desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE. Our hope is that NFL alumni, who believe they are suffering from CTE, will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state. With on-going CTE research and diagnosis', we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment. That's what our father would have wanted."
The family of former @Titans TE Frank Wycheck has confirmed the positive diagnosis of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Stage III after research following his death in 2023.
— Jim Wyatt (@jwyattsports) January 9, 2025
More information released by Wycheck's family: pic.twitter.com/YaLLw6wo91
25 years and one day ago, Wycheck helped pull off one of the most iconic plays in NFL history, throwing a lateral pass on a kickoff in a Wild Card playoff game against the Buffalo Bills to Kevin Dyson, who ran the ball in for a touchdown in the first playoff win for the Tennessee Titans since their move to Nashville.
The play and the game were famously dubbed, "The Music City Miracle" for Nashville's nickname "Music City."
The Titans would go on to defeat Peyton Manning's Indianapolis Colts in the Divisional Round and the Jacksonville Jaguars in the AFC Championship Game to reach their first-ever Super Bowl.
Wycheck finished his career with the Titans and retired after the 2003 season. He spent years afterwards in football media and other ventures but started to suffer serious head issues in the late-2010s that kept him from working.
Wycheck himself long-suspected he had CTE. Now we know for sure.
Related: Details Surrounding Frank Wycheck's Death On Sunday Are Tragic
