Marvez: The head case behind a good cause

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Chris Nowinski has become one of the leading advocates for head-trauma research in sports.
And he has his own brain damage to thank for it.
The concussion-related problems that ended Nowinski's short-lived World Wrestling Entertainment career spurred him to form the Sports Legacy Institute, which studies the effects of cerebral injuries on athletes. The SLI and Boston University School of Medicine generated headlines at Super Bowl XLIII by announcing that the premature deaths of six former NFL players can be linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease caused by head trauma.
"To use a football analogy, I feel like we're crossing midfield," Nowinski said Tuesday in Tampa. "We've gotten so much momentum now with so many players trying to help us and people stepping forward. And we've got so much credibility. People know this is the real deal now as opposed to two years ago when everyone was like, 'You're out of your mind.' "
Nowinski learned there was something wrong with his mind in 2003 after experiencing a severe case of post-concussion syndrome while with WWE. Nowinski, who wrestled as Chris Harvard after a stint on the WWE reality series "Tough Enough," couldn't gain medical clearance to continue after suffering repeated health problems like forgetting the predetermined layout of his matches. He retired at the age of 25.
Nowinski later learned he was predisposed to concussions from undetected ones he suffered while playing high-school and college football. He found it so difficult to receive a proper diagnosis that Nowinski began researching the issue himself and even wrote a book about it, "Head Games: Football's Concussion Crisis."
Nowinski's doggedness helped him begin working with some of the world's leading experts in brain research to raise awareness among athletes and sports leagues. He then joined those doctors in pushing for better medical studies of athletes as well as preventive measures aimed at high-school football players, who have appallingly lax treatment guidelines.
"Chris was so incredibly infective that I changed the focus of my career," said Dr. Robert Stern, a specialist in Alzheimer's disease at Boston University who works closely with SLI. "It was just such an important thing to be able to address. His passion and ability to articulate it made me realize that."
While NFL players are the SLI's main focus, research does include pro wrestlers both living and dead. The most notable performer is the late Chris Benoit, the former WWE champion who murdered his wife and 7-year-old son before committing suicide in June 2007.
Nowinski worked with the Benoit family to gain permission for a cerebral study to determine whether repeated concussions could have played a role in such monstrous behavior. Nowinski said tests showed that Benoit was suffering from severe damage before his rampage.
"Chris had the most progressed case of CTE that we found, more than the NFL players," Nowinski said. "I have no doubt that if he didn't have brain damage he wouldn't be a murderer.
"He told me personally he had more concussions than he could count a year or two before the tragedy. In talking to guys who hung out with him the last three to six months of his life, they all have stories about him just being very strange and emotional. Someone told me Chris spent an hour in a hotel hallway in Italy crying about something that was completely pointless. He was unraveling. We knew if CTE cases like (former NFL player) Andre Waters weren't killing themselves, there's always the possibility they'll get violent toward someone else as well."
After his involvement with the Benoit family, WWE cut all professional ties with Nowinski, who had represented the promotion as part of its "Smackdown Your Vote" electoral registration program. Nowinski said he was warned that would happen beforehand by WWE management if he worked with the Benoits.
In an e-mail, WWE spokesman Robert Zimmerman said the promotion "parted ways amicably" with Nowinski after his contract expired because "it became clear that he was becoming more focused on his research, where his true interests were/are." WWE also has instituted testing for concussions since the Benoit murder-suicide.
Asked about the genesis of his WWE departure, Nowinski said, "It was all fear of lawsuits. If we say Benoit had brain damage from being a pro wrestler, that makes WWE liable to an on-the-job-injury (claim). I think that's the only reason they want no part to this. It's just dollars.
"Think about how many guys have gotten concussions in the ring or anyone else over the past few decades. WWE never put a program in place until last year. For 10 years they were behind the rest of the (sports) world. They would look very bad for that."
Nowinski said some wrestlers, like former WWE stars Spike Dudley and Al Snow, have agreed to donate their brains for research after dying, joining a list that includes ex-NFL players both living and dead.
"I've gotten great support from the wrestlers themselves," Nowinski said. "They all know something is wrong with getting hit in the head for such a long time ... It's a shame because wrestling is the one place where the fix is so easy. The risks are known and you can limit them."
For more information, visit www.sportslegacy.org.

(Alex Marvez writes a syndicated pro-wrestling column for Scripps Howard News Service. E-mail him at alex1marv(at)aol.com.)