Posted on Monday, 16th August 2010 by Marcus Gollan
Pro football grabbed America’s attention in the 60s and 70s with a violent combination of speed and power that was perfect for the times. Former Minnesota Viking Wally Hilgenberg was perfect for it.
A swashbuckling linebacker from Iowa, he punished offenses for 16 years — 12 with the Vikings — including four Super Bowls. Wally played like his life depended on it. But unfortunately, we now know it really did.
“Wally did die from football,” said his wife Mary. “From his concussions.”
After retiring, Wally lived an energetic and apparently healthy life, hunting, fishing and working in the banking business. But something was wrong. Something called ALS.
“I don’t fear death,” he said at the time. “I don’t like the way that you die with ALS.”
Wally received the diagnosis when he was 64. As his body declined over the next two years, he spent precious time with both of his families — the one at home and the one from football.
But ALS is an ugly killer and by the end his once strong body was a shell.
Wally was paralyzed and could only blink his eyes. Fellow linebackers Roy Winston and Lonny Warwick said their goodbyes, and the family posed for a final portrait.
“We wheeled Wally out in his power wheelchair and he blinked with his eyes that he didn’t want to be in the power wheelchair. That he wanted to sit in a chair,” recalled Mary.
The proud athlete got his wish. Posing in a chair after his son lifted him up and put him there.
It’s a quite a picture of a loving family. But two weeks later, Wally was gone.
And now we know why.
“What we’ve really identified is a traumatic cause for ALS,” said Dr. Robert Cantu of Boston University.
He is part of a team of doctors that discovered a new link between traumatic head injuries and ALS. They did it by studying Wally’s brain.
They found a toxic protein caused by head injuries in the spinal columns of three professional athletes, who all died of the disease. It’s a major medical breakthrough and the answer to Mary’s questions.
“Football is where Wally sustained the great preponderance of his head trauma,” said Cantu. “So yes, I would say that Wally Hilgenberg most probably did die of brain trauma sustained in football.”
“I always felt it could be something to do with football,” said Mary. “You know, the brain is soft, and if you’re constantly hitting, having collisions, it’s got to hurt the brain.”
Doctors also suspected the link but this is the first scientific proof. It justifies the family’s decision to participate in the study, but increases Mary’s concerns about other players — past and present.
“This is the biggest crisis that the NFL has ever had to face,” she said.
It’s certainly on the minds of Wally’s contemporaries. They smile while signing autographs, but worry about the future.
Bob Lurtsema went to California for Alzheimer’s screening and a drug trial, but others weren’t so lucky.
“Some people have gone out there and they found out how many concussions they’ve had, how much brain damage they’ve had, and they can’t be helped. And they know what’s coming,” said Lurtsema.
And that is what’s so scary for Mary, who plans to lobby NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell to help players with ALS. There’s an old saying that pain and injury are part of the contact, but this kind of injury is not.
“I mean they’re giving up their brains for this sport,” said Mary. “How much is a brain worth?”
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Tags: Viking, Viking Stars
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