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[MUSIC PLAYING]

Now let's go back
through the 1953 season

as the Detroit Lions fought
their way to the championship.

I grew up in a football family.

That guy running with the ball--

that's my dad.

He won three NFL championships.

He played for one of the
greatest coaches ever, Vince

Lombardi.

This is my dad at
his most beautiful,

and he really was beautiful.

Lew Carpenter carries this time
and dents the Detroit defense

for nine more yards.

My dad loved the game of
football, and more so the men

he played with.

They were like family to us.

Brothers, uncles.

I'm not sure there was ever a
family that was more defined

by football than we were.

In fact, everything that
was good in our lives

seemed to come from football,
even our social standing.

He was part of something
so much bigger than us.

The big hits didn't
take away from that.

Lew Carpenter gets a hand off
and carries to Detroit 35.

But there was something else
going on with my dad that

had really bothered me.

And when I say bothered me, I
mean really, really bothered me.

Affect Regulation.

The Adult Children of
Alcoholics Syndrome.

I never saw my
dad drink heavily,

but the slurring, the staggered
behavior, the forgetting

to come home,
traumatic stress, maybe

some of dad's erratic behaviors
might be related to PTSD.

Well, he was a very
talented athlete.

He had a temper.

You just knew how to
stay away from it.

I mean, he was funny.

These are my binders
filled with articles.

Throughout my childhood,
my father could be normal,

but he could also be explosive,
childlike, or distant.

Behaviors which grew more
pronounced over the years.

Depression, kind of odd
disinhibited behaviors,

paranoia, hair-trigger temper.

But he loved the
Green Bay Packers.

He could go off on a rant,
then and the one thing

would lead to another, and it
was just like, What the heck?

Narcissism and Intimacy.

How Your Unconscious
Mind Rules Your Behavior.

Put up this big crusty shield--

But he was a hell of
a football player.

When he died, my mom asked
me to write his obituary.

I wrote the story of his
professional life in football.

The rest was too
complicated to describe.

The dangers of the sport
were a distant memory.

My father's death could have
been the end of the story,

but a research group
from Boston University

found dad's obituary
on the internet

and called to ask
us for his brain.

They were doing a
study on the impact

of concussions in
former NFL players

and needed control subjects.

He had never had a concussion.

So we knew he would be a
great control for the study.

Months later, they diagnosed
dad with chronic traumatic

encephalopathy, or CTE, A
disease I had never heard of.

Were they really telling
us that his odd behaviors

had been caused by football?

Ann McKee was the
neuropathologist

who diagnosed my father.

Did you ever notice any
symptoms or signs in your dad?

Because it usually is a very
slow, insidious sort of creeping

deterioration that
goes unnoticed really

because it's just these odd
little things like maybe

a temper and maybe
irritability, maybe not

able to multitask in a busy
situation, not able to focus,

and then just sort
of this slow creeping

increase in those symptoms.

You know, so they just try to
bluff their way through it,

and they're struggling
with a lot of injury.

So if you hit that--

that's your dad's
brain, actually.

I don't know.

It's a little-- maybe
too much information.

So that's the undersurface
of your dad's brain.

And we have the whole
brain to work with,

and then we prepare
these slides.

So what we do is we cut it.

We cut the brain in what
we call coronal sections.

It's a cross-section.

You can see, just
holding up the slide,

that there's a lot of damage.

I mean, there shouldn't be any
of this brown discoloration.

And the brown discoloration is
really throughout the brain.

Now we're starting to get
into hippocampus, which

is the part of the brain that
controls memory and learning,

and it's very damaged.

A really pretty
classic case of CTE.

We grade it now on
a four-tiered scale,

with one being the mildest
and four being the worst.

And to me, he's a four.

He's all the way up there.

So he was doing remarkably
well considering

that he has really pretty
substantial pathology

in his brain.

You can see it under the scope.

And just to give you an idea
what a normal brain looks like,

this is what a
normal brain looks.

Wow.

And here's your dad down here.

Those are just the tangles
of his tau protein.

OK.

So--

Wow, it's there.

OK.

So we've used a lot of it.

That's his amygdala.

That's small.

What position did your dad play?

He's a running back.

A lot of times, they have a
lot of holes in the septum.

Is the amygdala being small--

that can be caused by
other things there, right?

Yeah, but in your dad's
case, it was caused by that.

Right.

Yeah.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I didn't understand
the relationship

between these mysterious tau
deposits, my dad's behavior,

and football.

The CTE researchers had
called my sister Lisa the day

after my dad died.

I said, Well, could
he have had this

from the time he was 35 or 40?

And could have some of the
symptoms he had as a father

raising us--

could those have been an
effect of an early progression

of this disease?

They said, Yes,
it could, but it's

impossible to make that deciding
factor at this stage in game.

You just can't.

And they had a lot
of questions about,

Did he have concussions that
had been documented or not?

And basically, dad didn't
have documented concussions.

So what we understood
is they were really

at the beginning stages
of gathering information

because he was a
very early case.

We stumbled across an
article about a former player

named Mike Webster, who
was the first NFL player

to be diagnosed with CTE.

He had died in 2002, and the
behaviors related to his disease

were extreme.

Iron Mike, legendary Steelers
center for 15 seasons.

His life after football had
been mysterious and tragic,

and on the news, they were
going on and on about it.

Soon, Mike Webster was
homeless, living in a truck.

One of his windows replaced
with a garbage bag and tape.

How does a guy go
from four Super Bowl

rings to pissing in his own
oven and squirting superglue

on his rotting teeth?

I'm like going, OK,
that's not my dad.

No.

Featured in the film
Concussion, Dr. Bennet Omalu

was the first person to diagnose
CTE in a former NFL player.

I caught up with
him in Las Vegas,

where he was presenting his
findings to a group of retirees.

So please, whenever you're
talking about CTE concussions,

don't call CTE.

I was reading it, and I
was thinking, Oh, my God.

I love this guy.

He takes the brain
home to his apartment.

And I'm sure he's got like the
stainless steel like island--

I mean, imagine--

No, I didn't really
have anything.

I actually did it
on my dining table.

But it was clean.

Using an obscure
staining process,

Dr. Omalu identified
the same tau pathology

that had been linked
to punch-drunk syndrome

in former boxers.

Omalu made similar discoveries
in two more retired NFL players.

The ones I saved, they
were exact reproductions

of one another.

So I said, Oh no, Bennet,
Bennet, there's a trend here.

There's a trend.

There's no question about it.

There's a trend.

I needed to know why Mike
Webster's symptoms were

so severe and why my father's
were comparatively mild.

Between the exposure to
trauma and the manifestation

of incapacitating symptoms--

in between there is a subtle,
progressive manifestation

of non-incapacitating symptoms.

So the person is functional.

Only people who
are close to him,

like his wife, his immediate
family, will notice subtle--

they're very subtle-- subtle
but progressive changes

in his personality
and in his behavior,

and in his level of functioning.

His findings were
published in Neurosurgery,

a major peer-reviewed
medical journal.

The NFL suggested or insinuated
I was practicing voodoo.

Yesterday, they used
the word mystical.

Then I stopped.

I couldn't believe it.

I said to myself, These
are retired NFL players

in the United States of America.

I had grown up as part
of the NFL family.

I needed to hear about
CTE from a doctor who

understood football.

You were a team doctor
for the Steelers.

I'm guessing you did that
because you love football

not because you
didn't like football.

The first four cases--

I knew them all fairly well.

Mike Webster, I
knew extremely well.

Terry Long, and the fourth
case was Justin Strzelczyk.

After leaving his wife
and kids, who I always

thought he was very
close to, and complaining

of hearing voices from the evil
ones and things of that sort,

so I think that personal side
of it made me more intrigued

and made me more determined
to try to figure out

for myself if this was something
real or something spurious,

as others had suggested.

I've come to think that the real
problem is not so much hitting

your head as it is the movement
of the brain inside the skull.

Homo sapiens brain
floats in a bath

of fluid called
cerebral spinal fluid,

and when the even helmeted
cranium suddenly stops,

the brain is able
to continue forward.

Hits the inside of the skull.

It bounces back.

Probably reverberates
the second time.

There's probably microscopic
vacuums which are pulled.

This is what I like to
refer to as brain slosh.

And I think it leads
to tearing of fibers,

and I think it leads
to microscopic injury

at the structural level
and then inside the cells.

And the brain tries to repair
itself, and usually it does.

But the rub comes
based on the severity

and the repetitive nature.

If you have played
college football,

by the time you complete that,
you've had approximately 8,000

blows to your head.

The question is
raised, Well, how

do you know that's what it is?

To me, you can't
say, No, that doesn't

cause it, but yet not offer
an alternative explanation

or a theory.

So I can say, You know what?

Smoking, in fact, I don't
think it causes lung cancer,

but I can't tell you what does.

My nephew Parker started playing
football when he was five.

Now, he's fighting for a
starting quarterback position

on his high school team.

Personally, I really like
the competition, the crowd,

moments where someone
depends on me and me having

to come through.

I've always thought about
being a professional player--

quarterback, but D1 school--
that'd be a dream come true.

I was the one that
was playing sports,

and he like really
was in it with me.

He was never like really
quick to show love,

but he would just
talk to me, and there

was nothing else going on.

He would get out a napkin and
just draw up plays and try

to make sure that
I understood those

and making sure that everything
you do is just perfect.

And he said that to
be a quarterback,

you have to be perfect
at everything you do.

I felt like he
wanted me to succeed.

Do you ever worry
about concussions

and that you could
actually get brain damage

from playing football?

It's kind of like
a secondary thing.

My main worry is
making sure that I

succeed in what the coaches
and what the players--

my teammates are
expecting out of me.

Parker was heading
to football camp

at the University of Arkansas,
where my dad went to college.

Why Arkansas?

And this is a special
place for the family,

and I would like it to be
a special place for me too.

[DISTANT BUSTLING]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I can't shake the
image of Parker

absorbing the thousands of
blows that Bailes had described.

I'd heard about a retired
player named John Hilton, who

had been diagnosed with frontal
lobe dementia at the age of 62,

and he more closely resembled
my dad than Mike Webster did.

You look like your dad.

Yeah, I'm good.

I'm Penny.

This is John.

John, hi.

This is Lew
Carpenter's daughter.

John Hilton was only 69 years
old when we sat down to talk.

Up until our
conversation, I don't

think I thought that there
were other people out there

that lived the same life--
that had the same experiences.

Was there a time, Penny,
when you remember thinking,

What's John doing?

About the time we moved
to Richmond, 25 years ago,

he would get upset about
something that was not

worth getting upset about.

And he would be ballistic.

I mean out-of-control ballistic.

He was putting a bike rack
on the back of his car,

and he was having issues,
and it was a Sunday morning.

Quiet neighborhood.

He picked up the entire
box of nuts and bolts

and things threw
it down the street,

and at the top of his
lungs, yelled an expletive.

And I just stood there
and thought, He's nuts.

He's lost it.

I just had never seen
this, but I was seeing it

over and over and over again.

This temper.

And one minute everything's
fine and the next minute he's

going off like a rocket.

Do you know why
you're here, John?

I don't really know what's
going on with everything

but I'm well aware of what
the good and the bad is.

It was wonderful because the--

Special teams?

No.

No, no, no, no.

It was-- let me get this right.

Sure.

Take your time.

Oh, Jesus.

He got-- I

[DISTANT CHATTER]

With all this noise, I can't--

well, what happened
was I forgot now.

That's OK.

She said you can
come back to it.

OK?

Do you miss Penny?

Yes, I miss her immensely.

(SINGING) Reindeer
pulling on the reins

Bells are ringing, children
singing, all is merry and bright

So hang your stockings
and say your prayers,

'cause Santa Claus comes tonight

What is it?

Is it that you're
missing your dad?

No.

I'm sad to think that
he went through it alone

without us knowing.

And I'm sad about how
many parts of my childhood

might have looked different.

And so now I think,
OK, so how do

I use his life to
make some meaning

to make it worth something?

I understood.

I had been raised by a father
who had a serious brain disease.

I had to go back.

I had to look at
everything that I

had believed to be
true about football

and about my dad and my mom--

about me and my dad.

Now, I needed to
look at all of it

through the lens
of this disease.

Could I go back in time
and bring us back together?

For four hours here, picked
forces fought expertly

on both sides for
every inch of ground.

My mom grew up on a steady
diet of World War II movies,

and she aspired to be a
commando like her cousins.

A high school journalist
and basketball player.

I was lucky to find that she had
quietly recorded our family's

history in detail.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

When I was in the 10th
grade, Lewis was a senior.

And his team in West
Memphis and my team in Earl

were playing in the Crittenden
County basketball tournament.

And the girls were
talking about, Ah,

that Lewis Carpenter, woo.

They were leaning out of the
bus, yelling, and screaming,

and I sat there and
said, That's ridiculous.

So that's how we met.

Well, lo and behold,
I got a call from him

like two days
later, and that was

the spark that started it
all and never went away.

Did he give you this picture?

Yeah, he did.

He did.

Believe it or not, we
would talk for hours.

What we talked about?

I can't imagine.

Things got really
exciting when dad was

drafted to play pro football.

Now, let's go back
through the 1953 season

as the Detroit Lions fought
their way to the championship.

I had no idea what NFL
meant, what it was.

First time he touches the
ball, Lewis intercepted it.

Rookie fullback Lew Carpenter
of the Lions short circuits

the spiral and behind perfect
blocking legs at 73 yards.

He ran the whole field
and made a touchdown.

We were so thrilled.

He signed for $8,500.

I mean, that was a lot of money.

My idea of NFL parties
or whatever was everybody

walked around with champagne
and their glass and mink coats.

The first time they
went out of town,

I got a call from
Bobby Layne's wife

asking me to come to
their apartment hotels

that night for
wives get together.

Here I am, rookie wife,
not knowing what to do.

I thought, Oh, my God.

What do you wear?

And knocked on the door,
and Caroline opens the door.

Hi.

She's got her pajamas on
and a housecoat or whatever.

They're washing somebody's hair
and putting it up in rollers.

Two little kids are
running around like crazy.

There's all kinds of food
on the table for snacks.

I just laughed.

That was my indoctrination
to pro ball.

I wanted a family.

That was my whole goal in
life-- to have a family,

be loved, and love.

With Lewis and me, there
was an electricity.

There was a union.

I was married to him forever.

Dad got another surprise draft
notice and was shipped overseas.

I found a stash of photos
that dad had sent to mom.

She was back home in Arkansas,
pregnant with my oldest sister.

I was amazed to see
the amount of detail

he'd included on the
back of each one.

When he got back home,
he learned that he'd

been traded to the Browns.

Long enough with Jim Brown to
break through for an 18-yard

gain.

After three years as
a star in Detroit,

now he would block for
the best in the business.

Two years later,
when Vince Lombardi

was named head coach of
the Green Bay Packers,

dad was the first player
he brought to Green Bay.

There was no guarantee
he'd make the team.

I remember something Coach Vince
Lombardi told us when he first

came to Green Bay.

He said, Fellas, there are
planes and trains and buses

leaving here all the time.

And if you don't
produce for me, you're

going to find yourself
on one of them.

The men who wanted to stay--

they are still here.

And let me tell
you this, Green Bay

is a great town for football.

I knew that winning was
central to who my dad was,

and I knew that Lombardi
had made him a winner.

But dad had never spoken
to me about what it

was like to play for Lombardi.

Here's where a man finds
out what he's all about.

Now, look closely at
what really happens here.

Watch that number 64.

That's Jerry Kramer.

Jerry Kramer and
dad were teammates

for five years when the Packers
legend was just beginning.

Can I actually do a clap?

[CLAP]

That was a pretty weak clap.

Oh.

Oh, my God.

[CLAP]

There you go.

I didn't know my dad
had played football

until I was 10 years old.

Oh, my darn.

He never spoke of it.

You probably didn't know
that he and I were roommates

for a short period of time.

No.

What the hell's
going on out here?

Training with Coach Lombardi
was all about commitment,

preparation, proper preparation,
consistency, repetition,

over and over and over and over
again until you got it perfect.

The discipline, the
perseverance, the pride,

the character, all of those
things which a lot of people

don't have.

We had this wonderful
bond against Lombardi,

and I think he did
that purposely.

It's kind of like the drill
sergeant in the military

that just wears you out
and he binds you together

in your resentment of him.

He got in my face like about
10 inches from my nose one day,

and he, Mister,
the concentration

period of a college
student five minutes,

high school three minutes,
kindergarten is 30 seconds.

You don't even have that.

So where does that put you?

And he comes in the locker room,
and it's pretty much empty.

So he comes down there.

Pats me on the back.

Messes up my hair.

Son, one of these
days you're going

to be the best
guard in football.

Vavoom!

Something started
in here, Becky.

Something warm started in here.

Something started spinning.

I think approval is an
incredibly powerful force.

And we live for approval,
and we desperately crave it.

It's an addictive thing.

The game, the applause,
the lights, the crowd,

the roar of the stadium--

and it's a wonderful
experience, but it's not you.

My dad had played professional
football for 10 years,

and yet he was only 33
years old when he retired.

What would it have
been like for a guy

like dad to walk away from that?

You get out of football,
and it's a dwindling effect.

First year out, you're still Mr.
Wonderful, and the second year,

you're Mr. OK, and the
third year, you're Mr. Fine,

and the fourth year, you're who?

[MUSIC PLAYING]

In fact, my dad loved
football so much

he didn't leave the game.

He became a coach for
the Minnesota Vikings.

And he also became my dad.

I was born when his
pro-coaching career began.

Up in the North country
they have a total belief

about the Vikings.

The promise of leather hitting
leather-- of man and man meeting

head on.

A bruising burling football.

One thing you can be sure of
when the Vikings come to play,

they don't run
away from violence.

The football I grew up with
was an action-packed violent

consumer spectacle.

The dad I knew was
on the ground floor

of a burgeoning new business.

NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle
created a merchandising arm

using Madison Avenue techniques.

He lobbied Congress
for antitrust exemption

to create the first national
television contract.

He created NFL
films to dramatize

the game using spectacular
slow-motion photography.

And when a bunch of millionaires
created a competing league that

was stealing some of
the top college recruits

and driving up salaries,
Rozelle went back to Congress.

This time because he needed
antitrust exemption to merge

the two leagues into one.

It all came together in
1967 at the Super Bowl,

starring dad's old teammates.

Football had come of age.

My dad had gone from
dirt poor Delta kid

to being part of the coolest,
hippest culture in the country.

And with the success of this
new league came critics as well.

[PLANE SWOOSH]

Dave Meggyesy could not have
been more different from my dad.

He was a huge personality
who went on talk shows,

wrote a tell-all
book, and was vocal

in his criticism of
this newly branded game.

I wanted to understand
what Meggyesy

was doing that my father
found so unsettling.

My next guest is one of
pro football's most--

was one of pro football's
most ferocious linebackers,

and then he decided that
football was not only

too violent for him
but maybe corrupting

himself and the country.

Dave Meggyesy.

Football is the only major
sport in this country

whose bases is violence.

By the time the fans are
through with 60 minutes,

they're kind of wrung out.

And I think it does serve
that function in this society.

You know this thing
Konrad Lorenz talks

about with the
ritual among animals

and that football,
in a sense, is

the acting out of that ritual?

It's been deprived of
defending your territory

and defeating someone.

It's kind of like you
take people's minds off

of what's really bugging
them and their real problems

that they have to face in
their own personal lives.

And it's like, as I've said,
middle America's theater.

It's Nixon's theater.

That is better than that.

I'm learning a lot here
tonight, I must say.

The first time I ever heard
your name was when my dad said,

That's son of bitch-- he's
going to get himself cut.

Yeah, and he did.

Every guy really knows
deeply I'm an injury away.

My life is in the hands
of coach, who says,

Sit on the bench, you play.

So on and so on.

And it really is a very
powerless position.

And your dad-- when you told me
he was a coach, I was thinking,

God, I knew how much shit
he had to put up with.

Dad quit his first
two coaching jobs

because he thought the head
coach was abusing players.

Civil rights was
really percolating,

and the anti-war
movement was starting.

And then I began to see how the
game was supporting the war.

The massive Super Bowl flyovers
and all the patriotic stuff

that was going on.

Frank Gifford, Willie Davis,
Sam Huff, and John Unitas

arrived, bringing the NFL--

And then came down in '69--

it was an order
from Pete Rozelle

that while the National
Anthem was playing,

we all had to line
up along the sideline

and put our hand over
our heart and put

our helmet under our left arm.

Look at the flag.

And I did not do the saluting.

I held my helmet down.

Bowed my head.

And I was keying off of the
Tommie Smith, John Carlos,

'68 Olympics-- what they
called The Black Gloved Fist.

I didn't do that one, but
that was the slippery slope,

and then I was benched.

Unlike Meggyesy, Dad
believed that good leadership

could solve any problem.

So when Vince Lombardi invited
him to join the coaching staff

in Washington, DC, he was
sure that his football career

was back on track.

His dream was to become a
head coach like his mentor.

That's him leading
the exercises.

He's 38 years old.

Deep in summer in
Carlisle, Pennsylvania,

the Washington Redskins
gathered to work,

to laugh, and live
together, and become a team.

The league was putting
cameras everywhere.

Players weren't just
performers on the field.

Every aspect of life was
available for consumption.

(SINGING) Tell razor-toting Jim

To tell butcher
knife-toting Annie

To tell fast-talking Fanny

We gonna pitch a ball

Down to the Union Hall

Viewers were eating it up.

And for the first time,
television audiences

preferred NFL football to
baseball and college football.

(SINGING) Tell the razor, Don't.

The country and
football were changing.

I think, man-- we all must
decide right now whether we want

to provide a full
life for humanity

or destroy ourselves
with our own problems.

And the test of
this next century

is going to be where the man
mistakes the growth of wealth

and the growth of power with the
growth of spirit and character

or like some irresponsible child
playing with dangerous toys,

destroys the very house
he may have inherited.

But the biggest change for my
dad was the death of his mentor.

On a personal level, dad had
lost a father figure, a guide,

and a protector.

On a professional level, the
grim gray dirt and mud game

of my dad's era
was gone forever.

Dad would have to find
his way in a sport that

was becoming part of an
entertainment universe.

And so would we.

NFL football goes nighttime.

You can't overemphasize what
Monday Night Football meant.

You said in your book
guys were carpooling,

they had off-season jobs.

This at a time when players
were making $18,000, $19,000.

In the headbanger's
era-- the 1970s,

that's going to grow until
the average salary is more

into the $100,000 figure
at the end of that time.

This is a new game that's more
recognizable as a modern NFL.

It's a faster-moving game.

It's a more violent game.

The game is going to be
an air game, much more

than it's ever been before.

There's nothing more exciting
than a big pass play.

It's also a thing that carries
a great deal of danger to it.

It was a conscious
choice by the NFL,

and the coaches who stayed in
the game had to adapt to that.

And they were very frank,
sitting in their off-season

conferences.

They realized that
the drama of the game

is what you're going to sell.

They deployed many more cameras
than had ever been used before.

And they got mics where
you could hear the impact.

And it really is when
television starts

to drive popularity and money
in sports that the NFL really

takes over the world.

It was thrilling at the time.

Meanwhile, academic
journals published

articles documenting the dangers
of head trauma in football.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Unnoticed by the general
public, these articles

were published at
the same time as dad

began showing a temper at home.

I was seven the first
time I saw him explode.

I would hide in my closet
until his rage subsided.

To help me better understand
what was going on with my dad

at this time, one of
his former players

suggested I meet Mary Ann
Easterling, whose husband Ray

played from 1972 to 1979.

His CTE symptoms began
shortly after he retired.

Like my dad, Ray had
started exhibiting

odd behaviors that were
completely out of character.

And just like our
family, his family

was at a loss to understand
what was happening to him.

It was incomprehensible
that a man who

was so confident and
clear about walking

with the Lord and the authority
that it held in his life

and then, all of a sudden,
that meant absolutely nothing.

There were glimpses of, Yes,
that still is important to me,

but it didn't get
carried out in the life.

Something always came up that
would drive him impulsively

to do something totally
against what he believed.

It never clicked with me
until I saw that case study

online from Boston.

That was when, all of a
sudden, it went, Ding.

That's it.

That's what might have happened.

He has brain damage.

I always compare it to
living with a rattlesnake.

I never felt like I
could let down my guard.

Ray was public
about his decline.

I don't know the timeline
of how much quality of life

I have left.

It's probably anywhere
from 12 to 18 months.

Had I known what
it was for him, I

would have wanted to
get some kind of help.

Not knowing and not
having any answers

was like living
in a private hell.

Three months after he was
diagnosed with dementia Ray's

quality of life had
declined so profoundly

that he killed himself
at the age of 62.

In 1975, dad moved
us back to Green Bay

with his former teammate
Bart Starr at the helm.

Five world championships.

Now, as head coach, Bart
Starr's mission to bring

Packer fans winning
football once again.

The Packers entered
a long losing streak.

A sense of doom and gloom
permeated everything.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

By this time, dad's mood swings
at home had become more extreme.

The man going through
all the antics

is Lew Carpenter, wide
receiver coach for the Packers.

Lew is one of the more colorful
and vocal members of the staff.

So what does Coach Lew
do during his spare time?

Well, this summer, he coached
a girls softball team here

in Green Bay.

And Lew was his colorful
self at the helm.

[DISTANT CHEERING]

I was willing to do
anything to please him,

even if it meant learning
to play ball his way.

Sometimes you seem a
little confounded out here.

Maybe I coach wrong
at this level,

and maybe I don't,
but I would never

coach a girl to lose and
be satisfied and happy

with the mistake.

I don't care what
game you're at.

Working, golf, or
anything else, it's just

a challenge to be a winner, and
everybody wants to be a winner.

And I'm going to coach
these girls and try to win.

You know I have a
daughter playing for me,

and I think she takes
most of my abuse

because I kind of use
her as an example.

Why?

He picks on me too much.

He thinks you should
be the best player?

Well, yeah.

He-- I don't know.

He what?

I'm the example
for everyone else.

So when something goes wrong,
I'm the one who gets it.

Did my dad know that something
was happening to his brain?

Did he hide it out of
pride, fear, or ambition?

Or did his incredible drive
obscure it even from him?

He was fun and he was funny,
and he was magnificent,

and he had the biggest
heart on the planet

and yet there were these
moments where it would be like,

I would say that something
sort of dark overtook him.

And it was easier to just
pretend like it didn't happen.

I can remember
thinking, I can't tell

anybody what's going on here
because everybody adores him

and everybody loves the Packers.

Oh, I was the same way, exactly.

To begin with, you
don't want to admit

when your marriage isn't good
or when things aren't good.

And when you're coach's
wife, you certainly

don't want to say or
do anything that's

going to involve your husband.

And in Green Bay know everybody
was aware of everything

that went on.

There were things that
happened in those years

that I can't even talk about.

And there just wasn't
any answer for it.

When we were living
in Green Bay,

mom was a substitute teacher.

And this one night, some
of the teachers at school

had asked her to go out
and just do whatever.

I don't know if they went to a
movie and went out afterwards.

Mom doesn't hardly drink
at all or anything.

And that night, while she
was gone and he came in

and, Where's your mom?

Well, she went out with some of
the teacher friends from school.

He got so mad.

So mad.

And he went and put Coke
cases up against the garage

door so that when she
got home, she wouldn't

be able to get in the house.

And it was like, Dad,
what are you doing?

I mean, she just went out.

It was like, What's
going on with dad?

My mom introduced
me to Sarah Naylor,

who happened to live down the
street from my sister Lisa.

Her dad, Greg Lenz, also
exhibited strangely paranoid

behavior.

The grief is immense.

I didn't cry.

I knew there was something
weird about my father.

There was also something
great about him.

So I just learned to live,
saying, Ignore the weird stuff.

Focus on the great stuff.

And then the amount
of father that

was available to me went
from here to here to here

to here to here till there
was like this much dad,

and I had to add a
lot to get a dad.

And even then, I had become
so habituated to filling

in all the blanks that I
didn't even notice it anymore.

He was OK until one day,
when he wasn't anymore.

In those times, Van Brocklin
could still see as big a talent

as defensive tackle
Greg Lenz, number 72--

Lenz played for the Atlanta
Falcons for just two seasons.

And like my father, never
had a recorded concussion.

He was a big, 6
foot 5 teddy bear.

He cried John Wayne films.

So what happened?

So he had a constant paranoia.

Went and withdrew
all the money out

of bank accounts,
things like that.

To do what?

Well, because he thought
she was going to leave him.

My mom was sleeping
in another room,

and she woke up with
a pistol in her face

and him saying, I know
you're trying to leave me,

and it's not going to happen.

And she said, I would
never leave you.

Please leave the room.

She got him to go out the
room and went back to bed.

In the morning, she woke
up in her morning routine.

And right before she
walked out of the house,

the neighbors called and
said, Don't leave the house.

Coach Lenz is standing
behind a telephone pole

with a rifle or a shotgun
and aiming it at the house.

And they said, We've
already called the police.

Well, then the police
show up, and it's

one of his old football players
that he coached in high school.

Hey, coach Lenz.

Everything going OK over here?

And my mom came out at
that time, and they said,

Do you want to take him in?

And you want us to take him in?

She said, No, no.

I'm just going to go to work.

He'll be fine here.

The part that's so crazy about
that is by this point, this

was not so aberrant
that she didn't say,

That was the craziest
thing that ever happened.

I know.

My mom always told me, He's not
going to do anything to hurt me.

And I just kept saying, I
know that my dad would never

do anything to hurt you.

But this is not him.

And he ended up going into
the mental ward in a hospital.

From there, it was just a
seven-month roller coaster ride.

We were told that
he'd end up having

to be kind of strapped
down and things like that.

Strapped down 24 hours a day?

No, no, no, no.

Just mostly at night.

He went through, I think it
was about seven nursing homes

until he ended up in
the geriatric psych

unit in San Antonio
and died of pneumonia

after two weeks of being there.

Yeah, it's so interesting.

I'm just sorry.

It was like you-- sometimes
people will say something

and, I'll all of a
sudden, have a flash.

Yeah.

I know.

How long until you
got a CTE diagnosis?

That was in-- so he
died November 18,

and I think in June is
when we got our diagnosis.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

By 1986, my father's
unpredictability

had become crazy-making.

I had gotten tired
of never knowing

when he was going to show
up, what state he was going

to be in if he did show up, and
how my mom was going to respond

to him when he got home.

It appeared that
dad's behaviors were

beginning to impact his work.

He was offered a position
in the front office

and refused to take it.

He quit.

Was it a healthy decision to
leave the team and the city

he loved?

I think he knew a lot
more than we knew.

He just wouldn't tell us.

He never wanted anybody to
have to take care of him.

I wouldn't want my children
to stop their lives

to take care of me.

We argued, and he told
me to pack my bags.

I was enraged by the
man he was becoming.

The following year was
the most harrowing.

Dad spent his first season in
over 30 years out of football.

And my mother struggled
to hold him together.

It seemed that without football,
he couldn't function at all.

Some friends had suggested
that I meet with Jim Cohn.

He was using MRIs to gather
data on the parts of the brain

activated in relationships.

The prefrontal cortex, where
your dad had most of the damage

to his brain, prefrontal
cortex is, in many ways,

the most human part
of our human brain.

It monitors time.

It holds things
in working memory.

It inhibits impulses.

It's not only what's
generating our sense of self

and what's allowing us to hold
abstract concepts in working

memory.

It's also regulating
our emotions

and processing vigilance
for potential threats.

And if it's not
functioning well,

you're going to be
disinhibited, you're

going to have hard time
managing your own feelings

of intense emotion.

And it's a resource
that is literally

pummeled in NFL players.

So, what do you do?

You depend on your
social resources

to do that on your behalf.

Your coach, the people that
are in charge of the team.

When you become really
close with someone--

you spend a lot of
time with someone

they become part of your
regulatory mechanism.

They become an extension of
your self-regulatory brain.

You take them away,
and it's like you

go to lean on something
that's not there anymore.

Some people will run
around in a manic frenzy

and buy drinks for
everyone at the bar

and lose all their money.

Some people will
become very angry.

There's lots of different
ways that you'll respond.

So a woman who is
married to a guy who

has raging episodes, who has
unpredictable behavior, and who

starts to isolate because
she's ashamed of her husband's

behavior-- what starts
to happen to that family?

What starts to happen to a
family that becomes isolated

is that the processing load on
everybody's prefrontal cortex

goes up.

So here's the other
reason that you may

have been sent to talk to me.

One of the things that we
know about child development

is that it's highly
dependent upon the quality

of the parental relationship.

Women who are in
crappy relationships

where the guy is not
attentive at all--

they take a hit.

They're better off being alone.

He had tried to retire,
but he couldn't function

outside of football and returned
to coaching the following year.

In 1992, he moved
into his own apartment

in Philadelphia, while my mother
stayed in Texas with my sisters

and their children.

Around the same time, hoping to
make sense of my relationship

with my father, I made
my first movie about him.

She can't actually
come out and say

that she instigate because she's
the ex-athletic director at UT?

UT, University of Tennessee?

No, Texas.

Yeah.

I mean, she's the
one who's now the--

What's she doing now?

She's the head of the sports--

Over there in New York?

He was physically there,
but emotionally, I

couldn't seem to reach him.

Because the people in Texas are
just really digging your heels

and say, Football--

dad was almost 62.

The age when both Ray
Easterling and Greg Lenz died.

He was the same age
that John Hilton

was when his dementia
became so severe

that his general practitioner
was able to diagnose him.

He felt he didn't want a dummy.

You're family, Lew.

Hey, you can lie.

Can you say, what a great guy?

I want to be just like
Lew when I grow up.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

[INDISTINCT CHATTER]

Hey, dad?

Can you do the interview now?

What?

Can we do an interview
now with you?

Yeah.

Can you tell me about when you
first started playing football?

Do you remember?

Basically, I guess
because you didn't

have anything else
to do and keep out

of mischief so your whole
time was tied up in sports

and that type of thing.

I have played basketball and
been an All State basketball

player, and I actually
went to Arkansas

on a basketball scholarship.

I didn't know that.

I was such a poor
student in my first year.

You have to make a
decision whether you

want to be a decent student and
continue or don't go to class

and be back in the Arkansas
fields plowing the corn fields

and picking cotton,
which I didn't

think I'd be very good at.

I wanted to do,
but the big thing

is that sometimes
you have to wake up.

I looked at it as a job
commitment type of thing.

And since they're giving me
a free ride or a scholarship

that you should provide
the best of your ability

to form in a winning
situation, you possibly could.

We didn't know what it
was like to really have

to work when we were kids,
and that kind of mentality.

Well, I think the
big thing about it

is that I think you reflect back
and not that your life was that

bad when you grew up
because I just wanted

you to be very comfortable.

I wanted you to have
three hots and a cot

and clothes on your back, and
maybe some sense of the being,

and be able to project your
own self into what you'd like.

My mom had told me that
he'd signed a contract

to play baseball but that
she had talked him out of it.

Baseball was always
my first love.

Why did you end up in football?

What you wanted to
do was baseball.

At the end of my
senior year in college,

I signed a baseball contract
with the St. Louis Cardinals.

And playing about 60 or 70
games in the minor league,

but the contract stipulations
that I could try both and then

make my mind after one year.

And after traveling on those
small buses and everything

else down at Minor
League Baseball

and playing a night
game and jumping

a bus and travel 10 or 12 hours
and playing a doubleheader

the next day.

And of course, I
went to Detroit.

They had won the World
Championship before,

and of course, we
won it that year too.

And after that one year, I
saw all the nice extra living

accommodation you're
going to have and travel,

and everything else.

And I said, To
heck with baseball.

So I ended up trying baseball
and just chose football instead.

When we grew up with the
Lombardi Credo on the wall,

and you guys are talking
about how he rides you.

I'll tell you what,
your dad would

die if he couldn't come see.

And some of your guys
said now that they

think the game
has really changed

and that all you guys
who played for Lombardi

have a really different ethic
than they do because that you

all really love the game and
probably would have done it

even if it hadn't been
something you could necessarily

make a real living at.

But that now it's
such big business,

they feel like they have
a little more leeway

and how much freedom they have.

When I played, the situation
was a lot different

because we only had
12 football teams.

And I think that you always
felt that if you bucked

the management
that type of thing

they could go out
and get a guy that

was equally as good as you were
out in there it was available.

So take the bad with
the good and say,

I'm going to make it go.

It sounds like, as opposed to
just wanting to win, win, win,

win, you felt like you had made
these commitments that you were

going to make good on what
you believed in your mind

was your responsibility.

I love my job.

And I think that the people
I've worked with and--

it gives me a feeling
of satisfaction

over the period of years that
the receivers-- the people

I've worked with have reached
heights that they probably

wanted to reach.

And sometimes, regardless
of what talent they had,

you think that you had
something to do with it.

My daughter, Becky.

You there--

This is my man, Carpenter.

If you don't get any
rewards or any satisfaction

out of what they do, then
you feel like maybe it's

a lost cause too.

[BUSTLING CROWD]

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I didn't understand how it was
possible that dad could still

work at a point when so
many other former players

his age were already
completely disabled.

By this time, my dad should have
had significant degeneration.

I wanted to talk to an
expert in brain plasticity.

David Hovda was presenting
the league with evidence

that concussion could have
long term consequences.

We started in 1989.

So you would have
patients that would

come in that had had
several concussions,

and you would say,
OK, what's wrong?

Well, I can't remember,
or I don't sleep well,

or I am depressed
a lot of the time.

And so they would start
to think, OK, well then

you probably have
a bipolar disorder,

or you have a psychiatric
disorder, or a sleep disorder.

So we're going to run
these types of tests,

and this is your medication.

We're going to work on this.

To put concussion and the
consequences of concussion

or repeat concussion
into that diagnosis

was never thought about except
in boxing, where it was repeat.

The football players-- they
didn't look like that at all.

They didn't sit
around and drool.

I mean, they just
had these issues

that people say, Well, are
these psychological issues

or are these mental issues, or
are these physiological issues?

So now we have these
wonderful tools

like magnetic resonance
imaging and positron emission

tomography imaging.

So now we can
actually measure how

the brain changes to behavior
or how the brain changes

to repeat concussions.

In the 1990s, we thought we may
have an image of concussion,

which could show that concussion
actually did something

physically to the brain.

So as these things
started to come out,

there was a lot of people
that said, My goodness.

Dave, that can't be right.

It can't be right.

It's too dramatic.

It can't be right.

And as a good scientist, you
say, Gosh, it can't be right.

So you redo it.

And you redo it again.

And you use different protocols
and measurement tools.

And you say maybe
it's just UCLA.

So let's wait until
we hear from--

so all of a sudden,
Cambridge, England--

you're right.

Pittsburgh-- You know?

Gosh, they're right.

And then the NFL started
to hear about it.

Commentator Leigh Steinberg,
who managed several high profile

players, learned about it.

And so they wanted to
have just talks about what

is all this stuff about
concussion and is it really a--

are we making punch drunk
syndrome out of these players?

How serious is this?

How did they respond when you
said, We've observed this?

Nobody would listen to us.

Nobody thought that
this was a problem.

I know I described
what concussion

was-- the neuroscience
of concussion,

but this was not very high
on the radar screen for them

because they had so many
other types of injuries

that they were
trying to work on.

Anterior cruciate tears,
shoulder problems,

other types of
things that happen.

And I said, This is the
picture of concussion.

It is not some
psychological problem.

We're talking about a
physiological thing that

happens to the human brain.

They have personality disorders,
or they have bipolar disorder.

This is all smoke and mirrors.

This isn't real.

And you're not what's
going to happen to you,

and you're not going
to what they're going

to do to your dad's reputation.

People have suffered
that have looked

into this both
emotionally, financially,

and their reputations
have suffered.

What I could see
in my father was

that he would go through
some kind of weird period,

and then he'd be back.

You could always come up
with an excuse or a reason

so things were
available if we had--

the thing I get really stuck
on is, I just wish I'd known.

I just wish I'd known.

Maybe I wish he'd known.

I would have been nicer.

Head injury doesn't
occur to one person.

It happens to the entire family.

Families become financially,
emotionally distraught,

torn apart, unrepairable.

They never get back to
the way they were before.

What a great loss that is.

After 30 years of coaching
and 10 years of playing,

my dad finally retired
from the NFL in 1994.

My entire life, we had belonged
to something bigger than us.

A team, a city, a league.

In the void that had once
been filled with championship

football and a quest
for excellence,

we searched for a new normal.

At that time, he quit talking.

He just left me.

He quit talking.

I just pretty much wasn't there.

The last time he left, he
had his bags packed and got

in the car, and started
to back out of the garage.

And I went to the door,
and I said, Wait, wait.

And he started pulling
away, and I said, Wait.

If you leave without
talking to me,

I won't be here
when you get back.

And he waved his hand,
and he drove away.

And the next morning,
I thought it was over.

I had to try to save
myself, and I did.

How did you save yourself?

By leaving him.

Message received at 4:53 PM.

Yeah, just check it out.

I see you all packed
and ready to go,

and looking forward
to seeing you.

It's going to be a big plus.

All right, Beck.

Love you.

Bye, bye.

I asked my dad to
take me on a trip

to Crittenden County, where
he and my mom had grown up.

We drove the 22 miles
of curvy old road

that dad had hitchhiked
to see mom in high school.

Poverty, drugs, and crime had
taken over their small delta

towns.

He gave me directions to the
first house he had lived in.

But there was no house there.

In that house, he
said his mother

had killed their duck
on Thanksgiving day

and served it for dinner.

My father wept, having believed
that the duck was his pet.

He wouldn't eat it,
enraging his mother.

Now, disoriented, he didn't know
why he couldn't find the place.

Later, I found the census
report for that year,

and I understood why
dad was confused.

The house he was looking
for wasn't in West Memphis.

It was in Hayti,
Missouri, 90 miles north.

We continue to 211 East
Jackson Street, where

Dad had lived in high school.

It too was in ruins.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

I imagine myself
growing up in this place

and what my prospects
would have been.

For the first time, I felt
the gravity of dad's decision

to play football.

And I was grateful.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

Three years later, my father's
health was in steep decline.

Former players demanded that
Congress open an investigation

into the growing
number of retirees

struggling with dementia.

Don't make proud men beg.

Don't make them
jump through hoops.

They have dignity.

Let people live out their
lives with some respect.

That's all I'm asking.

I request a chance to explain my
invisible disability because it

affects my testimony.

I do have brain damage.

It's been located
on brain scans.

And the damaged part of the
brain, when I'm under stress,

gets less blood instead of
more like normal people.

And besides causing
problems communicating,

it causes excruciating pain.

Although I just
turned 50 this year,

I'm already on medications
for dementia and Alzheimer's.

As is all too common
for NFL players,

the snowball of dementia
has started rolling.

At this point, the
league had not yet

acknowledged the link between
concussion and dementia

in later life.

Retirees told me that
Delay, Deny, Hope They Die,

was the disability
board's motto.

The game is better
than it has ever been,

and the players are compensated
at unprecedented levels.

This Capitol Hill is
not the proper venue

for this discussion of how do
we improve disability benefits.

Fortunately, the vast majority
remain active and productive

and do not need to be involved
in the disability system.

While former players were
fighting for their lives,

the New York Times launched
a blistering series

about this growing epidemic.

Meanwhile, NFL
wife Sylvia Mackey

took matters into her own hands,
advocating for former players

like her husband John, whose
late-stage dementia had

become unmanageable.

35 years ago, John
Mackey ran into history

catching a touchdown pass
to help the Baltimore

Colts win the Super Bowl.

And in a condo
outside Baltimore,

he still talks about it.

Well, I went 75 yards.

75 yards?

I went to the Hall of Fame.

Problem is, that's
all he talks about.

Sylvia Mackey convinced the NFL
and the NFL Players Association

to start the 88 plan.

It made no sense that
the league created a plan

to help players diagnosed
with dementia at the same time

as they denied any link between
brain damage and football.

Wives were asking me questions
about their husbands strange

behaviors.

They wanted to know what strange
behaviors did John exhibit.

And I could tell
in their minds they

were comparing what I
was telling them to what

they were seeing at home.

And the common denominator
here is football.

One day you wake
up and you think,

I don't have a husband anymore.

I mean, he's sitting
next to me but--

After 20 years of
struggling, Mike Pyle

had finally qualified
for the 88 plan.

I asked you earlier
if you were angry,

and you said you weren't so
much angry as you felt cheated.

You always think that when
you get to be in your 60s that

you'll do all kinds of things
that you couldn't do while you

were working.

It's very lonely.

What is the prognosis for you in
terms of being able to retire?

No, I won't be able to.

Why is that?

Well, because I'm
the sole breadwinner,

and I have been for a long time.

And we have no savings.

You did have savings
at one point, though.

Do you strike me as a really
together person who is a planner

and who--

I am a planner.

Right?

Yeah, there were a bunch
of poor financial decisions

that were made,
and at that time,

I think I was still in denial
that there was anything wrong.

How did it feel to win the game?

Well, 19-- we won the
1963 champion Bears.

Many of the good things in my
life came to me from the fact

that football was in our lives.

It's really been tough.

This game that I
love and that did

bring so many wonderful
things to my life

also is ruining my life.

I was mad at him
then all the time.

And that's one of
my big regrets was

that I would have been
more patient, more loving.

I think I thought there
was something wrong with me

or our relationship, because now
that we were at a time in his

life when he could have and
should have had the time

to start building a better
relationship with me and he

still, at the time, I thought,
didn't want to, but now I think

that it was more of
a case of couldn't.

Do you remember why you
wanted to play football?

Well, any boy anywhere
would get a chance.

Mike Pyle and Mike
Ditka were roommates

when they played for the Bears.

There were so many things.

I was so angry at my
dad because he'd call

and he'd forget what I'd said,
or I had so much attitude.

Don't tell me that.

Oh, I know.

So you spoke in 2007
before Congress.

Why did you do that?

Well, we tried to
create some awareness.

They haven't done anything.

So that would be too important
to take care of former athletes

or to help them or
find a way to do it.

It's funny.

I'm watching your hands.

And your hands remind me-- he
would have done the same things

during a conversation.

Well, you got to
move things around.

You got to keep
things organized.

When Lew played and
I played, the helmet

was a simple plastic helmet
with foam rubber in it.

It wasn't a
sophisticated weapon.

These things have
become technically so

advanced they become
weapons, and when

people strike and two heads
hit or the helmet is contacted

in a certain way, I don't
care how strong you are

or how big are,
something's got to give.

So what do you want
the league to do?

When you talk about the league,
most people talk about it,

and the league to them
probably is the players.

You talk to the other groups,
and the league is the owners.

Then, if you talk to
another group of people,

they might say, Well, the
league is the commissioner.

But you'll never hear of the
league being the ex-players.

But the ex-players
built that league.

They had a lot to do with it.

Now, I'm just saying that you're
asking me who the league is.

It's everybody the game
is the blame and everybody

should take credit for helping.

There's so many of them that
genuinely just need help.

I won't remember a hell of
a lot about this interview

in about 10 minutes.

I'm having problems.

My quality of life
deteriorates every day.

My daughters understand
that I love them,

and I would do know no
physical harm to them,

but the thing is,
just the fact that

to have that mentioned to
me that sometimes they're

afraid of me it really cut deep.

It really touched me.

It hurt.

The Super Bowl winning safety,
Dave Duerson, took his own life.

And in a suicide note, asked
that his brain be studied.

Duerson asked his
brain be examined

for chronic traumatic
encephalopathy, or CTE.

Junior Seau was found dead in
his Southern California home.

Police say Seau died of an
apparent self-inflicted gunshot

wound.

Take me.

Leave my son alone.

He could not get away from
the sound in his head.

For our viewing pleasure, they
pay for it with their bodies,

and now we're finding
out with their brain.

Aaron Hernandez, once
an unstoppable tight end

for the New England Patriots,
took his own life in 2017

while serving a life
sentence in Massachusetts

for the murder of his
friend Odin Lloyd.

Late one night in
October 2018, a car

hit and killed Kevin Ellison as
he walked along the Interstate 5

Freeway in the San
Fernando Valley.

Former quarterback Phillip
Adams had stage II CTE.

The 32-year-old died earlier
this year by suicide after

allegedly shooting and
killing six people.

We are learning more about the
tragic death of former football

star Vincent Jackson.

Lindsay says for years
her husband suffered

with memory loss,
erratic behavior,

and kept turning to alcohol.

He shared with me
once that alcohol

made him feel calm and
made him feel like himself

and that his brain
was really fuzzy,

and that this made it not fuzzy.

After losing our beloved husband
and father, Frank Gifford,

we as a family made
the difficult decision

to have his brain
studied in hopes

of contributing to the
advancement of medical research

concerning the link between
football and traumatic brain

injury.

When we found
Frank that morning,

I tried to resuscitate him.

So did Cody.

It's a very chaotic moment.

We didn't know, of
course, until later.

We assumed there was quite
a bit of brain damage.

But we knew that
a decision needed

to be made regarding what we
were going to do with his brain.

Cody said to me, What do
you think we should do, mom?

And I said, I think we should do
what Jesus would want us to do,

which is help people with it.

If there's a way
for Frank's brain

to be studied and help others,
that's what Jesus would want.

And Cody rightfully said,
And that's exactly what

Daddy would want too.

We knew he was gone,
and he was never

going to come back to a
world that's full of pain,

full of tears, full of sorrow,
and broken-heartedness.

Frank Gifford, the
NFL Hall of Famer

and husband of our friend and
colleague Kathie Lee Gifford,

passed away suddenly
yesterday of natural causes

at their home in Connecticut.

After the initial
report diagnosed Frank

with stage IV CTE,
the Giffords had

a second forensic
neuropathologist

verify his diagnosis.

You know, I was really
afraid to talk about what

had happened to my dad.

Were you afraid you
would be shunned

by people who revered him?

Why?

Be shunned because he had brain
damage that wasn't caused by him

but was caused by a brutal game.

Why stigmatize this thing that
is just another type of injury?

You're not stigmatized
when you break your arm

or you snap your ankle.

You're not stigmatized for it.

That's part of the game.

Did you know that there are more
commandments in the entire Bible

about fear than any other thing.

Fear not.

Do not let your
heart be troubled.

Do not be afraid.

All through the Old Testament.

All through the new.

What did Jesus say?

Peace be with you.

Don't be afraid.

It's me.

There you are,
ladies and gentlemen.

When you can learn to
embrace your faith over fear

you are on your way towards
not bliss but peace.

Shalom.

Hebrew word for-- people
think it just means peace.

It doesn't.

It means all the
attributes of Jehovah God.

There have been other athletes--
other football players we found

out had CTE but for
some reason today,

when the news came out
about Frank Gifford,

it just seemed
like a bigger deal.

It did, John.

Absolutely, I agree.

It's one of those moments
where sports takes us

to a national conversation,
and you need, in many ways,

a national figure,
someone who crosses over

from sports into entertainment--
into our culture.

Frank Gifford is that person.

We wanted to respectfully make
that disclosure in the hopes

that other people could
make more informed decisions

about really what they
do with their kids.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

You did it so well.

Good job.

This is our baby, everybody.

This is our baby.

Well, the baby's
been kicking a lot

while you've been talking so I
feel like Frank is here with us.

Have you thought a little bit
about this legacy of football

and how you want to
frame it for your child?

Why do kids have to play contact
football before the age of 14?

And I'm just taking the word of
people much smarter than I am

and who are educated
on this subject.

Why not just wait?

This was put out by Boston
University and the Concussion

Legacy Foundation.

Says, "Meet the all-time
greatest NFL offense and defense

made up entirely of athletes
who didn't play tackle football

until high school."

Guy named Jim Brown, Tom
Brady, Michael Strahan,

Lawrence Taylor.

So to me, it pretty definitively
undercuts the argument

that you can't have
success in the NFL

unless you play contact
football before the age of 14.

Cody was reminding me
of this particular note

from Roger Goodell.

He says, "Kathie Lee, I
was so saddened to learn

about the passing of Frank
and wanted to let my thoughts

and prayers are with you.

John Mara rightfully called
Frank the face of the Giants,

but to me he was always
the face of the NFL."

I'm from football and
unconditional love,

from Ann and Lewis.

I'm from passion and loyalty,
from come eat and stay close.

I'm from Carpenter and Schriever
football family descent.

Ribs off the barbecue
and sauce from heaven.

From the legacy my grandfathers
left to the path I pursue,

the good my soul seeks
guided by all that is good.

Do you worry about the
concussion thing now

that we've seen the
connection with dad

and what happens at
the higher levels?

No, I'm confident in our
equipment and the rules that

have worked down into high
school and middle school--

all different
levels of football.

You feel confident that
your coaches and the refs

are going to keep you safe?

I do.

I do feel confident in that.

I could understand why my nephew
felt protected by new protocols.

USA Football and the
NFL holds clinics

to introduce concerned mothers
to heads up tackling techniques.

[CHEERING]

However, there is no data
proving that heads up tackling

prevents the neuronal shearing
or Dr. bales brain slosh that's

the likely cause of CTE.

Knowing everything that now
about dad and everything

that we've seen.

You don't worry at all about
long-term repercussions

about this?

I do and I've told Parker that.

And he said he didn't care.

That he was going
to do it anyway.

And I just feel like he's
almost a man-- a young man

and if that's his
choice, then I'm

just going to hope that
he's taken care of.

My job, first of all, is
the safety of these kids.

But I'm a pawn in
this whole thing,

and I have to take the
information I'm given

and the guidelines that
I have to work with,

and the common sense
that God gave me

and try to make a good decision.

There's not a magic wand
on when or if it happens.

Did it happen at that hit?

Or did it happen with this hit?

Or does it happen at all?

17-year-old Nathan Styles is the
youngest reported case of CTE.

A first of its kind
study released today,

looking specifically at young
players 8 to 13 years old.

The study discovered
that football players

at this young age are hitting
each other hard enough and often

enough to cause actual
changes in the structure

of their brains, even
without getting concussions.

Warnings like this
had started to create

a complex moral dilemma
for Keith Johnson, a youth

coach whom I had long admired.

I've been coaching youth
football for over 25 years.

I can recount two
incidents where

I know beyond a
shadow of a doubt

that a kid had a concussion.

But then the LA84 foundation
was putting on a conference,

and we had the discussion
about cumulative hits.

So after this seminar,
it changed everything.

And I'm like, OK,
it's not the big hit.

It's all the small hits.

Hey, look, don't
lead with this, man.

[CHATTER]

All right?

No.

OK.

Don't lead with
this, but with that.

OK?

And I'm like, Oh, my God.

It's interesting because what
we would say in the stands

without any wisdom was we want
to hear the helmets banging.

What the heck?

I'm like, No, I don't want
to hear the helmets banging.

Is this going to wind up being
the cross on which football

is nailed?

Let me ask a question
better than that.

If you had an
eight-year-old kid now,

would you tell him you
want him to play football?

I wouldn't.

Would you?

Nope.

That's sad.

I wouldn't.

My whole life was football.

I think the risk is
worse than the reward.

I really do.

NFL star Chris Borland.

Chose to retire
after one pro season.

Now, he's being called the
most dangerous man in football.

We met in my edit
room to compare notes

on what we were learning.

I read When Pride Still
Mattered in sixth grade,

and I dressed up
as Vince Lombardi

and gave a speech to my class.

I had "Success demands
singleness of purpose."

written on the front of my door.

I had a moment in camp where
I sustained a mild concussion.

It was just a ding, or
getting your bell rung.

And it wasn't anything
gravely serious

or immediately dangerous.

It just caused me to
approach my thinking with CTE

and brain trauma differently.

Weren't you supposed to
self-report that concussion?

I was.

Well, the percentage
of concussions

reported is very low.

You're incentivized to
do harm to yourself.

A lot of guys think, I'll get
out before anything happens.

And then they talk themselves
into year two and year three

and--

I want to be 75 and
healthy if that's possible.

Seven years later, I
checked in with him

to see if he regretted
his decision.

Part of my looking into the
science was to just understand,

Do I have damage already?

What damage might occur
if I play for a long time?

Part of that process was
having a spec scan done.

And the scan revealed that I had
blood flow consistent of a man

in his mid-60s.

So that was arresting to see.

I'm 31 now.

I quit when I was 24.

I deal with some
of the unknowns.

I have tinnitus, a little
bit of sensitivity to light,

emotionally, some depression
that related to concussion.

But the way it was
covered was that Chris

quit before he got hurt.

10 years of football.

10,000+ collisions
at a high G-force.

I probably had the surplus
of head collisions.

We can't diagnose CTE
in the living yet.

So without that, it's not
as though you get tested

and then there's a
protocol of treatment.

Chris began to research ways
to optimize his brain health.

Knowing there was
no cure for CTE,

he landed at the Center
for Healthy Minds

at the University of
Wisconsin, his alma mater.

I met with Richie Davidson, who
is a neuroscientist and studies

meditation and its benefits.

Richie was the
first person that I

talked to that said if you
have this particular pathology

or other consequences
of brain injury,

meditation may not
change that structurally.

What it might allow you to
do is give yourself a better

relationship with the injury.

Together, Chris and
Richie created a first

of its kind mindfulness pilot
program for retired NFL players.

Participants reported feeling
better about their ability

to manage pain, improved
decision-making,

a positive impact on
sleep, and greater capacity

to work through
post-retirement challenges

like defining self-worth
beyond the job.

One clear outcome was also
the importance of the group.

I think of your dad or
Mike Webster, that probably

had just a much harder
time navigating life,

and I'm sure I thought
like, I'm just weak,

or I'm not tough enough, or I
need to do something better.

12 years after my
father's diagnosis,

the National
Institutes of Health

made a major announcement
stating that repeat head

injury is the cause of CTE.

I think it's important as a
football community, wherever you

lie, to have a shared reality.

CTE is real.

It's causal.

It's going to
affect many players.

It already has.

And if things don't
change, many more.

I think our game has
never been more exciting.

It's never been
more competitive.

And I don't think
it's ever been safer.

Tagovailoa suffered some type--

Despite new safety protocols in
week three of the 2022 season,

Tua Tagovailoa exhibited
signs of head injury

but returned to the
game after halftime.

Awful sight to see.

They will take him
to the sideline.

Four days later,
in week four, he

was stretchered off the
field after signs of injury

to his brain's cortex.

He comes down on the
back of his head.

Could see both his hands.

Right away, you get concerned.

They're bringing a
stretcher out right now.

Retired players
were speaking out

on behalf of the active players.

Now he's had two
concussions in five days,

and I don't care what
they diagnosed it

as-- it is his back, his ankle.

I know what I saw.

If that was your
son, would you have

allowed him to go out
there and play after you

saw what happened on Sunday?

Would you have allowed
him to play on Thursday?

Because sometimes, Skip, you
got to make it a personal.

What was going
through your mind when

you saw what happened with Tua?

Anger.

It's that simple.

Anger.

And we need to be
better about erring

on the side of
caution as opposed

to erring on the side of risk.

You only have one brain.

I know what injuries
like that can do.

And this is not anything
that we should play with.

This is nothing that
we should scoff at.

We have to all be
righteously frustrated

in order to make change.

The 44-year-old Tua is going to
look back at the 24-year-old Tua

and say, Why did I do this?

In week 16, Tua suffers
a third head injury

and enters the concussion
protocol once again.

The following week,
Damar Hamlin dropped

to the ground in cardiac arrest
after a routine hit in a Monday

Night Football game.

As emergency medical teams
rushed to save his life,

the game was stopped
then canceled.

The first time since 1935.

I wept for Damar and his family.

And thought about the
slow-motion emergency

of brain injuries like my dad's
that occur unnoticed every week

and persist long after
the game has ended.

So dad passed away on
the 14th of November.

It was right before
Thanksgiving.

And out of the blue,
he said, Girls,

do we have a place in the
cemetery for all of us to go?

And we said, Well, no,
dad, we don't have one.

We haven't even
thought about it.

He goes, Well, what
are we going to do?

How many of us are there?

I go, Well, there's about
11, including the grandkids.

He goes, Heck with
the grandkids.

I don't care about them.

I want the six of us together.

He goes, Will you promise me
that we'll all be together?

And I said, I promise, dad.

When I decided to build
this wall for my dad,

I asked all the sisters if they
would take a stone and something

that was important to
their life or something

at the time in their life
that depicted who they were.

We had taken a picture of dad a
few days before he passed away.

Although they had been apart
in marriage for 15 years,

he had his arm around her as
if in the protective mode.

Actually, that's where
Lewis fell and hurt himself.

That kind of led to
the end of his life.

I got him in the car.

And of course, we were
waiting in the emergency

room for three hours.

And the minute we
get in there, he

had his Packer ring on,
and even the technicians

that would take him back--

he would flash that ring,
and they'd say, Ooh,

that looks like a NFL ring.

And he said, Oh, yeah.

It's my Packer NFL ring.

And he would start
his war stories,

and he would go
on and on and on,

and I would sit there
and think, Oh no.

He's doing it again.

He was number 33, huh?

Yeah, he was.

That was six weeks
before he died.

Wow.

Yeah, they did the
last alumni gathering.

So part of the reason we're
here was because, first of all,

you sent this very intriguing
email after dad died.

And you got love--

I was like, My old
man and the word love?

I don't get it.

Well, you got to remember that
Lew Carpenter loved the Green

Bay Packers.

And he loved football.

And I can still hear him
saying it in my ears.

He says, You got
to love it, Mister.

Tell me-- because no one has
ever described to me this.

What's the point?

What's so great about it?

Because it strips
away everything

that you come in with.

Doesn't care about
your background.

It doesn't care about
your socioeconomic status.

It levels the playing
field, so to speak.

And when you go out there, it's
one-on-one in the small battles,

and you sacrifice a lot.

There's the pain.

There's the mental anguish.

But if you can just do
what you're asked to do,

you can be successful.

One of the reminders that I
have of your dad pretty often

is, as a player,
get a trading card.

Picture that they took
me for my rookie year.

And in the background, kind
of blurred out, is your dad.

I see that, and
I'll sign the card.

I'm at a card show.

I'll go, That's Lew Carpenter.

That was my coach.

And when I say,
That was my coach,

he wasn't anybody else's coach.

He was my coach.

So I kind of take pride
in possession of it.

We were like his other kids.

He had the daughters at home,
and he had the sons at work.

The fact that I knew that
he cared about me, that

supersedes everything else.

My mother sold this house.

I wanted to go
home one last time.

I could hear my father's
voice quoting his mentor,

The measure of who we are is
what we do with what we have.

I could see that in
many ways, my father

had viewed me and my sisters
the way he saw his players.

Late in his illness, he
pointed to me and said,

See that one there?

She's fierce.

It was the complement I had
waited for my entire life.

It made me feel proud.

And I realized that maybe he'd
been able to see me all along,

and it was me who hadn't
been able to see him.

I had been afraid to
go public with what

had happened to my
father because I'd

been afraid of losing my tribe,
my connection to the sport that

had defined us, and the people
who mattered most to us.

But I had found a new tribe.

A tribe of truth tellers,
of seekers, and risk takers

whose commitment to
a life of integrity

was more important than a sport.

In confronting my own
fears and secrets,

my football family had grown to
include not only the champions

but the fallen as well.

Look at that.

It's a whole thing
of game films.

We made him these
when I was seven.

Yeah.

It's amazing, like
what somebody keeps.

I was ready to move
forward in my life,

understanding my parents
heroism in the face

of a crippling and
mysterious disease.

Dude, we're done.

Simple as that.

I understand how
hard it had been

for him to give us normal when
normal had been so hard for him.

Rest in peace, dad.

You know I have a
daughter playing for me,

and I think she takes
most of my abuse

because I kind of use
her as an example.

And I don't know whether
that's right or not,

but still she does a good job,
and I want her to know that.

[MUSIC PLAYING]

It's a Spartan game.

I mean by that, it
requires Spartan qualities

in order to play it.

In order to be a
part of it even.

I'm speaking of the Spartan
quality of sacrifice

and self-denial and
not the Spartan quality

of leaving the weak to die.

[MUSIC PLAYING]