Frank Gifford had CTE, the degenerative brain disease found in those with a history of head trauma, his family said in a statement issued Wednesday.
Gifford played college football for the University of Southern California and spent 12 years in the NFL with the New York Giants. A decorated player, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1977.The family's statement didn't specify the nature of Gifford's struggle with CTE, but it did say "he experienced firsthand" the cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with the disease. CTE can only be definitively diagnosed posthumously."While Frank passed away from natural causes this past August at the age of 84, our suspicions that he was suffering from the debilitating effects of head trauma were confirmed when a team of pathologists recently diagnosed his condition as that of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE)–a progressive degenerative brain disease."