In his days as a starting running back for the Steelers, Jerome Bettis benefited from a good lead blocker. Now he hopes to help pave the way for future athletes across all contact sports, even beyond football.
Bettis was in Oakland for Thursday’s announcement of the National Sports Brain Bank, a long-in-the-making initiative spearheaded by the University of Pittsburgh. In a city where much work has been done to advance the research of concussions and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, those on the ground floor of this program believe this to be a watershed moment in building the foundation for a better understanding of brain injuries and their complex connection to sport — football, especially.
The NSBB seeks pledges from those willing to donate their brains and participate in a longitudinal study so that researchers can try to have more definitive answers about the link between traumatic brain injuries — concussions, for instance — and neurodegenerative effects later in life. Those at the forefront of the brain bank want it to become an invaluable resource for learning how to refine criteria for the diagnosis of CTE, which can only be identified posthumously.
