Jake Scott plotted to leave life as he lived it and asked friends around his world to help. Hawaii. Colorado. Georgia. They checked daily on the former Miami Dolphins great, performed small chores or even allowed Scott to move in for weeks at a time.
“Jake knew of his problems, and he set it up with these friends so he could still go on his traveling circuit each year and live as independently as possible,’’ said Rita Fabal, sister of the late defensive back.
Why Scott needed help, maybe why he fell and then died at age 75 in 2020, becomes the final price of football perfection. Together with 1972 Dolphins teammates Jim Kiick and Nick Buoniconti, Scott suffered from the most severe Stage 4 of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma that can only be discovered after death.
