Late NFL star Frank Wycheck had CTE at the time of his death

By 
 January 10, 2025

If you're a sports fan and spent any time at all between 1993 and 2003 watching the National Football League, then there's a great chance you've heard of Frank Wycheck.

In addition to his fantastic career as a player, Wycheck made headlines in 2023 when he was found dead at his home in Tennessee.

Now, we're learning what may have contributed to his death, and the NFL is probably not happy about it.

CTE

The results of a new study on Frank Wycheck's brain have been released, and the results are probably close to the worst-case scenario for the National Football League.

According to MensJournal.com:

A post-mortem study of Wycheck's brain at Boston University's Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center concluded that Wycheck had CTE Stage III when he was found dead at 52 in his Chattanooga, Tennessee home in December 2023. That places him just beneath the most severe diagnosis of Stage IV CTE. The confirmation, his family said, is a welcome piece of closure around his death.

Wycheck's family felt as though the study provided some closure after having suspected there was more to the story regarding Wycheck's death.

Frank's daughter, Deanna Wycheck Szabo gave a statement after receiving the results of the study on Frank's brain:

"Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father's desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE," she said, according to ESPN.

"Our hope is that NFL alumni who believe they are suffering from CTE will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state. With ongoing CTE research and diagnoses, we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment," she continued.

Frank Wycheck's legacy

While Wycheck will undoubtedly be remembered as an amazing football player, his daughter is hoping that Frank can have an even bigger impact off the field by bringing awareness to other former players who might be going through something similar.

After all, Frank Wycheck was known as an exceptional teammate throughout his life, so why should he be remembered any differently after his death?

"My father put his body on the line throughout his career," Frank's daughter said. "He loved the game and even more so loved his teammates. After retirement, he fought for years to bring light to his post-NFL journey and the fears he had around his struggles and symptoms that he knew wholeheartedly was CTE. He often felt forgotten and ignored, and that his situation was helpless."

"Reflecting back, I wish our family had been educated on the signs and symptoms of CTE. Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control," she concluded.

CTE and it's terrible symptoms are NOT only relegated to former NFL players! MensJournal.com urges anyone who thinks they or someone they care about might have CTE to talk to a healthcare provider as soon as possible to determine next steps.

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