HOUSTON—With the Super Bowl less than a week away, a congressional hearing raised provocative questions Monday about the safety of students playing football. Professional athletes who’ve played in the NFL have suffered traumatic brain injuries, and they’re not alone.
Legislators heard stories at the Texas Medical Center Monday of high school and college players who were seriously hurt, which caused lawmakers to ask some hard questions.
A Sugar Land man is known for oil changes these days, but Houston Oiler fans knew him as someone else. Greg Bingham, number 54, was “The Ironman.” But a stroke hit him by surprise just a couple of years ago.
“All of those hits just added up and there was a vistula on my brain and it was rubbing on the inside of my head and it ruptured,” said Bingham.
Stories like Binghams’ were told to the congressional panel. Another man lost his son to football-related injuries.
Dick Benson’s son died from a concussion on the field, which is another sad example of a traumatic brain injury to a young football player.
“The one proven method to avoid concussions is stay off the field. That’s what I tell my friends,” said Benson.
Tackling what’s happening on the field, the committee heard a lot of advice. One suggestion was to put a doctor at every high school.
“Why doesn’t one of these conferences have a standard that’s different from the NCAA that shows that they care more about the players than another? Because the fact is, they don’t,” said Steve Cohen, a Memphis representative.
The NFL now requires players who show signs of concussion to be removed from a game or practice.
One athlete said even if a player is unwilling to speak up, his teammates will.
“When you get back to huddle, you’re floating around. Trust me, one of us is going to see it and it is unbelievable how fast we snitch on each other because that is something that’s very important,” he said.
Those rules weren’t around for Bingham, but may save future iron men from serious brain injuries.
