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“Greg was a tremendous athlete, and he was also a big personality,” Young, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, toldUSA Today. “Greg’s one of those guys that was always a little bit bigger than life, and I think that makes the loss that much more difficult.”
He died at age 49 of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at his California home in July 2021. Clark’s family toldThe Mercury Newsthat researchers recently confirmed he had advanced Stage 3 CTE at the time of his death.
According to the outlet, Clark played nearly 15 years of football over the span of his life.
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“It’s painful to think about people suffering silently,'' Young, a three-time Super Bowl champion, toldUSA Today. “We’ve got to be better. We’ve got to figure it out. It’s on a lot of people’s minds, a lot of players minds, how to create an environment where people can share vulnerabilities and fears that probably wouldn’t ever be shared anywhere else.”
He added, “I think it’s getting better slowly, but it’s just a tough environment. For vulnerability.”
Clark’s wife, Carie Clark, toldThe Mercury Newsthat her husband had been “suffering in silence” in his struggle with CTE.
“He did all the things they tried to offer and it just wasn’t enough,” Carie said on treatment plans. “I didn’t really know a whole lot, because he was hiding it from me.”
CTE has been a controversial topic for the NFL. While not all football players develop CTE, it is widespread — in a 2017 study of thebrains of 111 deceased NFL players, a Boston University researcher found that 110 of them had the disease.
Last year, former NFL quarterbackBrett Favreparticipated in acampaignwith the Concussion Legacy Foundation to encourage parents to not let children participate in tackle football.
source: people.com
