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Bennet Omalu, a forensic neuropathologist鈥攁nd the NFL鈥檚 public enemy number one, portrayed by Will Smith in the 2015 movie听Concussion鈥攄elivered the Center鈥檚 Chambers Lecture. The event was co-sponsored by the Thea Bowman AHANA and Intercultural Center鈥檚 Black History Month Committee.

Born in a Nigerian refugee hospital during the Biafran War, Omalu survived military bombardment and malnutrition as a child. Later, struggling with depression and war-induced mental trauma, Omalu said he discovered the 鈥渋mmense power of knowledge鈥� as an escape from the circumstances of his youth. He exhibited a prodigious intellect at a young age, starting grade school at age 3, attending medical school at age 15, and becoming a doctor at age 21. In 1994, Omalu received a scholarship from the World Health Organization to pursue a fellowship in epidemiology at the University of Washington and arrived in Seattle with $250 in his pocket. Renting a room in a local woman鈥檚 attic, his early excitement at immigrating to the United States was tinged with naivet茅. 鈥淚 had no inkling of the American experience of slavery,鈥� Omalu said, explaining that he was surprised by the racism he experienced at the hands of traffic cops, store clerks, and the like.

In 2002, while at the University of Pittsburgh, Omalu heard a televised report of the death of Mike Webster, an American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL). At the time, he knew little of the game of football. 鈥淭hey were talking about this game I saw while I was growing up in Nigeria, on satellite TV鈥攁 game where people dressed up like extraterrestrials, running around the field wearing big helmets, fat shoulders, and tiny legs,鈥� Omalu said. He was shocked, later that day, to find Webster鈥檚 remains on his operating table awaiting an autopsy. Omalu鈥檚 examination of Webster has been called 鈥渢he autopsy that changed football.鈥� It yielded an unwelcome discovery鈥攖hat the late superstar had been suffering from a serious, football-induced medical condition unknown to science.

Omalu called the new condition 鈥渃hronic traumatic encephalopathy鈥� (CTE) and published his findings in a prominent neuroscience journal. He was promptly fired. Ostracized, vilified, ridiculed, and accused of conducting 鈥渧oodoo medicine鈥� by fellow scientists, organized football, and the National Institutes of Health, Omalu was undaunted. He continued to examine the brain tissues of former football players who he believed had suffered 鈥渋n silence and obscurity鈥� from CTE. 鈥淣o university or institution in America gave me a platform to do the work I was doing, so I took my work home,鈥� Omalu said. Years later, and in spite of the best efforts of the NFL, the scientific community forced itself to face a disturbing truth鈥攖hat football-induced CTE was a reality, and a problem. Omalu attributes the initially reflexive鈥攁nd spirited鈥攔ejection of his findings to the successful efforts of professional football to make itself synonymous with America鈥檚 national identity. 鈥淭he NFL has done a brilliant job of making America believe that [involvement with] football is what it is to be American鈥攖hat playing, watching, or sponsoring football is what it is to be patriotic,鈥� he said.

In response to an audience member鈥檚 question, Omalu said that more technologically advanced helmets do nothing to prevent CTE or other brain injuries from occurring on the football field. The brain, which floats suspended in fluid in the skull, is damaged when sudden changes in momentum cause it to impact the inside of the player鈥檚 skull. Helmets can do nothing to prevent this, as they merely protect the surface of the head. In fact, football helmets increase the risk of brain damage by making a player鈥檚 head heavier, increasing the weight and force of damaging impacts that they are powerless to prevent. According to Omalu, helmets also 鈥渨eaponize鈥� the head鈥攖hey make helmet hits more attractive to players by reducing the more obvious effects of helmet-to-helmet contact, like bruises, broken bones, or external bleeding.

Without a known cure, and causing death in extreme cases, CTE poses a grave danger to players at all levels of the game. Children, according to Omalu, are particularly vulnerable to extensive brain damage.

Children with merely a concussion are more likely than their peers to die before reaching age 42, to struggle with drug addiction, and to drop out of school, to say nothing of the severe mental damage caused by an early, traumatic case of CTE. Omalu said that there is 鈥渘o justifiable reason鈥� for a child below age 18 to play football due to the extreme risk posed by playing in even a single game. 鈥淸It is acceptable for adults to choose to] play football, play Russian roulette, or skydive鈥攂ut not for children.鈥�

Joshua Holtz,听The Heights

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