LOS ANGELES (AP) 鈥�
A lawsuit alleging the NCAA failed to protect a former University of Southern California football player from repetitive head trauma is nearing trial in a Los Angeles court, with a jury seated Thursday in what could become a landmark case.
The wrongful death suit filed by Matthew Gee's widow says the former USC linebacker died in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing for the 1990 Rose Bowl winning team, whose roster also included future NFL star Junior Seau.
brought by college football players against the NCAA in the past decade, Gee鈥檚 is only the second to go trial alleging that hits to the head led to chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease, and could be the first to reach a jury.
The issue of concussions in sports, and football in particular, has been front and center in recent years as research has discovered more about long-term effects of repeated head trauma in problems ranging from headaches to depression and, sometimes, early onset Parkinson鈥檚 or Alzheimer鈥檚 disease.
鈥淔or years (the NCAA) has kept players like Matthew Gee and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing college athletes,鈥� Alana Gee's lawsuit said. 鈥淟ong after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological conditions that could slowly strangle their brains.鈥�
The NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, has criticized what it calls 鈥渃opycat lawsuits ... full of misleading and inaccurate declarations鈥� and said it wasn't responsible for Gee's tragic death, which it blamed on heavy drinking, drugs and other health problems.
"Mr. Gee used alcohol and drugs to cope with a traumatic childhood, to fill in the loss of identity he felt after his football playing days ended, and to numb the chronic and increasing pain caused by numerous health issues," NCAA lawyers wrote in a filing in Los Angeles Superior Court.
A 2018 trial in Texas led to a swift settlement after several days of testimony by witnesses for the plaintiff, the widow of Greg Ploetz, who played defense for Texas in the late 1960s.
In 2016, the NCAA agreed to settle a class-action concussion lawsuit, paying $70 million to monitor the medical conditions of former college athletes, another $5 million toward medical research and payments up to $5,000 toward individual players claiming injuries.
The NFL has been hit with similar suits and eventually agreed to a providing up to $4 million for a death involving CTE, which is found in athletes and military veterans who suffered repetitive brain injuries. It's expected to exceed $1.4 billion in payouts over 65 years for six qualifying conditions, including Alzheimer鈥檚 disease, Parkinson鈥檚 disease and dementia.
After years of denials, the that research done at Boston University鈥檚 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center showed a link between football and CTE, which is associated with memory loss, depression and progressive dementia.
The center has found CTE in the brains of 110 of 111 deceased former NFL players and 48 of 53 former college players, .
Hall of Famers diagnosed after death include Seau, Ken Stabler and Mike Webster.
Gee, 49, was one of five linebackers on the 1989 Trojans squad who died before turning 50. , Gee's brain was examined posthumously at BU and found to have CTE.
The defense has sought to exclude any testimony about Gee鈥檚 teammates, and the NCAA said there was no medical evidence Gee suffered from concussions at USC.
Two ex-teammates, however, testified at depositions about blows they routinely took in an era when they were told to hit with their heads.
Mike Salmon, who played defense at USC and went on to the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and Buffalo Bills, said he distinctly recalled Gee and other linebackers being 鈥渙ut of it鈥� during hard-hitting practices.
鈥淢att hit like a truck," Salmon said. "I saw him quite a bit coming back to the huddle. You could tell ... he wasn鈥檛 all there.鈥�
鈥淚t was our job to make helmet-to-helmet contact in the 鈥�80s,鈥� Gene Fruge, a former nose-tackle testified. "There was no question about it. That was your job, to explode the man in front of you.鈥�
The NCAA, , said it gave them 鈥渟tate-of-the-art鈥� information about head injury risks known at the time Gee played. It said long-term effects of head injuries weren't well understood then.
Gee's lawsuit said the debilitating effects of concussions and other traumatic brain impacts have been known for about a century, first from studies of 鈥減unch drunk鈥� boxers and later from findings in football and other contact sports.
鈥淭he NCAA knew of the harmful effects ... on athletes for decades, they ignored these facts and failed to institute any meaningful methods of warning and/or protecting the athletes," the lawsuit said. 鈥淔or the NCAA, the continued expansion and operation of college football was simply too profitable to put at risk.鈥�
In his senior year, Gee was team captain and led USC in tackles, forced fumbles and fumbles recovered.
After graduating in 1992, Gee was cut by the Los Angeles Raiders in training camp. He married Alana, his college sweetheart, and they had three children as he ran his own insurance company in Southern California. For 20 years, he lived a 鈥渞elatively normal鈥� life, the suit said.
But that began to change around 2013 when he began to lose control of his emotions, the lawsuit said. He became angry, confused and depressed. He drank heavily. He told a doctor days would go by without him being able to recall what happened.
When he died on New Year's Eve 2018, the preliminary cause of death was listed as the combined toxic effects of alcohol and cocaine with other significant conditions of cardiovascular disease, cirrhosis and obesity.
Joseph Low, a Los Angeles lawyer for clients with traumatic brain injury who is not involved in the case, said drug and alcohol abuse can become a symptom of brain injuries as those suffering try to self-medicate, particularly as they deteriorate.
Blaming Gee鈥檚 death on substance abuse will not shield the NCAA from evidence showing he had CTE, which is not caused by drugs and alcohol, Low said.
鈥淭he whole discussion about drugs and alcohol isn鈥檛 going to get it done for them. That鈥檚 a distraction," Low said. 鈥淚t's really a disgusting way to do character assassination. It鈥檚 what you call defense strategy 101.鈥�
Brian Melley, The Associated Press
