A year ago, former North Carolina offensive lineman Ryan Hoffman was the subject of a major New York Times profile, as Juliet Mancur examined hwo a major college football player and homeless drifter could inhabit the same body.
Hoffman suffered short-term memory issues. He diagnosed himself as such:
“Look, I’m still in tiptop physical shape and can probably run a marathon,” Hoffman said, the words tumbling out of a mouth missing a tooth that was knocked out in a street fight. “It’s my brain that keeps me from being a productive member of society. I’m physically very strong, but I’m mentally so weak. Something is wrong with me. I don’t know what it is, but I used to be normal, you know?
“I’m confident — well, I’m pretty sure — that football had something to do with it.”
Hoffman passed away in November at the age of 41. Last week, researchers at Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation notified Hoffman’s family he had been diagnosed with CTE.
CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a brain disease that can only be diagnosed posthumously believed to be caused by repeated blows to the head.
“I wanted to know exactly what happened to my brother, and I just knew football did it,” Hoffman’s sister Kira Soto told the New York Times. “I’ve been looking into this for 15 years and defended him when people said it was just the drugs and judged him for something he couldn’t help, something that he struggled with. Well, we know now. We know.”
Dr. Ann McKee, the Times writes, diagnosed Hoffman with Level 2 CTE -- the disease runs on a 0 to 4 scale -- which is the same level found in the brain of former Iowa safety Tyler Sash, who died in September at age 27 of an accidental drug overdose, and of longtime San Diego Chargers linebacker Junior Seau, who committed suicide at age 43 in 2012.
Hoffman passed away in November after riding his bicycle into oncoming traffic on a poorly light rode in Haines City, Fla. He died on the way to the hospital. Haines City’s autopsy of Hoffman’s body remains incomplete.
