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Bernie Kosar Reveals CTE Brain Trauma

Originally posted on FanNation Cowboy Maven
By Mike Fisher | Last updated 9/4/23

Bernie Kosar, a legend with the Cleveland Browns and a Super Bowl winner as a Troy Aikman backup with the Dallas Cowboys, is at 59 years old experiencing some frightening brain trauma issues.

“I don’t regret it,” Kosar said of a fine career that has resulted in a series of health scares. “I believe I was called to play for the Browns; it was what I was meant to do.”

Kosar starred in his home state of Ohio in the 1980s and ‘90’s before getting another call, this one about a trade that would bring him to Dallas to reunite with his University of Miami coach Jimmy Johnson. Kosar would pitch in to help the Aikman-led 1993 Cowboys to a Super Bowl title.

But along the way, as Terry Pluto wrote touchingly, there may have been as many as 100 concussions. And 40 surgeries. And seizures. And a coma that lasted for 96 hours. And the addictive nature of all the pills doctors gave him to help play and to help cope.

Wrote Pluto: “There were periods where you went 48 … 64 … and once 96 hours and couldn’t sleep. Your brain wouldn’t shut off. The pain, the pounding, the squeezing of the skull was ceaseless. The drugs you took to sleep didn’t help.”

And now there is CTE, and Kosar’s feeling being “lost, stupid and embarrassed.”

Great Morning to be Alive Especially Not Being a Statistic on International Overdose Awareness Day!!Let’s Get Through This Journey Together #UMatter https://t.co/a834Gs3FSU pic.twitter.com/hcgWSV7l4H
— Bernie Kosar (@BernieKosarQB) August 31, 2023

Pluto wrote that Kosar “feels .. in the fourth quarter of (his) life. You think God has one last game for you to play … regarding CTE awareness, and help for generations of NFL players victimized by it.

“It’s my last big game,” Kosar said. “And it’s an important one.”

For more information, visit The Concussion Legacy Foundation.