Nearly six months after former Washington State quarterback Tyler Hilinski shot and killed himself, a report by the Mayo Clinic revealed Hilinski suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) at the time of his death.
Hilinski, predicted to become the Cougars’ starting quarterback in 2018, died on Jan. 16 at an apartment in Pullman, Wash. Police found the 21-year-old’s body after he failed to show up for practice.
Hilinski’s parents, Mark and Kim, spoke on the “Today” show Tuesday morning and confirmed the autopsy results that their son’s brain displayed signs of CTE after years of playing football.
"The medical examiner said he had the brain of a 65-year-old," Mark said on “Today.” "He was the sweetest, most outgoing, giving kid. That was difficult to hear."
The news follows the largest CTE case series ever published in July by the Boston University School of Medicine and the VA Boston Healthcare System that found 99 percent of brains donated by families of former NFL players tested positive for signs of CTE.
“To me, it’s very concerning that we have college-level players who have severe CTE who did not go on to play professionally,” neuropathologist Ann McKee said at the time of the study. “That means they most likely retired before the age of 25 and we still are seeing in some of those individuals very severe repercussions.”
