"... his 60s were a nightmare of memory loss, insomnia and disorientation, with headaches so severe that he often spent whole days in silence."

Another Super Bowl, another brain trauma casualty

"Score one more for CTE, the degenerative brain disease increasingly linked with football. Few athletes were as charismatic as The Snake during his young, hellraising years with the Oakland Raiders. And few men have endured a middle age as crippling.

His partner, Kim Bush, said his 60s were a nightmare of memory loss, insomnia and disorientation, with headaches so severe that he often spent whole days in silence. As he witnessed other retired athletes succumbing to dementia, depression and other neurological problems, he agreed to donate his brain to science; CTE, which is believed to arise from repetitive brain trauma, can only be diagnosed posthumously."