Frank Wycheck knew he was losing a battle with a degenerative brain disease years before the Tennessee Titans’ famed H-back was killed in a fall at his Chattanooga home in 2023.
As revealed in a resurfaced interview with ESPN from 2017, Wycheck told reporter Paul Kuharsky he was fearful about becoming another statistic in football’s struggle with chronic traumatic encephalopathy – the condition linked to many suicides within the sport.
‘I worry about, I’m scared about the time if I actually get to that point where these guys [who have committed suicide] have snapped,’ said Wycheck, who was posthumously diagnosed with CTE, his family revealed this week. ‘What has made them snap? And that is what I am scared of, that there is something that is going to come over me that is going to make me snap.
‘I don’t think I am going to do it, but those guys you would never think in a million years would. And that’s the scary part about it. There is no one that can tell you really anything. It’s just, the damage is done.’
His adult daughters have now announced Wycheck was, indeed, suffering from the degenerative brain disease.
‘After my father’s retirement from professional football, our family faced challenges in understanding the physical and mental changes he was experiencing,’ Deanna Wycheck said in a statement.
The family of the late Tennessee Titans player Frank Wycheck have announced he had CTE
Wycheck helped to develop the hybrid tight end role that came to be known as the ‘H-back’
‘We initially believed it was simply an inability to adjust to ‘normal’ life after the intensity of being a professional athlete. We witnessed our father becoming increasingly isolated and experiencing drastic mood swings. He became more impulsive, and often inconsistent and undependable.
‘At the time, I mistakenly attributed his struggles to missing the spotlight and camaraderie of his playing days.
‘But now in hindsight, I understand that he was suffering from the symptoms of CTE due to the repeated trauma his brain and body endured over 11 seasons in the NFL.’
A tight end who helped create a hybrid role known as an ‘H-back,’ Wycheck is best remembered for throwing the controversial cross-field lateral that allowed Kevin Dyson to score the game-winning touchdown against the Buffalo Bills the ‘Music City Miracle’ a quarter century ago.
He retired from the league in 2011, having recorded 505 receptions, 5,126 yards and 28 touchdowns over 155 games.
But as the years went on, Wycheck and his family became aware of his debilitating condition.
‘My father put his body on the line throughout his career. He loved the game and even more so loved his teammates.
‘After retirement, he fought for years to bring light to his post-NFL journey and the fears he had around his struggles and symptoms that he knew whole-heartedly was CTE. He often felt forgotten and ignored, and that his situation was helpless.
‘Reflecting back, I wish our family had been educated on the signs and symptoms of CTE.
‘Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control.’
Wycheck retired from playing in the NFL after an 11-year career for the Titans in 2001
In 2017, Wycheck told ESPN he was worried about the suicides among former players. Although he didn’t specify anyone by name, that list already included the Chicago Bears’ Dave Duerson and San Diego Chargers’ Junior Seau by that point.
But despite his own concerns, Wycheck was reluctant to broach the subject with peers.
‘People don’t want to hear about morbid stuff like that,’ he told ESPN.
Wycheck’s family aims to raise awareness of the issue after making his condition public.
‘Our hope is that NFL alumni, who believe they are suffering from CTE, will be given the much-needed resources and guidance prior to their symptoms reaching a debilitating state,’ they said.
‘With on-going CTE research and diagnosis’, we hope future NFL alumni and families will be explicitly given an outline and plan of action in receiving care and treatment.
‘That’s what our father would have wanted.’
