Doctors at Boston University announced on Wednesday that former Oakland Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler had chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE.
After Stabler died from colon cancer last July his brain was donated to science as he had wished. The examination of Stabler’s brain revealed that on a scale of one to four, Stabler had high Stage 3 CTE, The New York Times noted. Stabler is the seventh former NFL quarterback to be diagnosed with CTE.
“He had moderately severe disease,” Dr. Ann McKee, a professor of neurology and pathology at Boston University, who examined Stabler’s brain said. “Pretty classic. It may be surprising since he was a quarterback, but certainly the lesions were widespread, and they were quite severe, affecting many regions of the brain.”
Stabler, whose nickname was “The Snake,” was drafted by the Raiders in 1968. In addition to the Raiders he also played for the Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints. He had a 96-49-1 record and threw for 27,938 yards and won a Super Bowl with the Raiders in his 15 year career, according to ESPN. He has 194 career touchdowns. Stabler made the Pro Bowl four times and was the NFL MVP in 1974. He retired after the 1984 season. He is a finalist for being inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
More than 100 former players, including at least seven Hall of Famers, have been diagnosed with CTE. Frank Gifford, Mike Webster, Junior Seau and Tyler Sash are among them. A study that was released in September found that 96 percent of former NFL players who are deceased had CTE.