Former Patriot Kevin Turner Died From CTE, Not ALS, BU Researchers Say

The story involving Kevin Turner’s death took a dramatic turn Thursday, and it’s not good for the NFL.

The former New England Patriots fullback died in March at age 46 after what he thought was a six-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. But Boston University researchers announced Thursday that Turner actually died from a severe case of football-related chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE.

“The severity of Mr. Turner’s CTE was extraordinary and unprecedented for an athlete who died in his 40s,” Dr. Ann McKee, the director of BU’s CTE Center, said in a statement Thursday, via CNN. “While he had typical cognitive symptoms and problems with impulse control associated with CTE, it also appears that CTE decimated the motor cortex of his brain at a young age, likely leading to his ALS symptoms.”

This is big news, as several former NFL players have been diagnosed with CTE after their deaths, with the degenerative brain disease cited as the reason for the severe depression and even suicide of many athletes.

Turner spent three seasons in New England from 1992 to 1994 after the team selected him out of Alabama in the 1992 NFL Draft. He played the final five seasons of his career with the Philadelphia Eagles, retiring in 1999, and was diagnosed with what doctors believed to be ALS in 2010.

Thumbnail photo via YouTube/Washington Post screenshot