On the 13-month anniversary of his passing, the family of Tennessee Titans legend Frank Wycheck announced that the tight end had Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) Stage III at the time of his death. Stage IV is the most severe.
The Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center tested Wycheck's brain following the 52-year-old's Dec. 9, 2023, death, and those tests revealed a diagnosis many expected.
"Our family is grateful to learn of his confirmed CTE diagnosis in hopes to continue our father's desire to bring awareness, increased intervention, education, and support for NFL alumni and their families related to CTE," Deanna Wycheck Szabo, Wycheck's daughter, said in a statement, via ESPN. "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. 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."
Six years before his death, Wycheck said in an interview that he believed he had CTE after suffering what he estimated to be 25 concussions during his playing days.
"I worry about, I'm scared about the time if I actually get to that point where these guys have snapped," Wycheck said, per ESPN. "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."
Wycheck died after falling in his Chattanooga, Tennessee, home. He played a part in the most famous play in Titans franchise history, and one of the greatest plays in NFL history: The "Music City Miracle." In the 1999 wild-card matchup between the Titans and Buffalo Bills, Wycheck threw a lateral pass to wide receiver Kevin Dyson, who ran it 75 yards to the end zone for the game-winning touchdown on a kick return. The Titans would go on to represent the AFC in Super Bowl XXXIV that year.
Wycheck still ranks No. 7 on the Titans/Oilers all-time receiving list with 4,958 yards receiving on 482 catches to go along with 27 receiving touchdowns. Only two players (Ernest Givins and Haywood Jeffires) have caught more passes than Wycheck in franchise history.
When Wycheck retired followed the 2003 season, he co-hosted a sports show on "104.5 The Zone" in Nashville, and served as the color commentator for Titans Radio for over a decade before stepping down due to head issues.
