He left a lot of pain in his wake, clearly. But his death -- and the autopsy that should surely follow -- might be able to answer a few questions.
Did Hernandez suffer from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease? If so, was the disease connected to his violent behavior? And if so: Did Hernandez's lifetime in football contribute to the disease?
Nothing less than the future of football may be at stake.
It may seem premature to ask such questions.
Certainly, Hernandez had a violent life away from the game of football -- getting involved in scrapes and legal troubles throughout his high school and college years before being drafted by the Patriots.
Then again, it could be that football damaged him badly, with repercussions for his victims and their families.
Here is why we have to ask: There is a long trail of bodies in recent years belonging to NFL players who, it turned out, were living with CTE.
We know the disease can cause massive personality changes in the persons it afflicts, manifesting in depression and violent behavior. And while correlation does not equal causation, the correlation gets stronger all the time.
Junior Seau, the Hall of Fame linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, committed suicide.
So did former Chicago Bears safety Dave Duerson. Jovan Belcher, a player for the Kansas City Chiefs, killed his girlfriend, then committed suicide in front of the team's general manager. All were discovered, after their deaths, to have suffered from CTE.
The disease has hit particularly hard in Pennsylvania, whose gridiron traditions are second to none.
Mike Webster, the center on the Pittsburgh Steelers' glory days teams in the 1970s, was one of the first players diagnosed with the disease, discovered after his post-playing life spiraled out of control.
Former Eagles safety Andre Waters killed himself in 2006. Owen Thomas, a University of Pennsylvania lineman, killed himself in 2010. All were diagnosed with CTE after their deaths.
CTE victims who don't kill themselves can still suffer. Kevin Turner, the former Eagles fullback, died of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis -- which in turn was triggered, doctors say, by CTE. Living players like Jim McMahon and Tony Dorsett have reported suffering from dementia and depression believed to have been brought on by the disease.
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But if Hernandez's violence can be traced to his football playing, those excuses will be harder to maintain. If football damages its players so badly that the violence spills out to affect their families and communities, we're no longer just talking about individual choices -- we may be looking, instead, at a public health contagion.
The NFL Draft is being held next weekend in Philadelphia. Young men will take the stage, smile for the cameras, and celebrate a milestone in accomplishing their lifelong goals. For the sake of those young men, their loved ones, and the cities they play in, we need to find out whether Hernandez suffered from CTE. The time to ask the questions is now.
http://www.pennlive.com/opinion/2017/04/did_aaron_hernandezs_violent_l.html
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