Sad news about Nick Buoniconti and Jim Kiick's health

[Hoot]

It's sad and tragic for anyone to go through this...but it does hit a different nerve when you see warriors such as Buoniconti being broken down like that.

 

[johngarryvo]

reading this made my heart fall to the floor.. they were warriors.. unknowns.. cast-offs.. perfect. this is not how their ending should be written; but more often than not it is. Pray for Nick and all our legendary players.

 

[SF Dolphin Fan]

Such a sad thing to see athletes that you admired and rooted for go through these issues.

The NFL was such a different game in the 1970's and 1980's. Head trauma was something that announcers laughed about and players went back into the game dazed, but ready to continue. Now we see the stupidity of that.

One of the best things the NFL did was adopt the concussion protocols. I believe an agent (Steinberg?) actually got the ball rolling on this issue, but I could be wrong.

When you look at what defensive players used to be able to do, you understand why the NFL was about running the football. Defensive linemen could head slap the offensive linemen, defensive backs mauled receivers down the field, you could really hit the quarterback etc.

It's a physical game and that's one of the big allures to the NFL. I don't think fans would watch it if it were flag football. That said, I do hope the league can continue to make strides in safety. Maybe someone can come up with better equipment to protect against head injuries, knee injuries etc. I know you can't prevent all injuries as that's just part of the game.



Hopef

 

[uk_dolfan]

OP updated with full story. Will also add the Kiick story when that is released tomorrow

 

[Mike13]

Thats sucks man, it really does.

 

[Phinsguy]

Had the same reaction when watching The Perfect Backfield. And yet, Larry Csonka, who led with his head as much as any football player in history, seems fine. We might be looking at a condition like emphysema, where your chances for having issues if you're a smoker goes up dramatically, but it's still not the same thing as saying that having your head chopped off, for example, leads to death.

I've thought a lot about that too.......while there are many ex-NFL players who undeniably wind up getting CTE from playing the sport, there are others who seem unaffected and are still sharp in their later years despite being hard hitters or getting hit hard. Maybe certain people are more susceptible to getting it just like cancer, diabetes, etc??

 

[LostInPatsLand]

I've thought a lot about that too.......while there are many ex-NFL players who undeniably wind up getting CTE from playing the sport, there are others who seem unaffected and are still sharp in their later years despite being hard hitters or getting hit hard. Maybe certain people are more susceptible to getting it just like cancer, diabetes, etc??

Exactly. People have different variants of genes which interact differently with a common environment (e.g. getting your head knocked silly).

 

[TheJetsBlow]

This is so sad...

 

[PHINSfan]

Terrible news indeed!

 

[uk_dolfan]

How Jim Kiick Fell Through the Cracks

The devastation the former Dolphin’s family feels as it watches his gut-wrenching decline is matched by the frustration and confusion they’ve experienced in trying to get him the care he needs

This is the second of two stories on former members of the ’70s Dolphins Super Bowl teams who are confronting the cognitive and physical effects of a life in football. Read Scott Price’s story on Nick Buoniconti here.

If this were the typical comeback tale, Allie Kiick’s plague years would be all behind her. She’s been hitting tennis balls for a month now, and this spring she’s scheduled to play her first pro tournament since 2015. Given a few wins, a few painless months, the 21-year old South Florida native could then speak of her career-devastating ailments in the past tense, and the usual narrative would take hold. As in, she “overcame” mononucleosis and two surgeries on each knee, and “beat” stage I melanoma. As in, that chapter is done.

Photo: Courtesy of Allie Kiick
Allie, Jim and Austin Kiick.
But it’s not. Because Kiick, who reached a career-high WTA ranking of 136 in 2014, hasn’t spent the ensuing years contending solely with her own medical issues. She has also had to withstand the mental demise of her father, former Miami Dolphins halfback Jim Kiick, 70, who after years of erratic behavior and squalid living was placed in a South Florida assisted living facility in July 2016. And that experience hardly lends itself to tidy closure.


“It’s been devastating,” Allie says. “When I do something great—which, back in the day, he’d be just so proud about—I don’t even bother calling after. And when I do call to check up on him, he calls me—I kid you not—probably 30, 40 times after if I don’t pick up the phone. He just keeps calling and calling and calling, to the point where, at night, I actually have to block him from my phone because he’ll call at 3 in the morning. He just doesn’t know any better.

“When people ask how is he doing—because of the NFL [concussion] lawsuit—I just say, ‘He’s fine.’ But I tell my close friends, ‘I lost my dad at 21 years old.’ I love him to death, and I’m so proud of him and everything he’s accomplished—and I just wanted him to be really proud of me, too. But he just won’t ever understand, I guess.”

http://mmqb.si.com/mmqb/2017/05/09/jim-kiick-miami-dolphins-nfl-concussion-lawsuit-assisted-living

Again a bit more of an intro than we usually like, but it is appropriate with such a sad and serious topic

 

[CalDolFan10x14]

Sad to hear. Although I wasn't around yet to see them, I know those guys were legends among men.

 

[uk_dolfan]

Sad to hear. Although I wasn't around yet to see them, I know those guys were legends among men.

Yea it was well before my era, but you hear so much about these guys and what they meant to the dolphins

 

['Deep]

Kiick living in squalor is really sad. I can only imagine. Great that Allie and Austin are there for him now. Hope Kiick collects that $620,000.