Bubba Smith, Former NFL All-Pro Star and Actor, Diagnosed with CTE After Death

Researchers affiliated with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation found that former NFL player and actor Bubba Smith had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, when he died in 2011, according to a Tuesday report by Ken Belson of the New York Times.

According to Belson, that makes him the "90th former NFL player found to have had CTE by the researchers at the Boston University brain bank; they have examined 94 former pro players."

Smith was found to have Stage 3 CTE, with symptoms including "cognitive impairment" and "problems with judgment and planning." He died in 2011 after overdosing on the weight-loss drug phentermine.

Smith spent nine seasons in the NFL with the Baltimore Colts (1967-1971), Oakland Raiders (1973-74) and Houston Oilers (1975-76). He was a two-time Pro Bowler (1970-71) and was an Associated Press first-team All-Pro selection in the 1971 season.   

He also had a career as an actor, most famously playing Moses Hightower in the 1984 comedy Police Academy, along with its sequels.

This latest finding coincides with a congressional report that accused the NFL of waging "an improper, behind-the-scenes campaign last year to influence a major U.S. government research study on football and brain disease," per Steve Fainaru and Mark Fainaru-Wada of ESPN's Outside the Lines.

The league's senior vice president for health and safety, Jeff Miller, already acknowledged a link between football and CTE at a discussion held by the U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Energy and Commerce in March 2016.

CTE and other head-trauma injuries remain one of the league's most controversial topics, and the list of players found to have CTE in posthumous brain examinations is increasing steadily. While the NFL continues to put measures in place to enhance player safety, the perception that the league covered up the link between head trauma and football remains one of its biggest blights.

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