Dave Duerson

Increased awareness moves football concussions to the spotlight

2012-09-18 18:03:00

Derrick Johnson, a Laurel resident, was playing defensive back for the University of North Carolina in 2002 when he went for a tackle on a third-down play. "I went in low for a tackle and took a knee to the head," Johnson said of the game at Florida...

Football: America's dangerous game

2012-05-08 11:47:00

We may never know exactly why Junior Seau died, of an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound to the chest, at his home in San Diego on May 2. Suicide is commonly the result of depression, and perhaps Mr. Seau had a mood disorder that had nothing to do...

Young football players at greater concussion risk than pros

2011-12-07 08:14:00

From what he remembers, and it isn't much, Cameron Williams was cold. On a steaming autumn day last year in Burtonsville, the 13-year-old shivered as he walked back to his Unity Thunder football team's huddle, barely able to keep his eyes open. Dizzy,...

49ers great enjoyed fame, awaits pain

2011-04-22 00:00:00

To properly know who Ronnie Lott is, and what he has become, it is important to know who he was. Also, it needs to be established that Lott will be 52 on May 8, which makes him, in the ongoing discussion of the long-term impact of NFL injuries, a...

Tribune's Pompei wins prestigious McCann Award

2013-06-19 15:58:00

Dan Pompei, the Tribune’s Bears/NFL columnist, has been selected as the 2013 winner of the prestigious Dick McCann Memorial Award for distinguished reporting and will be honored during enshrinement week ceremonies in August at the Pro Football...

NFL Hall of Famer Barney says football will be obsolete within 20 years

2013-06-14 16:05:04

DETROIT Lem Barney is an NFL legend, a Hall of Famer who made his living playing football. And he wouldn't do it again. Speaking on Friday at the Sound Mind Sound Body Camp in Southfield, Mich., the Detroit Lions great said the sport will be gone in the...

Girls soccer | With help of father, Francis Parker's Fencik making difference on concussion front

2013-05-25 19:23:00

Evan Fencik has the talent to play Division I soccer. If she didn't, Francis Parker probably wouldn't have played for the school's first state championship in any sport Saturday night. But the daughter of former Bears great Gary Fencik chose Division...

American football industry is on its deathbed

2013-04-24 00:00:00

With all that college beef on parade this week, the NFL draft is a wonder of sports marketing, a televised pageant for the multibillion-dollar American football industry. But there's something football fans should know: Football is dead in America....

Dave Duerson e-book added to our virtual shelves

2013-01-28 00:00:00

DigitalPlus members now can revisit the tragic story of a late football star who had helped the 1985 Chicago Bears to a Super Bowl victory. The Chicago Tribune’s latest e-book, “Duerson: Triumph, Trauma and Tragedy in the NFL,” tells the...

On eve of Super Bowl, football caught between a rock and hard tackle

2013-02-02 00:00:00

One afternoon in early January, I took a tour of the refurbished Memorial Stadium in Berkeley with a pair of architects from the firm HNTB. For me it was a visit brimming with nostalgia: I grew up about three miles north of the stadium, in the Berkeley...

Big holes in the NFL safety net for former players like Bob Zeman

2013-02-02 00:00:00

LA JOLLA — Bob Zeman will do the same as millions Sunday. He will grab the remote, find an easy chair and turn on the Super Bowl. "I still like the drama of the game," he says. He won't exactly be a fan. More like an observer. He knows too much...

Brain issues in back of Fencik's mind

2013-02-01 18:28:00

Gary Fencik plans to watch Sunday's Super Bowl on a big screen TV from the comfort of his own home. The former Bears safety, who played in Super Bowl XX in New Orleans, also says he enjoys the comfort of not knowing whether he might be predisposed to...

Tregg Duerson, son of former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson, discusses his family's lawsuit against the NFL on Feb. 23, 2012.

2012-08-24 19:01:00

Tregg Duerson, son of former Chicago Bear Dave Duerson, with lawyer William Gibbs, left, discusses his family's lawsuit against the NFL at the law offices of Corboy and Demetrio in Chicago Thursday.

2012-02-23 00:00:00

In August, police and SWAT responded to the home of former Notre Dame football defensive coach Corwin Brown. Brown, his wife and three children were in the home. After a 7-hour standoff, Brown surrendered but not before shooting himself in the stomach.

2011-12-30 07:31:33