John Grimsley

When the brain of former NFL player John Grimsley was received at the CTE Center in 2008, a new era of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) research began. John Grimsley was the first brain donation received at the CSTE Brain Bank, now known as the UNITE Brain Bank.

Many people knew John Grimsley as a former linebacker for the Houston Oilers and Miami Dolphins, but those closest to him knew him as a hard worker, a lover of the outdoors, and a loving father, husband, friend, and teammate.

Mr. Grimsley was the first football player to be diagnosed with CTE by Dr. Ann McKee at Boston University. We thank the Grimsley family for their generous donation and commitment to our research.

Read Mr. Grimsley’s story below.

Growing up in Canton, Ohio, football was a big part of John Grimsley’s life. His father and his four brothers (Will, Ed, Doug, and Dan) all played and as a child, he spent time at the Pro Football Hall of Fame learning about the pros who came before him. That’s where his love of the game began.

Though he was also a catcher in baseball and played basketball in school, football was the game he loved more than anything. He started playing at eight years old and continued through high school, in college at the University of Kentucky, and at the professional level in the NFL for nine seasons as a linebacker for the Houston Oilers and Miami Dolphins.

In 1979, he met his wife, Virginia, and they were together ever since. They married during his senior year of college and later had two sons. Virginia reflected on his love of football saying he loved playing and it was always his dream. She described him as “a God-fearing, loving husband, father, a great friend, a great teammate” and said he “would help anybody that needed help.”

Besides football and his love of the outdoors – he was an avid hunter and fisherman – John also loved charity work. Among his charitable contributions, he held a successful Roast of Bum Phillips to raise money for the NFLPA Children’s charity and participated in an event in Colorado to help raise money for handicapped individuals to learn how to ski.

John worked hard for his football career. He once blew out his left knee (ACL, LCL & PCL) while playing for the Miami Dolphins and though doctors thought he would never play again, he rehabbed and came back from the near career-ending injury, even earning the Ed Block Courage Award.

He gave his all to football. After finding out that John suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), Virginia said the results were shocking and disturbing, saying, “it’s like he basically left his life out there on the field.”

She first started to notice changes in John around the time he turned forty and though she didn’t realize what was happening at the time, she knew there was something different about him. Around the time of these changes, she had seen Bryant Gumbel’s reports on HBO of former football players who were having cognitive issues. She had John, who had suffered multiple concussions during his career, watch the program too.

As the years went on, John’s symptoms began to worsen. He began to hide his drinking and experienced forgetfulness often, forgetting how to get to a friend’s house that he frequently visited and returning home from the grocery store with the wrong items, even when Virginia had included pictures on their shopping list.

The change in his demeanor and personality, which is common in those suffering from CTE, was concerning for those who knew him. Virginia described John as easy-going and slow to anger, but little things began to set him off. It was so out-of-character for John that Virginia remembers asking him, “Who are you? I don’t know you, what’s going on?” They would argue and she said his angry outbursts could be scary at times. John would storm out, then come back and apologize later, saying, “I don’t know what got into me. I don’t know what’s going on here.”

For John’s family, receiving his CTE diagnosis brought clarity and explained the behavior they couldn’t understand in his final years. Though she recognizes how hard he worked for his achievements and how much he loved football, she reflects on the dangers of head injuries. “I wish he would have taken himself out when he got hurt. I wish he would have admitted that he was hurt, but he never would.”

Virginia urges other families to take concussions seriously and says the more education a person has, the better choices they can make.

“It’s just so imperative that these kids – especially that play football – and their parents understand it. Don’t lie when you get hit and your head hurts. Do not lie and say that you’re fine, and stay in or go back in,” she said. “You know it’s so important, and I know they don’t really realize it because they’re living in the moment, and they don’t want to let their teammates down, but you have your whole life ahead of you. It’s not worth giving all that up for a game.”

For Virginia, the choice to donate John’s brain to the CTE Center was an easy one, though receiving his diagnosis was difficult. February of 2023 marked fifteen years since John’s death and Virginia and her family continue to remember and memorialize him. Every February, she receives calls and texts from friends who love and remember John. “It’s still hard, because my life has gone on for fifteen years now, and it’s not the life I wanted. It’s the life I have. I still miss him. We all miss him, and it’s very frustrating when I see, on TV or comments, people just not taking the concussion thing seriously.”

She hopes that people will hear and understand the information that is shared about concussions and head injuries. “If you can save just one person from making the choice to not go back into whatever game they’re playing – and you won’t know down the road if that was the moment – but it could be the moment that changes that person’s life one way or the other.”

Mr. Grimsley’s diagnosis was made by Dr. Ann McKee at the BU CTE Center. If you would like to support the BU CTE Center and help fund the research that makes these diagnoses possible, you can donate here.

If you or a loved one are interested in brain donation, please view our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and brain donation brochures for more information.

This story was written by Amanda V. Cabral at the BU CTE Center. If you are interested in having a donor story written for your loved one, please reach out to her at avcabral@bu.edu.