Families of 2 Former UT Football Players Sue NCAA, Big 12

AUSTIN (KXAN) — The families of two former University of Texas at Austin football players are suing the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the Big 12 Conference claiming the two men suffered traumatic brain injury, early onset and end stage Alzheimer’s disease and death caused by repeated traumatic head impacts related to playing football.

The new lawsuit, which is asking for class action status for all UT players from 1952 to 2010, states the defendants ignored the medical risks to the plaintiffs, Julius Whittier and Allen Rickman, and other Texas football players. The suit states until 2010, Big 12 and the NCAA kept “their players and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing their athletes.”

Whittier played football at Texas from 1970 to 1972 as a tight end and on the offensive line. According to the suit, Whittier, 66, now suffers from early onset Alzheimer’s having been diagnosed at age 58. His family states his condition has deteriorated in recent years and is currently living in an assisted living facility. The suit states every time Whittier suffered a concussive or sub-concussive hit, he immediately returned to the field to play. This is the second lawsuit filed by Whittier’s sister.

Rickman played defensive tackle in 1974-75, and again in 1977. He died in 2011 at the age of 54 from early onset Alzheimer’s. Rickmain sustained numerous concussions each year and the defendants failed to adopt any safety protocols or return to play guidelines, continued the suit.

The suit is seeking damages between $5 million and half a billion dollars.

In 2014, the NCAA agreed to settle a class-action head-injury lawsuit by creating a $70 million fund to diagnose thousands of current and former college athletes to determine if they suffered brain trauma playing football, hockey, soccer and other contact sports. The settlement, however, did not set aside money to pay players who suffered brain trauma. Instead, athletes can sue individually for damages and the NCAA-funded tests to gauge the extent of neurological injuries could establish grounds for doing that.