Frank Gifford Suffered From Brain Injury Before Death
Nov. 27 2015, Updated 5:18 p.m. ET
Frank Gifford, a professional football player for 12 years, suffered from the degenerative brain disease associated with head trauma from the sport, his family announced on Wednesday.
Kathie Lee Gifford's late husband passed away in August at 84 from natural causes, but the family said they donated his brain to be studied for Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE).
The NFL Hall of Famer was a New York Giants running back from 1952 to 1964.
The family released this statement about the Monday Night Football co-host:
"While Frank passed away from natural causes this past August at the age of 84, our suspicions that he was suffering from the debilitating effects of head trauma were confirmed when a team of pathologists recently diagnosed his condition as that of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) – a progressive degenerative brain disease."
"We deci