Frank Wycheck, the NFL tight end best known for throwing the lateral that started the “Music City Miracle” and launched the Tennessee Titans’ run to the franchise’s lone Super Bowl appearance, had stage III chronic traumatic encephalopathy when he died on Dec. 9, 2023, at his Chattanooga home, his family said Thursday.
Wycheck died at the age of 52 after apparently hitting his head in a fall at home. He had made clear his wishes to work with experts for CTE research and on-going brain injury.
Researchers at Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center confirmed Wycheck had CTE stage III, with stage IV the most severe form of the neurodegenerative disease that can lead to dementia, memory loss and depression. The three-time Pro Bowl tight end played in the NFL between 1993 and 2003, starting with Washington and finishing his career with the Houston Oilers organization, which moved to Tennessee and became the Titans.
Wycheck’s family said in a statement they are grateful for this diagnosis, which they believe further highlights the concerns around CTE in contact sports like football. They want to honor his legacy with a stronger commitment to player safety and support for those affected by head injuries. His daughters said their family had challenges understanding both the physical and mental changes Wycheck was experiencing, thinking he was just missing the spotlight of his career.
“We witnessed our father becoming increasingly isolated and experiencing drastic mood swings. He became more impulsive, and often inconsistent and undependable,” Deanna Wycheck Szabo said in a statement. “Now in hindsight, I understand that he was suffering from the symptoms of CTE due to the repeated trauma his brain and body endured over 11 seasons in the NFL.”
Szabo said Wycheck loved football and his teammates. She said he fought for years after retiring to bring attention to the symptoms and struggles he knew stemmed from CTE, feeling too often ignored and helpless. Szabo said she wishes her family had been educated on CTE symptoms to know what to look for and now hope for increased intervention, education and support for NFL alumni and their families.
“Instead of believing that something was inherently wrong with him, we now know he was doing the best he could as a father and friend under circumstances beyond his control,” Szabo said.
Madison Wycheck Nowell said she worried daily about her father when he retired, whether he was eating, drinking enough water or making his appointments. She said they saw his health rapidly decline and hope this is a cautionary tale.
“My dad explained that it felt like his brain had a thick brick wall inside that stopped his will to follow through with anything, no matter what it was or who was involved,” Nowell said in her statement. “Regardless of his CTE symptoms, I will always believe that God intervened to allow him the opportunity to enjoy our weddings, his grandkids, and all other things he truly wanted to be a part of before he left us.”
Wednesday was the 25th anniversary of the Music City Miracle, a lateral from Wycheck to Kevin Dyson that led to a touchdown on the kickoff return and rallied the Titans over Buffalo in an AFC wild-card game.
That TD return ranked fourth among the NFL’s greatest plays over the league’s first 100 years.
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FILE - Tennessee Titans tight end Frank Wycheck runs with the ball during a football game against the Baltimore Ravens, Dec. 5, 1999, in Baltimore. (AP Photo/Roberto Borea, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration’s Title IX rules expanding protections for LGBTQ+ students have been struck down nationwide after a federal judge in Kentucky found they overstepped the president’s authority.
In a decision issued Thursday, U.S. District Judge Danny C. Reeves scrapped the entire 1,500-page regulation after deciding it was “fatally” tainted by legal shortcomings. The rule had already been halted in 26 states after a wave of legal challenges by Republican states.
President-elect Donald Trump, whose inauguration is days away, previously promised to end the rules “on day one” and made anti-transgender themes a centerpiece of his campaign.
The decision came in response to a lawsuit filed by Tennessee, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia.
Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti called it a rejection of the Biden administration's “relentless push to impose a radical gender ideology.”
“Because the Biden rule is vacated altogether, President Trump will be free to take a fresh look at our Title IX regulations when he returns to office,” Skrmetti said in a statement.
The Education Department did not immediately comment on the decision.
Some civil rights groups called the ruling a step backward. GLAAD, a leading LGBTQ+ advocacy group, said transgender and nonbinary students are among the most bullied and harassed.
“Protections for the most vulnerable students make the entire school safer and stronger for everyone,” said Sarah Kate Ellis, president and CEO of GLAAD.
The Biden administration ignited controversy when it finalized the new rules last year. The regulation expanded Title IX, a 1972 law forbidding discrimination based on sex in education, to also prevent discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. It also widened the definition of harassment to include a broader range of misconduct.
Civil rights advocates hailed it as a victory, saying it gave LGBTQ+ students new recourse against discrimination. But it drew outrage from conservatives who said it could be used to protect transgender athletes in girls' sports.
The rule didn't explicitly address athletics and mostly detailed how schools and colleges were required to respond to cases of discrimination and sexual assault. A separate proposal dealing with transgender athletes in sports was put on the back-burner and later revoked after it became a focal point of Trump’s campaign.
In his decision, Reeves found the Education Department overstepped its authority by expanding the scope of Title IX.
There’s nothing in the 1972 law suggesting that it should cover any more than it has since Congress created it, Reeves wrote. He called it an “attempt to bypass the legislative process and completely transform Title IX.”
The judge also found that it violated free speech rights by requiring teachers to use pronouns aligning with a student’s gender identity.
“The First Amendment does not permit the government to chill speech or compel affirmance of a belief with which the speaker disagrees in this manner,” Reeves wrote.
Rather than carve out certain aspects of the rule, Reeves decided it was best to toss the regulation in its entirety and revert to a previous interpretation of Title IX. He said his decision will “simply ‘cause a return to the status quo’ that existed for more than 50 years prior to its effective date.”
Among the biggest critics of the rule was Betsy DeVos, former education secretary during Trump's first term. On the social media site X, she wrote that the “radical, unfair, illegal, and absurd Biden Title IX re-write is GONE.”
Bill Cassidy, R-Louisiana, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said Biden's rule “betrayed the original intent of Title IX by removing longstanding protections that ensured fairness for women and girls.”
“With President Trump and a Republican majority in Congress, we will ensure women and girls have every opportunity to succeed on the field and in the classroom," Cassidy said in a statement.
The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
FILE - President Joe Biden pauses during a photo opportunity with Medal of Valor recipients in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Jan. 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)
