Concussion lawsuit against NCAA could be first to reach jury

LOS ANGELES (AP) —

A lawsuit alleging the NCAA failed to protect a former University of Southern California football player from repeated concussions is nearing trial in a Los Angeles court, with a jury seated Thursday in what could become a landmark case.

The suit filed by Matthew Gee's widow says the former USC linebacker died in 2018 from permanent brain damage caused by countless blows to the head he took while playing for the 1990 Rose Bowl winning team, whose roster also included future NFL star Junior Seau.

Of the hundreds of wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits brought by college football players against the NCAA in the past decade, Gee’s is only the second to head toward trial and could be the first to reach a jury.

The issue of concussions in sports, and football in particular, has been front and center in recent years as research has discovered more about long-term effects of repeated head trauma in problems ranging from headaches to depression and, sometimes, early onset Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s disease.

“For years (the NCAA) has kept players like Matthew Gee and the public in the dark about an epidemic that was slowly killing college athletes,” Alana Gee's lawsuit said. “Long after they played their last game, they are left with a series of neurological conditions that could slowly strangle their brains.”

The NCAA, the governing body of college athletics, said it wasn't responsible for Gee's tragic death, which it blamed on heavy drinking, drugs and other ailments.

"Mr. Gee used alcohol and drugs to cope with a traumatic childhood, to fill in the loss of identity he felt after his football playing days ended, and to numb the chronic and increasing pain caused by numerous health issues," NCAA lawyers wrote in a court filing.

A 2018 trial in Texas...