Jim Tyrer. A former football player who murdered his wife Martha in 1980, then killed himself, while three of his children were in their home at the time.
He has been declared the most honored professional football player that is not in the Hall of Fame. He was All-AFL from 1962-69, and was named a starter on the all-time AFL team. He had not appeared on the HOF’s ballot since the murder/suicide until this year, and fell short of enshrinement.
I can accept that. You don’t celebrate a murderer.
So, put up a separate display at Canton, and proclaim him as the Patron Saint of CTE. In 1980, no one had a clue about CTE, or the brain injuries that ballplayers suffer, or the laughable equipment they used as “protection”—Tyrer’s youngest daughter owns one of his helmets, and it had little more than a quarter inch of padding. And in those days, linemen were taught to lead with their helmets, and footage I’ve seen showed Tyrer—with over a size 8 head on his 6’7” body—using his head as a brutal battering ram. Over, and over, and over again.
The NFL handled the CTE controversy horribly. But the list of players who have died and were found to have suffered from CTE is very frightening. In regard to Tyrer, detractors say, “CTE doesn’t make you a murderer”—but Aaron Hernandez and Jovan Belcher defied that logic. It changes you, and destroys you—ask Mike Webster’s family, or John Mackey’s. And to the end, Martha tried to get him help—he had an appointment with a psychologist scheduled the day after he murdered her and himself.
Martha’s mother and father raised their children. They knew him from his teen years, and never blamed him, nor disparaged him to his children. In fact, his and Martha’s ashes are buried with them. His Chiefs teammates are convinced that he had CTE, and they don’t blame him. But, it happened.
There is an excellent documentary about Jim Tyrer—“A Good Man—The Jim Tyrer Story”. It tells far more about Jim and Martha and his descent into murder than I can here.
Tyrer’s family forgave him. I doubt that the NFL ever will, because he represents such a dark part of the game’s legacy.
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