WSU football has suffered heartbreak when it comes to brain injuries, mental health
Seattle Times
Brain injuries and the mental-health issues they can cause have been well documented when it comes to football.
And while this is certainly not just a Washington State problem, the Cougars have had a lot of heartbreak over brain injuries, most publicly when starting quarterback Tyler Hilinski died by suicide in 2018 and was later found to have had CTE.
Bringing awareness to the issue to the mental issues caused by brain injuries was Cougar alumnus John Gravenkemper’s motivation for waving the No. 3 Hilinski WSU flag on ESPN’s “GameDay.” And it is why he distributed thousands of eye patches (“It’s a way for people to see what it’s like to have a brain injury,” he explains) with a No. 3 on them at WSU football games.
More recently, Gravenkemper has distributed No. 50 eye patches and waved the No. 50 flag on “GameDay,” in honor of his former classmate Dan Grayson, a star linebacker for WSU in 1988-89. Grayson died at 54 in August and is suspected to have had brain issues.
“That’s all I am trying to do, is bring awareness,” said Gravenkemper, who was not an athlete but suffered a traumatic brain injury as a result of an auto accident. “What about Nos. 90, 91, 95 and 99 (other Cougars whose deaths he believes were at least in part attributable to brain injuries). We shouldn’t be losing so many players. Period.”
