The NCAA has been ordered to pay $18 million to a former college football player and his wife after a South Carolina jury ruled that the organization failed to warn athletes about the long-term dangers of head trauma.
The verdict, delivered late last week in Orangeburg County, awarded $10 million to Robert Geathers, a former defensive end for South Carolina State University who played from 1977 to 1980, and $8 million to his wife, Debra. The jury found the NCAA negligent for not taking adequate steps to protect players from the cumulative effects of repeated concussions.
Geathers, now 68, was diagnosed with dementia several years ago and reportedly struggles with everyday tasks such as dressing and preparing meals, according to the Times and Democrat, a local newspaper in Orangeburg. Medical experts who testified during the trial said he exhibits signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) — a progressive brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head. While CTE can only be confirmed after death, symptoms can include memory loss, mood swings, and cognitive decline.
Attorneys for the Geathers family argued that the hits Geathers endured during practices and games decades ago caused brain damage that developed over time. They accused the NCAA of failing to warn players about the risks, despite knowing about the link between head trauma and neurological disease for decades.
Bakari Sellers, one of the attorneys representing Geathers, told jurors that evidence showed the NCAA had been aware of concussion dangers since at least the 1930s but kept that information from athletes. “All of the information they knew, they withheld,” Sellers said. “Their job was to keep these boys safe.”
The jury ultimately found that the NCAA had “unreasonably increased the risk of harm” to Geathers beyond the inherent dangers of football and that the organization had “negligently breached” its duty to protect players’ health and safety.
In a statement following the ruling, the NCAA said it disagreed with the verdict and intended to pursue post-trial motions or an appeal. “The NCAA has prevailed in every other jury trial across the country on these issues,” the statement read. The association also maintained that South Carolina State’s team operated under the safety standards and medical understanding available at the time, adding that Geathers’ health problems stem from unrelated conditions.
NCAA attorney Andy Fletcher argued during the trial that football inherently involves collisions and that the organization could not eliminate head impacts entirely. “There’s going to be head hits,” Fletcher said in his closing remarks. “That’s inherent to the game. You can’t take head hits out of football.”
Despite the NCAA’s stance, the jury sided with Geathers and his wife, concluding that the organization had failed to meet its obligation to safeguard players. After the verdict, Sellers described the decision as long-overdue justice for the couple. “It felt good to hug Debra Geathers,” he said. “She gets to go home and tell her husband some good news.”
SOURCE: The Associated Press