Throwaway Players: The Concussion Crisis from Pee Wee Football to the NFL

The NFL insists players know they're playing a dangerous game, but players never see the deteriorated mental capacities of their former heroes. Throwaway Players is former Tampa Bay Buccaneers president Gay Culverhouse's story of the broken bodies and lost souls of the men who have left the locker room and what remains after the cheering subsides. Focused on making money rather than the well-being of their players, this is the dark side of football the NFL doesn't want fans to see.

Additionally, high schools, colleges, and independent sports organizations have little oversight when choosing player's equipment. This breeds a new generation of kids suffering from multiple concussions and damaged lives. Throwaway Players offers guidance to parents navigating the world of competitive sports as well as advocacy and resources for athletes often left in the dark about appropriate procedures for treating injuries, especially head traumas, specifically brain injury. Throwaway Players is essential reading for any parent, athlete, and sports fan.

Gay Culverhouse testified before Congress on football head injuries and successfully changed the policy of including an independent neurologist on the sidelines of every NFL game. Gay's work with former players has appeared in The New York Times, Sarasota Herald Tribune, St. Petersburg Times, The Tampa Tribune, Time magazine, and many more. She has appeared on several radio shows, including PBS and ESPN, and is featured in three documentaries that are in post-production (with CNN, ESPN, and an independent filmmaker). In November 2009 Gay formed The Gay Culverhouse Players' Outreach Program, Inc., a nonprofit organization to further the work nationally for retired players.

Gay Culverhouse was the highest ranking woman in the National Football League as president of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Gay broke ranks with the National Football League when she addressed the House Judiciary Committee on ＂Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries＂ on October 28, 2009.

Gay was successful in making the committee understand the importance of having an independent neurologist on the sidelines of every NFL game to evaluate head injuries, and on November 23, 2009, the NFL announced a plan to provide independent neurologists on game day.

Gay’s work with former players appeared in the New York Times, the Sarasota Herald Tribune, The St. Petersburg Times, The Tampa Tribune, Time Magazine and many more. Additionally, she has appeared on several radio shows including PBS and ESPN. Three documentaries have completed filming and are in post-production (CNN, ESPN, an independent film maker) on Gay’s work.

In November, 2009, Gay formed a non-profit organization to further the work nationally for retired players: The Gay Culverhouse Players’ Outreach Program, Inc. (www.playersoutreach.org). The foundation’s goal is to: provide information and assistance, at no cost, to former National Football League players and their families regarding the benefits to which they are entitled.