Former Ball State fullback Geoff Donner filed a class-action lawsuit against the Mid-American Conference and National Collegiate Athletic Association earlier this week.
Donner played for the Cardinals from 1993-95 and said that he allegedly tried to sit out a practice to recover from a concussion, only to be threatened with having his scholarship pulled if he didn't participate.
The suit alleges that neither the MAC nor NCAA adopted "internationally accepted guidelines."
"Instead, and in complete disregard of the vast body of known scientific evidence and the resources and authority possessed by Defendants, up until 2010, Defendants orchestrated an approach to football practices and games that:
- ignored the medical risks to Plaintiff and other Ball State football players;
- aggravated and enhanced the medical risks to Plaintiff and other Ball State football players;
- failed to educate Plaintiff and other Ball State football players of the link between TBIs in amateur football and chronic neurological damage, illnesses, and decline;
- failed to implement or enforce any system that would reasonably have mitigated, prevented, or addressed TBIs suffered by Plaintiff and other Ball State football players; and
- failed to timely implement “return to play” guidelines for student-athletes who sustain concussions.