When former Dolphins Nick Buoniconti started falling, he knew something was wrong. What he and his family didn’t know was that they’d take a winding path to figuring out what.
This week, The MMQB published two stories about stars on the Dolphins’ 1972 undefeated team—linebacker Nick Buoniconti, who has been diagnosed with neurodegenerative dementia, and running back Jim Kiick, who recently moved into an assisted living facility because of dementia and Alzheimer’s. Though chronic traumatic encephalopathy can only be diagnosed after death, but players are thought to be suffering from the degenerative brain disease.