BOSTON — The former running back Kevin Turner, one of the lead plaintiffs in the landmark N.F.L. settlement over concussions and brain trauma, had the most advanced form of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head hits, researchers said.
Turner was 46 when he died in March from complications associated with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. Turner, who played for the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles, had suspected that the pounding and concussions he had absorbed as a fullback at Alabama and in the N.F.L. had contributed to his deteriorating health.