Nick Buoniconti, the Hall of Fame linebacker and leader of the Miami Dolphins during their heyday in the 1970s, is declining mentally and has pledged to donate his brain to scientists studying the long-term effects of repeated head hits.
Buoniconti, 76, made the announcement Friday in Boston, the home of his first team, the Patriots, as well as the country’s leading brain bank for the study of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or C.T.E., a degenerative brain disease linked to head trauma.
Researchers at the C.T.E. Center at Boston University, led by Dr. Ann McKee, have examined hundreds of brains, including those of many football players, to help determine the links between head hits and C.