For former Redskins cornerback Shawn Springs, the idea was hatched as he stood by the hospital bed of his father, a Cowboys great, in a coma with little hope to regain his normal activities. It was 2008, one year before Springs would retire, and his father’s condition, compounded with football’s physical toll on his own body and new discoveries about the impact of concussions, made him think ahead.
Three years later, around the time his father ultimately passed away, he founded a startup company, called Windpact, which was just awarded a grant from the NFL at the Super Bowl, and began compiling doctors and engineers to start developing innovative football helmet technology.