Here & Now

Borland To Young Athletes: "Proceed With Caution"

Shawn Johnson:

Badger football fans know the name Chris Borland. Borland’s aggressive defensive play at UW earned #44 a trophy case of awards: Big 10 Freshman of the Year, Conference Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-American. All of which caught the eye of the pro scouts and landed Borland in the NFL with the San Francisco 49ers, pulling down a $2.9 million four year contract his rookie season. But at the end of his first year as a pro, after playing through what he believed was a concussion, Borland packed it up and walked away from the game and from the millions he could have made playing it. Post football, Borland has been playing offense on the front line educating the public about the dangers of head injuries in sports. This week he wrote a profile for “Time” magazine of the physician he said may have saved his life. Neuropathologist Dr. Ann McKee, also a UW-Madison alum. Chris Borland joins us by phone from West Point, New York. Chris thanks for joining us.

Chris Borland:

Shawn, it's my pleasure. Thanks for having me on.

Shawn Johnson:

So it's actually a big weekend in professor football because the NFL draft is happening, where all 32 teams pick college players to build their franchises around. Before we talk about what you wrote in “Time” magazine, let’s go back four years to just before you were drafted. At the time, how big was that moment for you?

Chris Borland:

It was a thrill. You know, I was singularly focused on fulfilling a dream. And it was an interesting time for me as a player who had a lot of success in college, but was smaller and had a couple of surgeries. So didn’t know exactly where I'd fall. Wound up in a really thrilling way falling to one of the best teams in the league at the time, San Francisco. And draft day for anybody who’s experienced it is just unforgettable.

Shawn Johnson:

I was reading about what people were saying about you back in 2014, just before the draft. Pro scouts were saying stuff like, “You turn on the film and he’s in on everything.” So they were excited by you not because, you know, just because you’re an athlete, but because you were so aggressive. From where you sit now, do you remember what it was like to be that person?

Chris Borland:

That's a great question. It’s hard. I haven’t been around the game really in over three years. I did, shortly after I walked away, attend a spring game at Oregon State. And after a three month or so hiatus and after losing weight, was standing on the sidelines and couldn’t believe that I did it at the highest level just four months prior. So I'm really far removed from that life and feel like the last three years have changed me in a lot of ways. So sometimes it is hard to see an old graphic or a picture of myself in uniform and realize that was me just a short time ago.

Shawn Johnson:

So what convinced you to change and what role did Dr. Ann McKee play in your decision?

Chris Borland:

Well, I think the first thing was personal experience. I had two bad diagnosed concussions in 8th and 10th grade, a slew of others in high school and college. And you mentioned the one in the intro with the 49ers. I wanted to better understand what I had experienced and what I was in store for if I were to fulfill my goals in the league. So I began looking into it and found out a lot. I was really naive to the information that was available while I was in college. And the more I looked into it and compared it with my experience, my goals, knew that I couldn’t really justify a long career in the game. And Dr. McKee's work is central to that evaluation. She’s done autopsies on over 200 former NFL players at this point, getting more and more control brains. And of that sample, over 99% have been diagnosed with CTE. So that was a shock to me when I read about that initially. Getting to know Dr. McKee personally, and just how much integrity she has with her work, you know, I have a really deep understanding of the struggles. She’s from Wisconsin. She’s a Packers fan. It’s a hard thing to come to grips with but she’s a leader. She’s the leader in the field and an inspiration.

Shawn Johnson:

What advice would you have for today’s college football players who are being drafted by NFL teams this very weekend?

Chris Borland:

You know, I think proceed with caution. I don’t want to tell anybody what to do. But they are playing in the era of information and can have a better understanding of the risks. And NFL contracts aren’t guaranteed. The NFL settlement that came out last year excludes anyone from suing the league for CTE symptoms for 65 years. So hold on to your money and be smart, because even if you play for ten years, you have a life to live after your time in the game.

Shawn Johnson:

So what about fans, the fans who cheered for you at the UW-Madison who still love to watch football? You mentioned that your doctor, that you honored this week, was a football fan. What’s your message for fans who loved to watch you and still love to watch?

Chris Borland:

Well, I don’t watch football and Dr. McKee's shared publicly that she doesn’t either anymore. And that’s a recent development for her. I empathize with fans. I grew up such a diehard Packers and Wisconsin fan. The difference for players is that they go through that catharsis. They play and they experience what it’s like. If it’s always romanticized, it would be hard to come to grips with a lot of this information. So I understand. I understand fans. I don’t condemn anybody who supports this. It is true that football players can be informed and choose whether or not to play. So I disagree, but in a civil way.

Shawn Johnson:

Real quick before we let you go, what’s life been like for you after you left the bright lights of football? You know, was it a good decision for you?

Chris Borland:

Oh, it was a great decision for me. I made this decision chiefly for personal health and I think it’s the best decision I could have made from that standpoint. I didn’t anticipate it being such a story, but it’s led me to really, really wonderful things. Most recently a study at the University of Wisconsin with Richie Davidson, where we did a meditation program with former NFL players. Never would have guessed that four years ago that’s what I'd be involved with. But what a thrill to work with the likes of Dr. McKee and Richie.

Shawn Johnson:

Chris Borland is a former linebacker for the University of Wisconsin-Madison football team. He wrote an essay in “Time” magazine dedicated to the doctor who convinced him to leave the sport.