1970s Boston College running back Glenn Capriola sues BC, NCAA over concussions

Litigation surrounding the concussion issue in football continues to pile up, and Boston College has now been pulled in to the story. According to the Boston Herald, Glenn Capriola, who was a running back at BC from 1974-1977, filed his lawsuit last week against both the school and the NCAA.

Capriola’s suit alleges that BC and the NCAA knew about the link between football and traumatic brain injuries, but did not properly educate the players about these risks or implement measures to protect athletes. All documents related to the case are available here.

Former players from Stanford, North Carolina, Wake Forest and BYU joined Capriola in suing their alma maters last week, joining a host of others that have been filed in recent years.

Among the allegations are that Capriola was knocked unconscious during a game against Temple, and was later put back in the game despite having no memory of what happened.

While time will tell how these suits play out, they’re certainly not going away. It seems like the arguments will likely come down to whether all parties involved simply were unaware of the gravity of the issue with traumatic brain injuries in the past, or whether they knew and were negligent or chose to cover those risks up.

Add this to the list of legal challenges facing the NCAA, an organization that has historically largely been able to dictate to athletes and schools the way it wants to do business. That tide may be turning.