Brandon Hoyte was a bruising linebacker for the Notre Dame football team and served as captain, along with Brady Quinn, of Charlie Weiss’ first team there back in 2005.
A profile of Hoyte written then was headlined “Renaissance Man” and described his practice of yoga, love for writing poetry and drive to help the less fortunate.
Now, Hoyte, 37, is in jail in need of bond money and funds to pay for assessment and treatment of his mental health, which has degraded because he “suffered brain trauma as a result of playing football,” according to the organizers of a gofundme campaign.
According to One Foot Down, the SB Nation site covering Notre Dame football, Hoyte was arrested last month in San Diego:
He faces three felonies and one misdemeanor, alleging assault against a police officer (without a weapon), vandalism and resisting arrest.
John Kouris, a 1996 alumnus who befriended Hoyte in recent years, has established a GoFundMe for a dual purpose: to pay a bail bondsman to secure Hoyte’s release and to get him situated in a treatment facility where the former linebacker can be assessed and properly treated.
Kouris is hoping to raise $7,500 as soon as possible. He has talked to Hoyte and, without divulging too much, he is not in a safe place. Those who have recently interacted with Hoyte agree — it’s not jail that he needs, but treatment.
The gofundme has already raised far more than the original amount asked for, which is good because any substantial treatment will likely cost significantly more.
While it’s encouraging that Notre Dame fans and alums have stepped up in this way, it’s baffling and maddening that it got to this point. Notre Dame football is a financial juggernaut. It’s also the marketing arm — or the “front porch” — of a university with an operating budget of $1.7 billion and an endowment worth $12 billion.
If friends think — and ultimately independent doctors determine — that Brandon Hoyte’s mental capacity was diminished by his time spent ramming his head against other humans as a way of earning Notre Dame money and notoriety, then Notre Dame should make sure Brandon Hoyte gets the help he needs now.
This situation also underscores why current college athletes need to keep pushing for expanded rights. There’s been significant movement in the fight for ownership of their own name, image and likeness, but long-term healthcare is also, clearly, important.
Beyond all that, it’s become abundantly clear that there’s a societal price to be paid for continuing to play football. The burden is generally passed to the players who are left battered and broken by it. That needs to change.
According to his LinkedIn, Hoyte was most recently working in public relations. A quick public records search shows he has been arrested numerous times in recent years.
That’s startling for a man who was described by a rector at Notre Dame as having a “gentle spirit,” whose boss on campus said he had “an incredible heart” and “rich sincerity,” and who coach Tyrone Willingham lauded as having a “marvelous sense of wanting to be special and accomplish a great deal to help other people.”
College-aged Hoyte dreamed of opening a home for inner city kids. He kept Maya Angelou poems in his locker.
Those who know him believe that version of Hoyte was stifled because of damage caused by football, so the onus is on Notre Dame to pay the price to help. There’s still plenty we don’t know about the long-term damage caused by concussions and sub-concussive impacts, particularly why some athletes suffer more than others. But my anecdotal observation is that the players themselves generally know. They know which players hide it best after getting their “bell rung.” Which players swear everything is OK when it’s not. And which players lose a little bit with each passing year.
Notre Dame needs to do the right thing in this instance, and every major college program and NFL team must take drastic steps to set aside the resources needed to help former players. Too many have ended up like this. It is time for the people who run football to finally take ownership of what the game has rendered.
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