Frank Dees\u2019<\/a> Altamont home is memorabilia, newspaper clippings, and personal photos that show his family\u2019s deep dedication to playing sports.<\/p>\n\n\n\nDees and his five brothers grew up in Litchfield, Illinois, an hour north of St. Louis, in the 1960s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were very close, so much brotherly love,\u201d says Dees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From track to baseball to football, the Dees boys were known as an active bunch who often played on the same teams. In 1964, 15-year-old Frank was a sophomore and his older brother Rick was a senior. The pair were on their high school\u2019s football team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe were very close in age, about 19 months apart,\u201d says Frank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a team photo, Rick is right behind his little brother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA senior generally would stay away from a sophomore, but that\u2019s my brother, and he\u2019s right over my shoulder,\u201d Frank said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a game one Tuesday night in September, where Rick was tackled on the field, he confided in Frank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe said \u2018don\u2019t tell mom and dad, but I hurt my head\u2019 and he pointed to his head,\u201d says Frank. \u201c \u2018[If they know], they won\u2019t let me play Saturday.\u2019 Saturday, he ended up playing, and that\u2019s when the second impact occurred.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The second impact sent Rick to the hospital, where he died a few hours later. While an autopsy showed evidence Rick suffered a previous head injury that led to his death, the details were a mystery to everyone but Frank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank didn\u2019t share what he knew until five decades later, when his mom and dad passed away. While he doesn\u2019t blame his younger self, Frank wants to make sure others know the signs of a concussion and take them seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSometimes we have to protect athletes from themselves,\u201d says Frank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Frank started a non-profit called It\u2019s Just a Game, Inc. He shares his story to educate athletes, coaches, policy makers and sports fans. He\u2019s developed a process for a player to return to play after a head injury that he calls the 5 R\u2019s: Remember Rick Dees, Report, Rest, Rehab and Recover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The CDC is still learning the causes and long-term effects of CTE. Their guidance aligns with Frank\u2019s philosophy in that responding to sports injuries must be seen as a team effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While that tragic night nearly six decades ago may have been Rick\u2019s final game, Frank is seeing to it that it isn\u2019t the end of his brother\u2019s influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis legacy will be love, and I think that from the love of my brother this message helps some people,\u201d says Frank.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
PUBLISHED by Spectrum News1, Sept. 14, 2021, Written by Sara Genhofer As our understanding of CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy) and its effects on athletes, particularly football players, has grown over the years, one local man is sharing a personal story to remind players that injuries from contact sports can have tragic consequences. Piled on every […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":198,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_xspeed_no_cache":false,"_xspeed_expiry_hours":0,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/Screenshot-2023-10-23-at-15-30-59-Its-just-a-game-\u2013-Sometimes-athletes-need-to-be-protected-from-themselves.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":353,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351\/revisions\/353"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/concussion-safety.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}