Great points. When I think of the Confederate generals’ statues and compare them to the Hall of Fame, my thought is - yes, don’t ignore the history but don’t celebrate a history that is a blight on humans. So no statue but let’s continue to teach about the Confederacy and its leaders. In sports, let’s not “celebrate” OJ in the Hall of Fame like other athletes, but figure out a way to tell his story differently. Maybe within the building, maybe not
I agree with the other comments this was a really good piece. The NFL to me loves to keep things simple as you stated. What’s truth? Well, we’ll tell you what we want you to believe.
Loved this very sad story. Couldn’t help thinking about the equally shocking end of Junior Seau’s life.
After moving from CA to NC, my wife and I visited The Hall in 2022. It’s an inspiring and amazing place. Favorite feature: The Locker Room chalkboard talk hosted by virtual Broadway Joe.
Tyrer should be in the HOF by virtue of his HOF-worthy career. The NFL and HOF need to find a way to manage cases like this to acknowledge the athlete while at the same time exploring the man.
The Hall is a place where inter generational conversations happen spontaneously. Grandpa, grandson; Dad, daughter; husband, wife. A thoughtful feature for corner cases like Simpson and Tyrer would be appropriate.
Michael - thanks for adding something new to the discussion! Beneath the Shadow is my project that first interested me because Tyrer’s orphaned children beat the odds and became stable, admirable, empathetic adults. The Tyrers let me into their lives and the more I dug into their father’s life the more it became clear he was not an evil person. The odds that I’d find evidence of CTE in a 40 year old cold case were small. But one remarkable finding led to another and another and now I’m not only confident in saying, I can prove, Jim Tyrer was a moral man with a broken brain.
Much appreciated. That’s actually a chapter from the short documentary A Good Man which led me to deeply investigate Tyrer’s case and uncover the evidence that got voters attention. Beneath the Shadow information is here: https://www.kppllc.net/beneath-the-shadow/
What’s sad is that 4 of the men in that excerpt have since died. Among them, Ed Lothamer’s family donated his brain. He was diagnosed with Stage IV CTE. His daughter shared with me the since-amended death certificate. It reads - Employer: National Football League, Cause of Death: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Here’s what really got me. I said to Lothamer’s daughter “Your dad and I spoke numerous times… he was sharp and witty…of all the Tyrer teammates, he seemed the most healthy!” She said that every conversation I had with her dad had been managed by the family… he was only made available to me on his good days. They’d been protecting him and his image for years.
A terrific and important piece. As a kid, I was a huge Chiefs fan, and the story of Jim Tyrer rocked me. I remember nervously staring at his face on his football card and wondering how this could have happened? As the CTE scandal began to unfold in the 90s, I thought about Jim Tyrer again and wondered how CTE might now alter what had only been presented - when very rarely discussed - as an overly simplistic "good man gone bad" narrative.
His story is a warning to each of us of the omnipresent dangers of sanctimony and quick judgment of others. There is much we don't know both in terms of the world, and people's lives within it. Much is unknown...much more is kept hidden.
Strangely, back then I found some answers in a 1973 episode of the Kung Fu television series entitled, "Salamander." A young Caine asks Master Kan how a priest could take his own life when everyone liked him and he appeared to be in such harmony. Master Kan responds by telling him that "within each of us is the yes and the no, and within him the no conquered...Instead of the beauty we observe, he saw ugliness." Caine then asks how this is possible when the world is so beautiful to which Master Kan replies, "He looked with his eyes, and we look with ours."
Yes, we look at the world with our eyes. For Jim Tyrer, we've looked at his situation with our eyes for too long. While not forgetting the horrific consequences of what was done and cannot be undone, I am appreciative that his struggles off the field are finally being acknowledged and discussed.
I can't help but think that sports and the Hall of Fame are so much less important here than the discussion and lessons this tragedy can teach all of us moving forward.
There’s humility and grace and compassion and kindness in this world! We should all practice these more whether with a story unfolding like this our our personal lives! Great picture ,you can truly see the delicate balance here this story demands!
Great points. When I think of the Confederate generals’ statues and compare them to the Hall of Fame, my thought is - yes, don’t ignore the history but don’t celebrate a history that is a blight on humans. So no statue but let’s continue to teach about the Confederacy and its leaders. In sports, let’s not “celebrate” OJ in the Hall of Fame like other athletes, but figure out a way to tell his story differently. Maybe within the building, maybe not
I agree with the other comments this was a really good piece. The NFL to me loves to keep things simple as you stated. What’s truth? Well, we’ll tell you what we want you to believe.
Hey, What about Ray Lewis?
Loved this very sad story. Couldn’t help thinking about the equally shocking end of Junior Seau’s life.
After moving from CA to NC, my wife and I visited The Hall in 2022. It’s an inspiring and amazing place. Favorite feature: The Locker Room chalkboard talk hosted by virtual Broadway Joe.
Tyrer should be in the HOF by virtue of his HOF-worthy career. The NFL and HOF need to find a way to manage cases like this to acknowledge the athlete while at the same time exploring the man.
The Hall is a place where inter generational conversations happen spontaneously. Grandpa, grandson; Dad, daughter; husband, wife. A thoughtful feature for corner cases like Simpson and Tyrer would be appropriate.
Tough topic for The Hall.
Michael - thanks for adding something new to the discussion! Beneath the Shadow is my project that first interested me because Tyrer’s orphaned children beat the odds and became stable, admirable, empathetic adults. The Tyrers let me into their lives and the more I dug into their father’s life the more it became clear he was not an evil person. The odds that I’d find evidence of CTE in a 40 year old cold case were small. But one remarkable finding led to another and another and now I’m not only confident in saying, I can prove, Jim Tyrer was a moral man with a broken brain.
Thanks, Kevin, and congrats on all your work on this.
And since I should have linked to it in the piece, here's a link to an excerpt of the short doc for anyone reading this: https://vimeo.com/533601621
Much appreciated. That’s actually a chapter from the short documentary A Good Man which led me to deeply investigate Tyrer’s case and uncover the evidence that got voters attention. Beneath the Shadow information is here: https://www.kppllc.net/beneath-the-shadow/
What’s sad is that 4 of the men in that excerpt have since died. Among them, Ed Lothamer’s family donated his brain. He was diagnosed with Stage IV CTE. His daughter shared with me the since-amended death certificate. It reads - Employer: National Football League, Cause of Death: Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
Here’s what really got me. I said to Lothamer’s daughter “Your dad and I spoke numerous times… he was sharp and witty…of all the Tyrer teammates, he seemed the most healthy!” She said that every conversation I had with her dad had been managed by the family… he was only made available to me on his good days. They’d been protecting him and his image for years.
A terrific and important piece. As a kid, I was a huge Chiefs fan, and the story of Jim Tyrer rocked me. I remember nervously staring at his face on his football card and wondering how this could have happened? As the CTE scandal began to unfold in the 90s, I thought about Jim Tyrer again and wondered how CTE might now alter what had only been presented - when very rarely discussed - as an overly simplistic "good man gone bad" narrative.
His story is a warning to each of us of the omnipresent dangers of sanctimony and quick judgment of others. There is much we don't know both in terms of the world, and people's lives within it. Much is unknown...much more is kept hidden.
Strangely, back then I found some answers in a 1973 episode of the Kung Fu television series entitled, "Salamander." A young Caine asks Master Kan how a priest could take his own life when everyone liked him and he appeared to be in such harmony. Master Kan responds by telling him that "within each of us is the yes and the no, and within him the no conquered...Instead of the beauty we observe, he saw ugliness." Caine then asks how this is possible when the world is so beautiful to which Master Kan replies, "He looked with his eyes, and we look with ours."
Yes, we look at the world with our eyes. For Jim Tyrer, we've looked at his situation with our eyes for too long. While not forgetting the horrific consequences of what was done and cannot be undone, I am appreciative that his struggles off the field are finally being acknowledged and discussed.
I can't help but think that sports and the Hall of Fame are so much less important here than the discussion and lessons this tragedy can teach all of us moving forward.
The answer is always in Kung Fu. Thanks for this, Grant.
Everybody loves their heroes.
There’s humility and grace and compassion and kindness in this world! We should all practice these more whether with a story unfolding like this our our personal lives! Great picture ,you can truly see the delicate balance here this story demands!
Thanks Michael. Much has been written about Tyrer over the past few months. Here are other stories on the complex subject. 1 - https://halloffootball.substack.com/p/hof-selectors-mull-historic-decision 2-- https://halloffootball.substack.com/p/jim-tyrer-rethinking-hof-candidacy?utm_source=publication-search 3 --https://halloffootball.substack.com/p/jim-tyrer-hof-sr-selectors-insight?utm_source=publication-search 4 --https://halloffootball.substack.com/p/hof-tyrer-siblings-are-grateful I like your take on tracking history with honesty rather than shrouding it with current bias. In the future, people need to know the truth.
Really good one, Michael.