Mike Borich

Former college football player
Died at age 42

Mike Borich, a former college football wide receiver, died of a drug overdose in February 2009. Borich played for Snow College and Western Illinois University in the 1980s, and was later a football coach for the NFL’s Chicago Bears and multiple division 1 college teams. Mr. Borich was the first advanced case of CTE discovered in a college football player who did not play professionally.  Mr. Borich also represents the first case of CTE diagnosed in a wide receiver.

Figure 8: Normal control brain tissue and Mike Borich brain tissue

Left: Whole mount hemi–section of 61-year-old normal control brain immunostained for tau protein (brown) and counterstained with cresyl violet (purple) showing no tau deposition.

Right: Whole mount hemi–section of 42-year-old Mike Borich immunostained for tau protein (brown) and counterstained with cresyl violet (purple) showing extensive tau deposition throughout the frontal (1) and temporal (2) gray matter.

Figure 9: Normal control brain tissue and Mike Borich brain tissue

Photomicrographs of normal control brain (top panels) and the brain of Mike Borich (bottom panels), immunostained for tau protein (brown) and counterstained with cresyl violet (purple). Virtually no tau deposition is found in the normal control brain whereas numerous tau containing neurofibrillary tangles are found in individual nerve cells of the brain of Mike Borich.

Read more about Mike Borich
New York Times | Concussion Trauma Risk Seen in Amateur Athlete
Press Release | First Former College Football Player Diagnosed with CTE