CTE cases in soccer players raise fresh questions about safety of heading the ball

English soccer star Jimmy Fryatt was known for his ability to head the ball, and the proof of his prowess may be in the damage it did to his brain.

Still physically fit in his late 70s, Fryatt played tennis but couldn't keep score or remember which side of the net he was supposed to be on. He lived in Las Vegas for almost 50 years but started to get lost while riding his bicycle in the neighborhood.

"I had to put a tracker on him," his wife, Valerie, said this week. "I'd call him and say: 'Stop. I'm coming to get you.'"

A North American Soccer League champion who played 18 years in Britain, Fryatt is one of four former professional soccer players newly diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). The Concussion Legacy Foundation announced Tuesday that English pro and Oregon State head coach Jimmy Conway, Scottish and Seattle NASL midfielder Jimmy Gabriel, and NCAA champion Franny Pantuosco also were found to have the degenerative brain disease that has been linked to concussions in athletes, combat veterans and others who have sustained repeated head trauma.

They are the first diagnoses among those who played in the NASL, a precursor to MLS as the top U.S. pro soccer league that attracted attention with high-profile signings — including Pele — before folding in 1985.

Valerie Fryatt said her husband had several diagnosed concussions, but CTE researchers believe the disease can also be caused by repeated sub-concussive blows to the head.

In soccer, that means heading the ball.

"Jimmy was a prolific header of the ball. He was very skilled at that," Valerie Fryatt said. "A lot of players from that era said he was the best header of the ball they'd ever seen."

The new diagnoses come as soccer officials gather in