JET HOPES TO MAKE A MARK
Debilitated Gastineau wants a safer game for youth
Jets legend Mark Gastineau has revealed that he is suffering from serious health problems.
“When my results came back, I had dementia, Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s,” the former Jets defensive lineman said on WOR Thursday evening. “Those were three things that I have.”
Gastineau said he received the diagnoses roughly a year ago and traced his illnesses back to football.
“You know, my first reaction was that I didn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe it,” Gastineau told the Daily News in a phone interview Thursday night. “My second reaction was how can I help other people coming in to the NFL? That’s what it’s all about.”
The former defensive lineman believes football can now be played safely and aims to educate young football players.
“I know that there’s techniques out there that if I would have had ’em, if I would have had the techniques out there that I’m teaching now to these kids, I know I would not be probably...I know I wouldn’t have the results that I have now,” he said on the radio.
“I led with my head all the time,” Gastineau added. Gastineau, 60, played 10 years for the Jets and was part of the famed New York Sack Exchange. The former Jet is now an ambassador for USA Football, a role he’s held for several years, and advocates for it and the Heads Up Football program as a way to promote and increase safety in youth football. “The only reason I would allow my child to play is because of this USAFootball.com,” he said. “I would not allow my child to play if I did not have this Heads Up Football. There’s no way in the world. You cannot expect your child to not be injured if you do not enter this program. If a high school doesn’t have this program, there should not be a program.” USA Football is a youth football organization and Heads Up Football is a joint program of the NFL and USA Football that strives to improve the safety of the youth game.
“It’s something I want every player who goes out and plays to be protected in the best way that they can be protected,” he said.
Gastineau said he wanted his own health problems to be a “warning” to parents.
“I don’t want (my diagnosis) to overshadow the Heads Up Program,” he said. “I want it to be a warning to mothers and fathers to be able to put their kids in the safe places to be able to carry on a team sport that I think is going to be way more beneficial for them than if they didn’t have it in their lives.”
The former defensive lineman
was enshrined in the Jets’ Ring of Honor in 2012. He gave an eclectic speech during halftime of the Jets’ Monday night loss to the Texans in October of that year when he was inducted alongside former wideout Wesley Walker.
Despite the health complications he’s battling as a result of his football career, Gastineau said he will continue trying to make a difference so that young players won’t face the same issues.
“I think that the Lord put me on this Earth to show that you can be a great player, have all the sacks in the world,” Gastineau told the News. “And at the end of your life you get news like this and you can turn it into bad, or you can turn it into good.” GETTY