Rough Riders’ Woodward had Stage 4 CTE, research finds

Former Ottawa Rough Riders allstar defensive back Rod Woodward had the progressive degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy, his widow said Monday.

Researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center relayed their diagnoses earlier in the day after months-long clinical and pathological assessments, Kay Woodward said via telephone from Vancouver.

“It just confirms everything,” she said. “Even if they hadn’t said, ‘Yes, it’s CTE,’ we knew something was wrong with him and he had dementia.”

Rod Woodward died last September at 72 from complications after a fall.

Kay Woodward disclosed in November that the family had agreed to provide Rod’s brain tissue for post-mortem examination — the only way to diagnose CTE — at the Boston University centre.

She said Monday the pathological assessment revealed Stage 4 CTE, the most severe level, with buildup of abnormal tau protein “all through his brain.”

Woodward spent 11 seasons in the Canadian Football League between 1967 and 1978, also playing for the Montreal Alouettes, the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the B.C. Lions.

The Woodwards are part of a class-action claim in Ontario seeking $200 million in damages for head injuries on behalf of all retired CFL players who participated in games and practices since 1952.

Originally filed in 2015 with former defensive back Korey Banks and former running back Eric Allen as representative plaintiffs, the class action now has around 200 participants.

The claims have not been proven in court.