Lawsuit filed on behalf of 2 men, including former A-K Valley standout, says NCAA didn't protect players from CTE

Surviving family members of two men who played major-college football in the 1950s and ‘60s filed a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA on Wednesday, alleging that repeated blows to the head and concussions caused them to develop — and die from — chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

One of the men, the late Larry Facchine, starred in football and basketball for the former Vandergrift High School before going on to have a stellar football career at Arizona State University, where he was one of 22 young men from the A-K Valley to play under Coach Frank Kush.

His wife, Lorraine, filed the lawsuit on behalf of Facchine, who died in 2019 from CTE, according to the complaint. He was 78.

The other man named in the lawsuit, Anthony Kolodziej, grew up in Massachusetts and went on to play football at Michigan State University. He died last year at 83. His son, Joseph A. Kolodziej, filed the complaint on his behalf.

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Pittsburgh, is considered to be a “tag along” to a similar suit pending in the Northern District of Illinois.

According to the complaint, both men exhibited cognitive and behavioral symptoms associated with CTE for years before their deaths. The complaint did not detail the symptoms.

The lawsuit alleges that the NCAA had a duty to protect its football players and keep them safe but failed to do so. It includes claims for negligence and fraudulent concealment.

A message sent to the NCAA was not immediately returned.

College football players, the complaint said, relied upon the NCAA’s authority and guidance to keep them safe and to prevent head injuries. Instead, it continued, players were sent back out on the field to continue play even after repeated blows to the head.

The complaint cites studies from as early as 1905 that acknowledged playing football could lead to head injuries and such head injuries could have long-term physical effects.

“Ultimately, while the NCAA knew of the harmful effects of (traumatic brain injuries and other head injuries) on athletes for decades, they ignored these facts and failed to institute any meaningful methods of warning and/or protecting the athletes, including football players like plaintiffs Facchine, Kolodziej, and other ASU and MSU and NCAA college football athletes,” the lawsuit said.

“For the NCAA, the continued expansion and operation of college football was simply too profitable to put at risk,” the lawsuit added.

The complaint alleges that the NCAA breached its duties to its student-athletes by ignoring the dangers of concussions and failing to implement adequate concussion management protocols.

The lawsuit seeks to include in the class anyone who played NCAA football who has developed or died from CTE between 1950 and 2010, when the NCAA changed its concussion protocols and required member institutions to have a concussion management plan in place for all sports.

Facchine was inducted into the Alle-Kiski Hall of Fame in 2001. The Tribune-Review reported at the time that Facchine attended Arizona State from 1960 to 1964 and played quarterback and safety for the Sun Devils. The smallest man on the team at 175 pounds, Facchine lettered three times and served as the team’s defensive captain during his senior season. After college, he went on to coach football at Jeannette and Apollo-Ridge and also became a tennis and golf instructor in the area.

When asked about his Alle-Kiski Hall of Fame induction, Facchine told the Trib, “I like to think of my cup as half full. I see some of the names that have preceded me. Their cups are overflowing. It is such an honor to be there with them.”