Maroon, the Steelers neurosurgeon during Long’s seven seasons with the team, told the newspaper that he could not find any concussions documented in his records. Omalu did not respond to a request for comment, but according to Chris Nowinski, the former Harvard football player and professional wrestler whose experience with head trauma prompted him to found the Sports Legacy Institute, Long’s records did indicate he had suffered from at least one concussion.
“While he was trashing me in the newspaper, saying that we were fallacious and this was bad science, Joseph Maroon said that Terry Long had no documented evidence of concussion. So, he’s saying if the concussion was documented, it didn’t exist, that’s naïve,” Nowinski quoted Omalu as saying in his 2006 book “Head Games.”
“But as divine providence would have it, I came across a letter in Long’s record written by Dr. Maroon. The letter asked that Terry Long be suspended for two weeks of play because of a concussive head injury.”