• Last season, Chris Borland, the Alter High School graduate who was a hard-nosed, 245-pound rookie linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers, was on the cusp of NFL stardom.
Although he started just eight games, he was the 49ers’ leader in tackles, had become one of the most talked about rookies in the league and was expected to play a key role for San Francisco this year.
• Over the past four months, after stunning his team and the league by retiring over concerns for his long-term health due to the risks of head trauma, he has become a principle figure in the study and discussion of the issue.
Concussions have been linked to chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE, which has been found in the post-mortem brains of numerous former NFL stars, including Hall of Famer Junior Seau, Super Bowl champs John Mackey, Mike Webster and Dave Duerson, All-Pros Andre Waters and Cookie Gilchrist and Cincinnati Bengals standout receiver Chris Henry.
Although Borland has never been one to seek the spotlight — quite the opposite, in fact — he now feels a responsibility to himself, his fellow football players, be they high school or pro, and the game he has played and loved for so long.
“I get questions from everybody now — from NFL players to parents at Alter — so I’ve tried to just stay informed and understand the issue as best I can,” he said.
He has spoken to some of the country’s leading neurologists at places like UCLA, Boston University, Northwestern and Johns Hopkins, had baseline tests done of him and has spoken on the issue at his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin, as well as Harvard, Stanford and at a concussion conference in Los Angeles.
• Today, six days before the 49ers open training camp, Borland is back in San Francisco. He hasn’t had a change of heart, just a change of sport.
Borland is running the San Francisco Marathon today. The scenic route — which starts on the Embarcadero, goes through Fisherman’s Wharf, across the Golden Gate Bridge, along famed Haight Street, through the Mission District, past AT&T Park and under the Bay Bridge — is his first 26.2-mile attempt .
Although he will be accompanied by his brother Matt and another high school buddy, those who remember Borland’s bowling ball presence on the Alter football field might consider him an unlikely marathoner.
“In high school he threw the discus and shot put and every once in a while, for fun, they’d have a big man race,” Zebbie said with a growing laugh. “But he didn’t look like a runner. He looked like a steam engine on a freight train.”
This is not to say Borland now resembles a bullet train, but he certainly is sleeker than a year ago.
“I didn’t want to be carrying 245 pounds or even more weight after I was through playing,” the 5-foot-11 Borland said. “Although I’d been in good shape, your clothes don’t fit as well and you can break a sweat walking up the stairs.
“I needed something directly ahead of me to lose the weight and the marathon provided the challenge. I’ve lost 30 to 35 pounds, depending on the day, and I just feel a lot more comfortable.
And in the past few months, Borland has shed more than weight.
When he suddenly retired, he walked away from a four-year, $2.3 million contract. He was scheduled to make $530,000 in base pay this season. Although he had received a guaranteed $617,436 signing bonus last year, he returned three-fourths of it — $463,077 — because he didn’t fulfill his commitment.
“It’s been a little discouraging that the first thing that comes to everybody’s mind is the money I gave up,” he said. “I realize it is a lot, but that’s not why I played football. I was doing something I loved to do.
“Once I signed, I didn’t change my lifestyle at all. Everybody always says, ‘So what did you buy when you were drafted?’ I didn’t buy a thing.
“When I entered the NFL, I was driving my dad’s old Accord around San Francisco and I was renting a single room from a family friend. I don’t wear jewelry and I don’t go clubbing, so it was easy for me to be frugal.
“And the main thing here is, even if you have a million dollars it doesn’t matter if you’re not happy.”
Or healthy.
‘Felt no animosity’
“Before last season started he gave us a letter (about giving up football),” Zebbie said. “He’d always said he didn’t think his pro career would be long and it was on his mind. But in our family, when you join something, you finish it up.”
That’s been the case with all seven of the Borland kids, who, over the years, excelled especially in sports but also, as youngest son Luke and only daughter Sarah did, in dance and music.
“I don’t think it was ever spoken or implied with Chris last season, but the idea was finish up your rookie year as best you can,” Zebbie said.
And he didn’t just finish it, he excelled just as he had when he was a four-sport star at Alter and, at Wisconsin, where he won All-America honors, was the Big Ten Player of the Year and the school’s 2014 Student Athlete of the Year.
Before the NFL draft, there were doubters because of his height and lack of speed. Of the top 27 linebackers in the draft, 20 had faster times in the 40-yard dash.
San Francisco made him a third-round pick and in the seventh game of the season against Denver, he took over for injured, seven-time Pro Bowl selection Patrick Willis. Borland promptly sacked quarterback Peyton Manning and finished with eight tackles.
The next game against the St. Louis Rams, he had 18 tackles, most in a single game in the NFL last season, three for losses. Two games later against New Orleans, he sealed the victory in overtime when he recovered a Drew Brees fumble.
And the next game he twice intercepted New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning, ended up with 13 tackles and was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Week.
But on Dec. 20, his season ended with an ankle injury.
Borland — who had suffered shoulder and hamstring injuries at Wisconsin, a pair of concussions in high school and junior high (one in soccer) and likely had another in the 49ers’ preseason that he kept quiet so he wouldn’t hurt his chances with the team — said it’s not his style of play that endangers him:
“The fact is, at my position if you excel, you are introducing yourself to more danger. For me it’s the Catch 22 of football. At linebacker, if I did my job well, I hurt my brain more.”
As he told reporters back in March:
“I just thought to myself, ‘What am I doing? Is this how I’m going to live my adult life, banging my head, especially with all I’ve learned and know about the dangers? … I didn’t know if it was worth the risk. For me, I wanted to be proactive. I was concerned that if I waited till I had symptoms, it’s too late.”
Those were some of the concerns he raised in his letter to his parents, and on March 16, he acted on it and retired.
“I’m proud of him that he stuck by his convictions,” Zebbie said. “When it first happened though, we were thinking people were going to call him all sorts of names. But there was very little of that. The guys who stayed respected his decision.”
Borland said he “felt no animosity” from players:
“I got a wide range of reactions. Players were more understanding than a lot of people in the public because they understood what it takes. That said, a lot of players disagreed. But one size doesn’t fit all. What I can respect is people’s decision for playing, as well as mine for walking away.”
At the time of Borland’s announcement, Jeff Miller, the NFL’s senior vice president of health and safety policy, released a statement that said the league respected Borland’s decision, but then countered with:
“By any measure, football has never been safer and we continue to make progress with rule changes, safe tackling techniques at all levels of football and better equipment, protocols and medical care for players. … Concussions in NFL games were down 25 percent last year, continuing a three-year downward trend.”
A month after that release a federal judge in Philadelphia approved a plan to resolve thousands of NFL concussion lawsuits with the league paying $1 billion over 65 years.
While the NFL might never have to reveal what it knew about the dangers and treatment of concussions among its players, it admitted that it expects some 6,000 of nearly 20,000 retired players to suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or dementia one day.
Long trip ahead
“All of us thought when he made his announcement it would just be a blip on the radar and then he would be on to other things,” Zebbie said. “Instead, I don’t know if it’s the timing or that he walked away from a lot of money, but it’s been a wild ride.
“I think part of it’s because he has something special to offer. He’s a recent pro football player and he’s seen things from the inside. You can be a scientist, but you don’t have the feel of what it’s like in the locker room or what it’s like to look in another guy’s eyes out there. He shares some of his experiences with them.
“He’s been invited to so many wonderful things and spoken to so many people in so many facets of life — from brain surgeons to people doing movies. He’s been on the go since March.”
Chris agreed: “I thought there would be some response, but this has been about a thousand times more.”
And it’s not over. He’s been requested for other speaking engagements, including one at Miami University this fall and another in Chicago.
Not only does he discuss his own decision and the positive strides being made on the head trauma issue, but he also can talk about some negative sides of the subject:
“There’s a lot of misinformation out there,” he said. “Unfortunately, I think, there is a market for concussions. A lot of companies and even some medical professionals make claims and their incentive is financial and not necessarily furthering the science. Still, though, I’m encouraged because a lot of good work is being done, too.”
Zebbie said through all this she and her husband, Jeff, are learning some things, as well:
“We were kind of anxious for him to get back into (grad) school. But his brother John said, ‘You know, he’s getting the education of a lifetime. He’s getting to talk to people at the top of their fields.’ He’ll have time later for school … and whatever is next.”
As for the future, Borland said he’s not sure:
“I wish I had the answer. I’m kind of suffering from a paradox of choices right now. But that’s a good problem to have. I have some interesting options.”
First though, right after today’s marathon, comes a six-week trip to Europe.
One of his college roommates is from Prague so he will go there, then visit, among other places, Croatia, Italy and Spain.
When the NFL season begins, he’ll still be on his trip. But he said he won’t be trying to catch games on television then … or maybe even after.
“I support my friends who are still playing, but I don’t think I’ll just watch games for the entertainment value,” he said.
His mom agreed:
“I see him moving onto something else on Sundays. He likes the outside — tennis, hiking, camping. I don’t see him being an avid football fan. I just don’t see him being a sedentary person and spending all day sitting there watching football games.”
Like she said, he’s an onion … not a couch potato.
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