The Howard Books Division of Simon & Schuster, according to Deadline.com, have purchased the publishing rights to former NFL tight end Ben Utecht's memoir, Counting the Days Until My Mind Slips Away: A Love Letter To My Family. The story details the 34-year-old's battle with memory loss and long-term neurological damage following a concussion-laden football career.
Former NFL player Ben Utecht writing memoir about his battle with brain injuries
Utecht’s book joins the list of work chronicling players dealing with the game’s long-term effects on player health, something sure to make NFL executives uncomfortable.
Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports
Utecht played five seasons in the NFL and won a Super Bowl with the Indianapolis Colts in 2007 before retiring in 2009 at the age of 28. He left the game after sustaining his fifth documented concussion. He says that he has been experiencing memory loss since the age of 30.
After retiring, Utecht began to pursue a career in music. His story became a national one in the summer of 2014 when his song, “You Will Always Be My Girl,“ a love letter to his wife and girls from the perspective an aging football player who may not remember who they are one day to brain injuries, went viral.
Utecht won a grievance against the Cincinnati Bengals in 2013 after claiming that they had released him with improper cause in 2009. Utecht spent four months on injured reserve that year after sustaining a concussion during training camp (the play was seen on HBO's Hard Knocks). In November, the Bengals felt that he was healthy enough to return to the field. Utecht disagreed and, as a result, was released.
Utech’s book netted him a “substantial six-figure advance” and will be co-written by former New York Times bestselling author Mark Tabb, according to Deadline. The book is scheduled for release in the fall of 2016. According to the announcement, Utecht will write about “the lessons he’s learned about living a life of love, faith and meaning when you know your memory may have an expiration date.”
Utecht's memoir is the latest example of media companies telling the story of what football does to the brain. In December, the film Concussion, starring Will Smith as Dr. Bennet Omalu -- a forensic pathologist and neuropathologist who discovers Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) in the brains of two NFL players who later commit suicide -- will be released in theaters nationwide.
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