Concussions sidelined LI athlete's goals

Concussions deprived Richie Straub of the varsity football career he once longed for.

A football player since the third grade, Straub always envisioned himself suiting up for Locust Valley High School as an upperclassman.

But the memories of the constant dull headaches following concussions during his freshman and sophomore seasons left him with a troubling concern about his long-term health. More than once he wondered about the potential damage another hit to the head could do to him.

So days before what would have been his first varsity practice three summers ago, Straub decided the sport wasn't worth the risk.

"It reached the point where I was thinking about it and thinking about it, and I just decided that as much as I like football, I can't take this chance," he said recently. "If I got another concussion that could potentially be detrimental to my mental health. So I decided to call it quits."

Now a freshman studying music at Drexel University in Philadelphia, Straub said he has no regrets. But the experience left an indelible mark.

A center on offense, Straub said the first concussion he suffered came after he was "blind-sided" on a kickoff midway through his freshman year.

"I remember hitting the ground," he said. "Apparently I blacked out for a couple of seconds. Then I was wandering my way to the sidelines. I was very dizzy. I couldn't really focus. They had me sit down for a while, and they were evaluating me, seeing what was wrong."

The thought of a concussion didn't cross his mind. He thought he had the wind knocked out of him. But he was told otherwise and kept out of the game as a precaution.

Straub said a neurologist diagnosed him with a Grade II concussion (a moderate concussion resulting in confusion and difficulty recalling the event, but no loss of consciousness). The headaches, he said, didn't go away quickly. "It took me a couple of weeks to get back to normal," he said.

He said he tried to return to the team before the season ended, but "I wasn't feeling right." So he didn't play again that season.

A year later, he didn't even make it to a game. On the first day of full-contact practice, Straub said a typical helmet-to-helmet hit left him feeling foggy, so he left the field.

"That was like a normal hit, and then I got a headache after it," he said. "It wasn't a bad headache. It was just like, 'Wait, this is not good, so let me sit out the rest of practice and see how I do.' "

A trip to the neurologist that week brought the news that he suffered another concussion. It wasn't as bad as the first one, but troubling nonetheless because it was his second in 11 months. The neurologist recommended that he sit out the entire season, Straub said.

He still went to practice, handing out water to his teammates. He missed playing, he said, but "it was better than nothing."

Straub said the neurologist assured him that if he avoided another hit to the head for a full year he would be ready for the varsity team.

Taking no chances, during the weeks before practice, he and his parents visited sporting goods stores to shop for the most protective helmets.

But in the end, Straub said he finally reached the conclusion that maybe it's best for him to move on.

Giving up football was a thought that nagged at him for a while, he said, but it wasn't until he was in the store when he said he finally accepted it as a reality.

"It was one of those things where you know what the right decision is," he said, "but you don't want to make that decision."

He filled his free time during his junior and senior years by taking drum lessons and forming an alternative-rock band with his friends. That experience led him to realize his interest in pursuing a career as a record producer or engineer, landing him at Drexel.

Looking back on the ordeal now, he sees the positive that came out of it. But dealing with "constant, dull, annoying headaches" instead of playing football was no fun at the time.

"Obviously," he said, "I would have done anything I could to get back out there."