Shortly before ending his life, 18-year-old Wyatt Bramwell filmed a final request for his parents: to donate his brain to research. The high school football player had a sense that his years of playing the sport contributed to his growing depression and impulsivity.

"I took a lot of hits," he said in the video.

Researchers at Boston University's C.T.E. center later confirmed Wyatt's suspicion: He had Stage 2 C.T.E.

Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, the progressive brain disease caused solely by repetitive hits to the head, is often thought of as one that afflicts old football players. But in the fall of 2023, Boston University researchers released the most comprehensive look at the impact on younger players to date: a study of 152 brains of contact sports athletes who died before turning 30, the majority of them former football players. Forty-one percent had CTE.

New York Times reporters obtained exclusive access to speak on camera with some of the families of these deceased athletes, like Wyatt Bramwell, to better understand the warning signs, the downward spirals, the heartache of loss and regret. Weaving this original footage with home videos, graphic explainers and the saved messages left behind by the young men, the result was the multimedia interactive “They Started Playing Football as Young as 6. They Died in Their Twenties and Thirties with C.T.E.”

The interviews are raw, emotional and surprising. "Would I let him play again?" The camera captures parents wrestling with the question, illuminating the hold the sport has on so many American families.

Published just as high school football seasons across the country drew to a close, the interactive resonated in media coverage and editorials, and inspired thoughtful conversation in parent groups.