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Jerome Bettis Joins Board of Directors of Chuck Noll Foundation

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Steelers RB Jerome Bettis

Pro Football Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis has joined the board of directors of the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research, the organization announced Tuesday.

“I am proud to announce that I’ve joined the board of director of The Chuck Noll Foundation,” Bettis tweeted Tuesday. “I’m honored to be part of this important work of diminishing the impact of head injuries, not only in sports, but everyday life.”

For Bettis, joining the foundation’s board was a natural step as a former player looking to make the game safer for the next generation.

“That is what you would want the evolution of your life, your career to be,” Bettis told Steelers.com. “To have played this game and now to try to help the next generation of players in the game is meaningful. The goal is to try to find different procedures to help players try to get not the bottom of it, but gain more understanding of what people are dealing with regarding these brain injuries. It’s about finding out different things such as is it hereditary, what factors are there. Those are the kinds of things as a football player I would have liked to have known. To have the ability to help with the research that is going to provide a lot of answers to questions players might have, that is important.”

Established in 2016, the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research awards grants that aim to “advance research related to the diagnosis and treatment of injuries to the brain occurring primarily from sports activities.” The organization has awarded 14 early-stage research grants totaling $1.7 million.

Steelers President Art Rooney II, who is the foundation’s Chairman, is excited to bring Bettis aboard.

“I am honored that Jerome Bettis has agreed to join the Chuck Noll Foundation Board, and will be lending his insight and perspective,” Steelers President Art Rooney II, the Chairman of the Foundation’s Board, said in a statement. “In 2022, the Chuck Noll Foundation for Brain Injury Research will continue to provide grants to support cutting-edge research that helps to diagnose and treat injuries to the brain. I am pleased that many of the research projects funded by the Noll Foundation have now been validated by the fact that they are attracting research grants and have been published in peer reviewed medical publications.”