By Bryan Bloodworth
BLOOMINGTON – Former Bloomington High School and Eastern Illinois University football player Adrian Arrington suffered at least five concussions during his playing career at Eastern Illinois.
The 2005 BHS graduate was unable to work for five years coming out of college and suffered through a two-year period when he had daily seizures. He’s been diagnosed with epilepsy and has been told by doctors that he has scar tissue on the frontal part of his brain lobe.
It was only last year that Arrington was finally cleared to join the work force and he is slowing working his way back as a study hall monitor and lower-level football coach at Bloomington High School.
“I’m on disability, and things like that, and I’m trying to get an opportunity and chances to go back out and work for the scholarship and degree that I worked so hard to get,” said Arrington.
Monday, Arrington will serve as host for the screening of the documentary “The Business of Amateurs” at the Wehrenberg Galaxy Cinemas in Bloomington. He said the documentary, which is directed by former Southern Cal player Bob DeMars, focuses on the rights and well-being of student-athletes.
“This documentary focuses on a lot of things in terms of the NCAA from March Madness to the pay of coaches; the medical and insurance when it comes to student-athletes and how the student-athletes are not educated as much as they should be when they enter college athletics,” added Arrington.
“Basically we feel the NCAA is taking advantage of the student-athletes and the lack of education when they become student-athletes.”
Arrington said his lack of education regarding the matter has left him in serious debt.
“I have over hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical debt due to the fact that I didn’t know my bills weren’t taken care of while I was a student-athlete,” said Arrington. “When you’re a student-athlete you feel everything is fully paid for. That’s not the case and a lot of kids don’t understand that.”
Arrington said his concussions were due, in part, to negligence by the coaching and medical staffs at Eastern Illinois.
“The major thing about the concussions is that it was about negligence from my coaching and medical staff,” Arrington continued. “A couple of times I was put back in the game after concussions I received.”
Arrington, who is the lead plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against the NCAA, feels the NCAA failed him and continues to fail student-athletes, in general, with the lack of education and support they have when it comes to money and medical coverage.
“I’m trying to change the mindset of the NCAA overall for the future generation of NCAA student-athletes because it is a dream, it is a passion that young kids grow up with and it is an opportunity to get an education, but at the same time we are earning that education.”
Tickets for the 90-minute documentary, which will be followed by a question and answer session with Arrington and DeMars, are $11 at the door.
Arrington will also recognize Dodie Dunson and William (Junior) Hosea for their work with youth in the community.
Bryan Bloodworth can be reached at [email protected]
