The number arrived late on a Monday in Dallas, and by Tuesday morning it had reached every college football fan. One hundred and forty million dollars. In their initial complaint, the family of John Davis, a former line player at SMU in the late 1950s, requested $1 million. They took a hundred and forty times that with them.
The majority of fans are unfamiliar with Davis. In a time when plastic was replacing leather pads and “getting your bell rung” was a coach’s shrug, he blocked and tackled. After receiving an Alzheimer’s diagnosis in 2001, he gradually deteriorated for years before being discovered to have Stage 4 CTE in 2017. According to his son’s testimony, his mother eventually had to quit her work to take care of him full-time. Small details are the kind that juries are more likely to remember than expert testimony.
| Information | Details |
|---|---|
| Case Name | Davis Family v. NCAA |
| Plaintiff | Family of John “J.T.” Davis (deceased) |
| Player Background | Lineman at SMU, 1955–1959 |
| Diagnosis | Alzheimer’s (2001), Stage 4 CTE (2017, posthumous) |
| Court | Dallas County, Texas |
| Verdict Date | Late April 2026 |
| Compensatory Damages | $30 million |
| Punitive Damages | $110 million |
| Total Award | $140 million |
| Original Damages Sought | $1 million |
| Key Evidence | NCAA medical handbook from 1933 |
| Related Verdict | $18 million (Geathers v. NCAA, October 2025) |
| Defendant Position | CTE described as a “hypothetical” disease |
| Next Step | NCAA expected to appeal |
A 1933 document appears to have caused the NCAA the most harm. Written when the grandparents of the majority of these jurors were young, the organization’s medical handbook advised keeping concussed players out for at least 48 hours, longer if symptoms persisted, and possibly forever if knockouts continued to occur. It made use of the expression “punch drunk.” When that language appeared in a Texas courtroom almost a century later, it accomplished something that a chart of brain scans most likely could not. It made the argument seem more like a broken promise than like science.
By most accounts, the NCAA’s defense did not help itself. In 2026, claiming that CTE is a “hypothetical” illness seems like a tactic from a different era. Observing this from the outside gives the impression that the attorneys in the room miscalculated how much tolerance a typical jury still has for such language. $110 million in punitive damages are typically the result of rage rather than math.
Nor was this an isolated incident. In the Geathers case, the NCAA was found to have been negligent in failing to warn a former South Carolina State defensive end about long-term concussion risk by an Orangeburg County jury in South Carolina, which returned a $18 million verdict just last October. Within seven months, there were two verdicts. Even if the NCAA maintains that it has won most trials and will continue to appeal, it is difficult to ignore a pattern emerging.
There is a clear contrast with the NFL. After considering a similar wave of lawsuits more than ten years ago, the league decided to reach a settlement that included retired players in a class action and limited its exposure. The NCAA, which oversees schools as opposed to a single company, has chosen the opposite course. In court, roll the dice, contest every claim, and hope that the worst verdicts are reduced by the appellate courts. As of right now, the tactic is generating unwelcome headlines in Indianapolis.
A different question is whether the $140 million survives the appeal. The NCAA will put a lot of pressure on Texas because of its caps and review standards, which frequently soften numbers like this. However, the verdict itself is now a fact in the record, which the lawyers for other plaintiffs are already reviewing. It’s possible that the NCAA uses legal wrangling to stop the financial bleeding. It’s also possible that this is the point at which the wall begins to collapse. In any case, families are keeping an eye on things and are no longer requesting a million dollars.
