Five years after hanging up his cleats, former Kansas City Chiefs offensive tackle Jim Tyrer was selected as a finalist for the first round of voting for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980, a more than deserved nomination considering the storied career he enjoyed.
At the time, no one could dispute that Tyrer – a Super Bowl champion, six-time All-Pro and three-time AFL winner – was duly rewarded for his on-field success after 13 seasons with the Chiefs and one closing chapter in Washington.
But the harrowing and tragic events that occurred soon after forever left a disturbing asterisk on his legacy.
In the early hours of September 15, Tyrer shot and killed his wife Martha before turning the gun on himself in a murder-suicide that sent shockwaves through America.
The 41-year-old inevitably failed to make the Hall of Fame that year, and as the mystery surrounding what caused his devastating actions has been parsed by many, it has remained that way in the 44 that followed.
However, in a surprising late turn of events, that could change next year after Tyrer was controversially named on the ballot as a 2025 finalist.
Former Kansas City Chiefs defenseman Jim Tyrer was a shoo-in for the Hall of Fame in 1980
That was until he shot his wife Martha (left) on September 15 and turned the gun on himself
Nominated in the Senior category for players whose careers ended before 1999, Jim was finally able to break into the Hall, almost half a century after his infamous murder-suicide.
His appointment has of course led to major discussions; While a large majority remained baffled that a man who murdered his wife could potentially receive such a prestigious honour, others are convinced he deserves to be mentioned on football achievements alone, insisting that his fatal outburst on September 15, 1980 was heartbreaking. effect of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).
Tyrer had been dealing with depression and severe headaches that experts now believe could be CTE – the degenerative brain disease found in many former NFL players who suffered repeated blows to the head during their careers.
According to the Boston University CTE Center, the disease is associated with “memory loss, confusion, impaired judgment, impulse control problems, aggression, depression, suicidality, parkinsonism, and ultimately progressive dementia.”
Not many players were known for using their heads to block more than the Chiefs icon, and doctors are convinced he had CTE at the time of the murder-suicide.
Tyrer’s son, Brad, has also spoken about his belief that his father suffered from the disease in recent years.
The day before the murder-suicide, Jim had spent the afternoon watching Kansas City play the Seattle Seahawks at Arrowhead Stadium with his other son Jason.
And when the Seahawks prevailed over his former team in a 17-16 victory, fans sitting next to Jim and Jason later recalled that the ex-defender was “strangely fascinated by the action,” according to Slate.
Tyrer, pictured with Martha and their three children, suffered from depression and severe headaches in the lead up to that tragic day
The offensive tackle (right) was known for blocking with his head throughout his career
His bust remains in the Kansas City Chiefs’ Hall of Honor in Arrowhead (second from top right)
It is believed that he spent most of the game “staring at the field, paradoxically preoccupied yet detached” as he watched the Chiefs break away, which becomes a more chilling memory when you consider what happened the next day.
In addition to possibly struggling with CTE, Tyrer is also believed to have been struggling financially in the months leading up to the murder-suicide.
After turning down a $25,000 offer from the Chiefs to work for them as a scout, the 1970 First Team All-Pro’s post-football investments reportedly amounted to three failed businesses and debts ranging between $100,000 and $250,000.
Fred Arbanas, Jim’s best friend, felt his good friend had been depressed for five days before the murder-suicide, according to a September 20, 1980 Washington Post story.
“He had just finished a job interview and said that at age 41 he was now competing for work with recent college graduates, men only slightly older than his daughter,” the article said.
Although Tyrer’s impulsive act of violence, regardless of the signs of depression he had exuded, was a great shock to those closest to him.
The 6-foot-4, 280-pound ex-football player was considered a gentle giant off the field, while his close friends rarely saw him drunk.
“Jim Tyrer was, to those who knew him, the most unlikely suicide killer,” Michael Oriard, one of Tyrer’s teammates, wrote about him in 1982.
Tyrer’s son Brad is one of many who believe his father had CTE at the time of the murder-suicide
There was no test for CTE in the early 1980s, meaning that the murder-suicide proved to be a much bigger mystery in the first years after that tragic night of September 15.
Now experts are convinced that degenerative brain disease is the most plausible explanation for Tyrer’s murderous actions.
“If it walks like a duck, quacks, has webbed feet and water runs off its back, it’s not a zebra: it’s CTE,” Doug Paone, the doctor who treated Tyrer a few days before the night in question, told police . Kansas City star last week. “(Tyrer) would be the poster child for CTE.
“I am sure that if he had never played offensively, or never been a footballer, he would never have killed his wife and himself.”