ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. - The new movie Concussion includes the story of a Western New Yorker who played in the NFL and died a sad death at the age of just 36.
Justin Strzelczyk grew up in West Seneca and was an offensive lineman for the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Following his death in 2004, Strzelczyk became one of the first NFL players diagnosed with CTE, brain damage caused by repeated blows to the head.
CTE was discovered by Dr. Bennett Omalu, a Pittsburgh pathologist, in the movie he's played by Will Smith.
Dan Horan of Orchard Park was Justin's best friend. He saw the movie this week and said, "I loved it, it was a very forceful movie."
The first player Dr. Omalu diagnosed was Steelers' great Mike Webster after his death at age 50. The fourth player ever diagnosed with CTE was another Steeler, Strzelczyk.
Scott Brown: "Was it difficult to watch the movie and sit through it and maybe bring back a lot of those memories?"
Dan Horan: "Yeah the scene where Justin visits Mike Webster. There was a scene where Mike calls him "Juggers" and it was hard to see that because that was his nickname."
Scott Brown: "For people who didn't know Justin what kind of guy was he?"
Dan Horan: "He was gregarious, he was incredibly generous. He was probably the funniest human being I've ever known."
But over the last two years of his life following his retirement, Justin changed, the guitar playing gentle giant began to hear things and see things, things that weren't there.
He thought people in Pittsburgh, where he continued to live after he retired, were out to hurt him.
Dan remembers Justin calling him and telling him there was a leak in his attic.
"At one point the ceiling, the plaster, the dry wall, it had taken on so much water it fell and it fell on his bed and he called me in the middle of the night and he said people were after him and he had to leave," remembers Horan.
About a week later, Justin got in his truck and headed east, Dan thinks perhaps Justin was headed to Vermont. Justin had talked about the need to get to "higher ground"where he thought he would be safe from the "evil people" that he thought were trying to harm him.
While on the state Thruway, Justin got into a minor accident fled the scene. He then took troopers on a 30 mile chase, eventually driving on the wrong side of the road and crashing into a tanker truck.
The voices in his head were finally stilled.
The movie uses the actual dash cam footage of Justin's crash.
Dan Horan wants his son Aiden to see the movie.
Aiden is an eighth grader who plays football and suffered a concussion this season.
Scott Brown: "Do you think you'll continue to allow your son to play football?"
Dan Horan: "It's a tough question. I discussed the movie with him and I put my hand on his knee and said 'Aiden, we have a lot to talk about football.' As a father I want to guide him, but ultimately I want him to make the decision on his own."
Scott Brown: "Would you rather he not continue to play?"
Dan Horan: "Yes."
