Scott Vermillion (December 23, 1976 – December 25, 2020) was an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

player from

Olathe, Kansas Olathe ( ) is the county seat of Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is the List of cities in Kansas#Highest population listing, fourth-most populous city in both the Kansas City metropolitan area and the state of Kansas, with a 2020 Uni ...

, who played for the

Kansas City Wizards Sporting Kansas City is an American professional soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. The administrative offices are located in downtown K ...

and

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

. He entered the league in 1998 as a member of

Generation Adidas Generation Adidas is a joint venture between Major League Soccer and U.S. Soccer aimed at raising the level of young professional soccer talent in the United States. The program, sponsored by Adidas, offers professional-ready players in the U.S ...

, then known as Project 40. He was a Third Team All American in his junior year at the University of Virginia before joining Project 40. In his final season at UVA the team finished as runner up to

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the C ...

in the 1997 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. He died on December 25, 2020, at the age of 44 from acute alcohol and prescription drug poisoning. In 2022,

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

examined his brain and found that he suffered from

chronic traumatic encephalopathy Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease linked to repeated trauma to the head. The encephalopathy symptoms can include behavioral problems, mood problems, and problems with thinking. The disease often gets wor ...

(CTE). Vermillion was the first soccer player to have been diagnosed with CTE posthumously.

References

1976 births 2020 deaths Sportspeople from Olathe, Kansas Soccer players from Johnson County, Kansas Sporting Kansas City players Colorado Rapids players D.C. United players Men's association football defenders American men's soccer players Association football players with chronic traumatic encephalopathy {{US-footy-defender-1970s-stub