Probert died last July of heart failure at age 45. He played 16 seasons in the NHL, and his 3,300 penalty minutes rank fifth on the league's career list.
Probert is the second hockey player from the program at the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy to be diagnosed with the disease after death. Reggie Fleming, a 1960s enforcer who played before helmets became mandatory, also had CTE.
Probert's wife of 17 years, Dani Probert, said, "Bob told me he wanted to donate his brain to Boston University after learning about the research on 60 Minutes. His sole motivation was to make sports safer for our children. Bob was a great husband and father, and we miss him every day."
Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, from a young age Probert struggled with substance abuse, including alcohol and cocaine, and made multiple trips to rehabilitation throughout his career. However, Dani Probert noted that her husband exhibited a mental decline in his 40s, displaying new and growing problems with short-term memory, attention and a short-fuse, which are symptoms consistent with the clinical picture of CTE displayed by other athletes.
The findings were first reported by The New York Times and The Globe and Mail in Toronto on Wednesday night.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
