Dave Mirra and Bubba Smith are the latest athletes diagnosed with CTE after their deaths

BMX legend Dave Mirra and football star Bubba Smith suffered from the brain disease CTE before their deaths, according to separate reports on Tuesday.

Mirra died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 41 earlier this year. He is thought to be the first action sports athlete to be diagnosed with CTE, which can be determined only after a person’s death. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a degenerative brain disease found in dozens of deceased athletes.

“This is the beginning of bringing awareness,” Mirra’s widow, Lauren Mirra, told ESPN the Magazine. “It would be amazing if this is something we can detect in life one day. If we can detect it, prevent it, stop it, let’s do all of the above.”

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ESPN the Magazine reported the findings of University of Toronto neuropathologist Lili-Naz Hazrati, who determined that the tau protein deposits found in the frontal and temporal lobes of Mirra’s brain were no different from those that have been found in the brains of former football and hockey players with CTE.

“It validates what we have been thinking about brain injuries in boxers and football players,” said Hazrati, who had her findings confirmed by multiple neuropathologists. “The key is brain injury. Regardless of how you get it, through BMX or hockey, you are at risk for this.”

Mirra suffered numerous concussions as a BMX rider but also fractured his skull after being hit by a car at age 19 and did some boxing later in life.

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Smith was 66 when he died of acute drug intoxication in 2011. He is the 90th former NFL player since 2008 to be diagnosed with the disease. The discovery was made at a brain bank affiliated with Veterans Affairs, Boston University and the Concussion Legacy Foundation, which announced the finding Tuesday morning.

The two-time Pro Bowler played for three teams during his nine-year NFL career and went on to achieve notoriety as Moses Hightower in multiple “Police Academy” movies during the 1980s.

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