Dr. Gay Culverhouse

February 5, 1947 - July 1, 2020

Gay Culverhouse, who served for nearly a decade in the N.F.L.’s male-dominated world as a senior executive of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers owned by her father, Hugh Culverhouse Sr., died on Wednesday at her home in Fernandina Beach, Fla. due to complications of myelofibrosis, a type of chronic leukemia. She was 73, and a longtime player advocate, lending her voice and money in support of retired professional football players debilitated by health issues and brain disorders she believed were due to on-field concussions and injuries suffered. She testified in October 2009 before the House Judiciary Committee hearing on football brain injuries, and thereafter founded the Gay Culverhouse Players Outreach Program, Inc., and the nonprofit Retired Players Assistance, Inc. to assist those players. At her death, she served as Director and President of Retired Players Assistance, Inc. Gay Culverhouse was born on Feb. 5, 1947, in Montgomery, Ala., and is survived by two children and five grandchildren, and her brother, Hugh Jr., a lawyer in Miami, Fla. She graduated from the University of Florida in 1969 with a degree in special education, earned a master’s degree and doctorate in mental retardation research at Columbia University, and from 1982 to 1986, Dr. Culverhouse was an instructor at the University of South Florida College of Medicine, specializing in child psychiatry. She also served briefly as president of Notre Dame College, a women’s school at that time. Dr. Culverhouse was the author of “Throwaway Players: Concussion Crisis from Pee Wee Football to the NFL” (2011) and authored a second book which she was completing for publication. She traveled the world, was a well-regarded competitor on the Paso Fino horse-riding circuit, and lived life to the fullest. Private services will be conducted at St. Anthony’s Cemetery, Johnstown, and arrangements have been coordinated by her dear friends Kathy and Beaver (Lee) Bradt of Gloversville. Arrangements have been entrusted to the A.G. Cole Funeral Home, Inc., 215 E. Main Street, Johnstown. Condolences may be made online by visiting our website at www.agcolefuneralhome.com