A revered local television host and former college football player has died, just a year after he revealed that he wanted to one day donate his brain for science.

Jon Burnett was a fixture in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, following his over 30-year tenure on KDKA-TV. The station reported the 71-year-old’s death on Thursday.

Last February, Burnett announced that he was diagnosed with a neurological condition, likely stemming from his decades on the field.
Doctors suspected that Burnett suffered from Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, more commonly known as CTE.

CTE can only be confirmed after someone’s death, but Burnett’s neurologist believed he had the condition since he endured several blows to the head during his football career.

Burnett joined his former co-host Kristine Sorensen last February to discuss his worsening medical condition.

He opened up about his short-term memory loss and how he struggled to speak and move his facial muscles.

When Sorensen asked Burnett how he reacted to the diagnosis, he had a surprising response.

‘At first, I was kind of proud, because it meant that I had been doing my job – head first, chin up, face mask right into his head,’ Burnett said when recalling his glory days on the field.

‘But ultimately, I paid the price with the concussions I had over the years, several of them.’

CTE is a common diagnosis for athletes who participate in a contact sport for an extended period of time.

Burnett began playing football at the age of 10 in Knoxville, Tennessee, and was eventually recruited to play defensive end at the University of Tennessee, a Division I school.

He suffered two major concussions while playing football that knocked him unconscious, one of which was so forceful that it split his helmet.

Burnett previously estimated that he was hit in the head hundreds of times while playing football.

‘I quickly discovered that I liked contact,’ Burnett recalled when discussing his love for the game. ‘Which is of course why my head’s so screwed up today,’ he continued.

Despite the tragic diagnosis he received at the age of 70, Burnett admitted that if he could do it all again, he still would.

CTE still mystifies physicians as experts have struggled to pin down why some head injuries can result in the diagnosis, but others don’t.

The first published evidence of CTE came in 2005 when Dr. Bennet Omalu studied former Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster.

The discovery initiated a decades-long conversation on the diagnosis, what leads to it, and how to better protect athletes from it.

However, since the condition is relatively new, doctors are still searching for answers, and those who played football before the early 2000s didn’t benefit from protections.

Burnett wanted to share his story to spread awareness about the dangers of CTE. Before his death, he was participating in a study at the University of Pittsburgh where he completed questionnaires and agreed to donate his brain.

The university’s National Sports Brain Bank is using brains of former athletes to better understand how CTE develops and how to prevent it.

Although Burnett will be remembered for his mission to raise awareness of CTE, he also leaves behind a lasting legacy on television.

For 36 years, Pittsburgh families watched Burnett on KDKA-TV Evening Magazine, Pittsburgh 2Day, and as a weather forecaster with the network.

He started with KDKA in 1982 on the show’s evening lifestyle broadcast. His co-host on the program, Liz Miles remembered him as someone who was ‘ready for anything.’

‘Tom Cruise and Jon Burnett did all their own stunts and there was nothing that intimidated him,’ Miles told KDKA.

His co-host on Pittsburgh 2Day in 1985, Patrice King Brown, said working with Burnett was like working with a brother.

‘I mean somebody you could really tease, somebody who would tease you mercilessly as well as the whole staff, he did that. I never had so much fun as I did the years I worked with Jon Burnett,’ she said.

Burnett transitioned to the weather team when Pittsburgh 2Day and Evening Magazine ended.

When you saw Jon on TV, you would immediately say, “That’s a guy I wouldn’t mind having in my living room live and in person,”‘ former meteorologist Dennis Bowman told the network.

He then joined Pittsburgh Today Live with Sorensen for 11 years, before retiring in 2019.

‘I don’t think I deserved it. I don’t think I’ve been talented enough to be what I’ve been, where I’ve been, but I’m here and I’ve enjoyed every minute of the ride,’ Burnett recalled on KDKA before his retirement.

Burnett leaves behind his wife Debbie, daughter Samantha, son Eric, and five grandchildren.

During his appearance on the network last year, he teared up when talking about his family, and referred to his wife as ‘his rock.’