The initial diagnosis of dementia pugilistica was derived from the Latin word for boxer pugil (akin to pugnus  fist, pugnāre  to fight).Other terms for the condition have included chronic boxers encephalopathy, traumatic boxers encephalopathy, boxers dementia, pugilistic dementia, chronic traumatic brain injury associated with boxing (CTBI-B), and punch-drunk syndrome.The seminal work on the disease came from British neurologist Macdonald Critchley, who in 1949 wrote a paper titled "Punch-drunk syndromes: the chronic traumatic encephalopathy of boxers". CTE was first recognized as affecting individuals who took considerable blows to the head, but was believed to be confined to boxers and not other athletes. As evidence pertaining to the clinical and neuropathological consequences of repeated mild head trauma grew, it became clear that this pattern of neurodegeneration was not restricted to boxers, and the term chronic traumatic encephalopathy became most widely used.In 1990, a patient nicknamed Wilma was diagnosed postmortem with dementia pugilistica; she was the first woman diagnosed with dementia pugilistica from domestic violence.In 2002, American football player Mike Webster died following unusual and unexplained behavior. In 2005 Nigerian-American neuropathologist Bennet Omalu, along with colleagues in the Department of Pathology at the University of Pittsburgh, published their findings in a paper titled "Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy in a National Football League Player", followed by a paper on a second case in 2006 describing similar pathology.In June 2007 professional wrestler Chris Benoit murdered his wife and son before committing suicide days after appearing on television.
This was then followed by a paper on a second case in 2006 describing similar pathology, based on findings in the brain of former NFL player Terry Long.In 2008, the Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy at the BU School of Medicine (now the BU CTE Center) started the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank at the Bedford Veterans Administration Hospital to analyze the effects of CTE and other neurodegenerative diseases on the brain and spinal cord of athletes, military veterans, and civilians. To date, the VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank is the largest CTE tissue repository in the world, with over 1000 brain donors.On 21 December 2009, the National Football League Players Association announced that it would collaborate with the BU CTE Center to support the centers study of repetitive brain trauma in athletes. Additionally, in 2010 the National Football League gave the BU CTE Center a $1 million gift with no strings attached. In 2008, twelve living athletes (active and retired), including hockey players Pat LaFontaine and Noah Welch as well as former NFL star Ted Johnson, committed to donate their brains to VA-BU-CLF Brain Bank after their deaths.