Scott Bolzan
Encyclopedia
Scott Louis Bolzan is a motivational speaker
, author
, entrepreneur
, former NFL and USFL football player
, and the founder and CEO of Legendary Jets in Tempe, Arizona
. In December 2008, he suffered a brain injury
which has left him with profound retrograde amnesia
. Scott, along with Joan Bolzan and Caitlin Rother, have written a book titled "My Life: Deleted", which is published by Harper Collins and was released on October 4th, 2011. My Life Deleted hit the New York Times best Sellers List on October 8th at #16 for ebooks non-fiction and #29 for combined hardcover and ebooks non-fiction
from 1980 to 1984 on a full athletic scholarship
. It was there that he met his wife, Joan, whom he married in 1984.
for the Northern Illinois Huskies
. After graduating, he went on to play professionally, though his career lasted only two years.
Bolzan was drafted
in May 1984 by the New England Patriots
in the 9th round. He was waived
by the Patriots in August of that year.
He went on to play for the Memphis Showboats
in the USFL in 1985.
Bolzan was then picked up by the Cleveland Browns
in May 1985 and later waived in September 1985. He was re-signed later in the month and cut in October. Bolzan was signed by the Browns again in May 1986. He was injured in August 1986 and retired soon after.
in 1993, he took up aviation
, and later developed West Jet Aircraft—a charter company specializing in the charter of Lear Jet
s and King Airs in the Scottsdale area of Arizona. West Jet grew to become the Number 1 Charter Operator in Arizona according to Arizona Ranking Magazine in 2007. He sold West Jet aircraft in February 2008 and opened the doors of Legendary Jets shortly after, where he is the CEO/Founder specializing in private jet management.
was normal and temporary, but as months passed by and he still did not remember any part of his life before the fall, he revealed his condition to his wife and they sought help from neurologist
s.
A SPECT scan of Bolzan's brain
showed that he had no blood flow
to his right temporal lobe
—the part of the brain that stores long-term memory
. Blood flow to the front of his brain on both sides is also dramatically reduced. He suffered brain atrophy
, which killed brain cells and damaged connections between them. The loss of blood flow caused Bolzan to suffer an unusually severe case of retrograde amnesia
. Dr. Teresa Lanier, Bolzan's primary physician, has said "It would basically have to be a miracle for him to one day wake up and have complete and intact memory of everything he has lost. That's probably just never going to happen."
Bolzan's wife has tried to help him remember parts of his life since his fall, showing him photographs of key events in his life in hopes of jogging his memory. Along with memories of his personal life, he has lost memories of historical events and basic interpersonal relationship
concepts. He did not understand birthday
s or the relationship between a husband
and wife
. He had no reference points. He did, however, remember basic life tasks, like using eating utensils and how to drive a car.
The New York Post published an article on October 9, 2011 stating that Bolzan may have feigned his symptoms.
Motivational speaker
A motivational speaker or inspirational speaker is a speaker who makes speeches intended to motivate or inspire an audience. In a business context, they are employed to communicate company strategy with clarity and help employees to see the future in a positive light and inspire workers to pull...
, author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
, entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
, former NFL and USFL football player
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
, and the founder and CEO of Legendary Jets in Tempe, Arizona
Tempe, Arizona
Tempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
. In December 2008, he suffered a brain injury
Brain injury
A brain injury is any injury occurring in the brain of a living organism. Brain injuries can be classified along several dimensions. Primary and secondary brain injury are ways to classify the injury processes that occur in brain injury, while focal and diffuse brain injury are ways to classify...
which has left him with profound retrograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia is a loss of access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease....
. Scott, along with Joan Bolzan and Caitlin Rother, have written a book titled "My Life: Deleted", which is published by Harper Collins and was released on October 4th, 2011. My Life Deleted hit the New York Times best Sellers List on October 8th at #16 for ebooks non-fiction and #29 for combined hardcover and ebooks non-fiction
Early life
Scott Bolzan was born to Louis and Alice Bolzan in 1962. He grew up in Chicago, Illinois where he attended Northern Illinois UniversityNorthern Illinois University
Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
from 1980 to 1984 on a full athletic scholarship
Athletic scholarship
An athletic scholarship is a form of scholarship to attend a college or university awarded to an individual based predominantly on his or her ability to play in a sport...
. It was there that he met his wife, Joan, whom he married in 1984.
Football career
In college, Bolzan played footballAmerican football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
for the Northern Illinois Huskies
Northern Illinois Huskies football
The Northern Illinois Huskies football team represents Northern Illinois University in the Mid-American Conference of the NCAA's Division I-Football Bowl Subdivision.-History:...
. After graduating, he went on to play professionally, though his career lasted only two years.
Bolzan was drafted
NFL Draft
The National Football League Draft is an annual event in which the National Football League teams select eligible college football players and it is their most common source of player recruitment. The basic design of the draft is each team is given a position in the drafting order in reverse order...
in May 1984 by the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
in the 9th round. He was waived
Waivers (American football)
Waivers is a National Football League labor management procedure by which a team makes an American football player contract or NFL rights available to all other teams...
by the Patriots in August of that year.
He went on to play for the Memphis Showboats
Memphis Showboats
The Memphis Showboats were a franchise in the United States Football League. They entered the league in its expansion in 1984 and made the 1985 playoffs, losing in the semifinal round to the Oakland Invaders...
in the USFL in 1985.
Bolzan was then picked up by the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
in May 1985 and later waived in September 1985. He was re-signed later in the month and cut in October. Bolzan was signed by the Browns again in May 1986. He was injured in August 1986 and retired soon after.
Entrepreneurship
After his football career ended due to an injury, Bolzan entered the financial services field where he owned his own financial planning firm specializing in insurance and investments. After moving to ArizonaArizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
in 1993, he took up aviation
Aviation
Aviation is the design, development, production, operation, and use of aircraft, especially heavier-than-air aircraft. Aviation is derived from avis, the Latin word for bird.-History:...
, and later developed West Jet Aircraft—a charter company specializing in the charter of Lear Jet
Lear Jet
Learjet is a manufacturer of business jets for civilian and military use. It was founded in the late 1950s by William Powell Lear as Swiss American Aviation Corporation. Learjet is now a subsidiary of Bombardier and marketed as the "Bombardier Learjet Family".-History:The Learjet started life as an...
s and King Airs in the Scottsdale area of Arizona. West Jet grew to become the Number 1 Charter Operator in Arizona according to Arizona Ranking Magazine in 2007. He sold West Jet aircraft in February 2008 and opened the doors of Legendary Jets shortly after, where he is the CEO/Founder specializing in private jet management.
Brain injury
On December 17, 2008, Bolzan slipped in the men's bathroom at his place of work. He says his last "actual memory" was "my feet going above my head". The fall caused a severe concussion. Bolzan was initially told his memory lossMemory loss
Memory loss can be partial or total and it is normal when it comes with aging. Sudden memory loss is usually a result of brain trauma and it may be permanent or temporary. When it is caused by medical conditions such as Alzheimers, the memory loss is gradual and tends to be permanent.Brain trauma...
was normal and temporary, but as months passed by and he still did not remember any part of his life before the fall, he revealed his condition to his wife and they sought help from neurologist
Neurologist
A neurologist is a physician who specializes in neurology, and is trained to investigate, or diagnose and treat neurological disorders.Neurology is the medical specialty related to the human nervous system. The nervous system encompasses the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nerves. A specialist...
s.
A SPECT scan of Bolzan's brain
Human brain
The human brain has the same general structure as the brains of other mammals, but is over three times larger than the brain of a typical mammal with an equivalent body size. Estimates for the number of neurons in the human brain range from 80 to 120 billion...
showed that he had no blood flow
Blood flow
Blood flow is the continuous running of blood in the cardiovascular system.The human body is made up of several processes all carrying out various functions. We have the gastrointestinal system which aids the digestion and the absorption of food...
to his right temporal lobe
Temporal lobe
The temporal lobe is a region of the cerebral cortex that is located beneath the Sylvian fissure on both cerebral hemispheres of the mammalian brain....
—the part of the brain that stores long-term memory
Long-term memory
Long-term memory is memory in which associations among items are stored, as part of the theory of a dual-store memory model. According to the theory, long term memory differs structurally and functionally from working memory or short-term memory, which ostensibly stores items for only around 20–30...
. Blood flow to the front of his brain on both sides is also dramatically reduced. He suffered brain atrophy
Atrophy
Atrophy is the partial or complete wasting away of a part of the body. Causes of atrophy include mutations , poor nourishment, poor circulation, loss of hormonal support, loss of nerve supply to the target organ, disuse or lack of exercise or disease intrinsic to the tissue itself...
, which killed brain cells and damaged connections between them. The loss of blood flow caused Bolzan to suffer an unusually severe case of retrograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia
Retrograde amnesia is a loss of access to events that occurred, or information that was learned, before an injury or the onset of a disease....
. Dr. Teresa Lanier, Bolzan's primary physician, has said "It would basically have to be a miracle for him to one day wake up and have complete and intact memory of everything he has lost. That's probably just never going to happen."
Bolzan's wife has tried to help him remember parts of his life since his fall, showing him photographs of key events in his life in hopes of jogging his memory. Along with memories of his personal life, he has lost memories of historical events and basic interpersonal relationship
Interpersonal relationship
An interpersonal relationship is an association between two or more people that may range from fleeting to enduring. This association may be based on limerence, love, solidarity, regular business interactions, or some other type of social commitment. Interpersonal relationships are formed in the...
concepts. He did not understand birthday
Birthday
A birthday is a day or anniversary where a person celebrates his or her date of birth. Birthdays are celebrated in numerous cultures, often with a gift, party or rite of passage. Although the major religions celebrate the birth of their founders , Christmas – which is celebrated widely by...
s or the relationship between a husband
Husband
A husband is a male participant in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the husband regarding his spouse and others, and his status in the community and in law, vary between cultures and has varied over time...
and wife
Wife
A wife is a female partner in a marriage. The rights and obligations of the wife regarding her spouse and others, and her status in the community and in law, varies between cultures and has varied over time.-Origin and etymology:...
. He had no reference points. He did, however, remember basic life tasks, like using eating utensils and how to drive a car.
The New York Post published an article on October 9, 2011 stating that Bolzan may have feigned his symptoms.