The University of Nevada, Reno will choose a winner for its Sontag Entrepreneurial competition on Wednesday. The winner takes home a $50,000 prize. Reno Public Radio's Rocio Hernandez met with one team that’s developing a new sports helmet designed to reduce the risk of head injuries.
MBA student Chase Houston knows firsthand the lasting effects of contact sports. After 16 years of playing football and what he has calculated to be 100,000 hits to the head, he now suffers from a sleep disorder and learning disability.
“It’s not the hard hits that do it. It’s not like, 'This is the day that I got a bad concussion,'" he explains. "It’s the subtle hits over time."
Houston joined forces with his own neurologist Dr. Bill Torch. The team is developing a new helmet and helmet liner design for activities ranging from sports to construction.
The team wants to use the Sontag money to develop its prototypes.