AMERICAN FOOTBALL:Junior Seau, the 12-time Pro Bowl linebacker for the San Diego Chargers who killed himself last year, suffered from the same debilitating brain disease diagnosed in at least two other former NFL defensive players who also committed suicide, ABC News and ESPN reported yesterday.

Seau (43) died in May after shooting himself in the chest. He had played for the San Diego Chargers and had a 20-year career in the National Football League.

A study of Seau’s brain by a team of independent researchers found that he had suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, likely brought on by two decades of blows to the head as a football player, the report said. CTE can be diagnosed only after death.