Following his death from complications of heart surgery in 2013, DeCarlo's family made his brain available as part of a pioneering study of the prevalence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in former professional football players.

[1] His parents died when he was still a minor and he was raised by an older brother, working in a steel mill the summer after he graduated from high school.

[2] DeCarlo was selected in January 1953 in the sixth round of the 1953 NFL draft (pick number 65 overall) by George Halas and the Chicago Bears.

He had an extremely productive rookie year as a Pittsburgh defensive back, picking off 5 passes, which generated 83 yards in interception returns.

[2] He was stationed at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland and Fort Belvoir in Virginia during his 21 months of prescribed military service.

[3] While he was still in the military, Pittsburgh traded the contract of DeCarlo and his teammate Leo Elter to the Washington Redskins for lineman Dick Modzelewski.

[4] In October he was signed by head coach Weeb Ewbank and the Colts to fill a hole in the roster resulting from a facial injury to defensive back Carl Taseff and his subsequent relegation to the injured reserve list.

[6] Powered by a pass-driven offense led by Hall of Fame quarterback Johnny Unitas, the Colts would win the first of two back-to-back World Championships in 1958, beating the New York Giants in a contest remembered in legend as "the greatest game ever played."

In 1960, DeCarlo continued to play special teams and filled in as a reserve at tight end behind Colts starter Jim Mutscheller.

[9] He was not successful attempting to play through the damage in his next effort, however, with his knee buckling at practice on August 29, forcing what would be career-ending surgery.