[4] His mother was killed by a truck as she walked along the road on the same day of Kacyvenski's biggest high school football game in his senior season.

[5] He received a phone call at the end of his senior year from Harvard Crimson football coach Tim Murphy offering him an academic scholarship.

Among the items he found a picture of his mother wearing a Harvard sweatshirt and her Bible with a passage highlighted: "Can a woman forget her own baby and not love the child she bore?

He received the Nils V. "Swede" Nelson Award given to "best, most academically talented" football player in New England, and also the Harvard University Male Athlete of the Year following his senior season.

[7] Isaiah was a finalist for the Buck Buchanan Award that is given to the top 1-AA defensive player in the country, as well as a 1st Team Associated Press All-American.

[10] He graduated cum laude with a pre-med degree, but elected to miss his commencement ceremony to attend the first days of football training camp.

[6] Kacyvenski played six-plus seasons with the Seattle Seahawks recording 267 tackles in 90 games and was elected as the Special Teams Captain 3 years in a row.

Kacyvenski signed a one-year contract with the St. Louis Rams on October 3, 2006,[13] and played in ten games for them during the remainder of the 2006 season after suffering 2 concussions 3 weeks apart.

[15] He was placed on season-ending injured reserve on August 7 and released with an injury settlement a week later after undergoing microfracture surgery on his leg.

[24] Prior to founding the Sports Innovation Lab, Kacyvenski was one of the first employees to join a very early stage MC10, an electronics company, and remained there for 6 years as the Global Head of Business Development as well as Chairman of the MC10 Sports-Medicine Advisory Board.

[26] On the July 12, 2007, episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show, Kacyvenski appeared as the first guest to talk about his rough childhood and reconciliation with his abusive father.

After retiring from wrestling due to concussions, Nowinski has spearheaded the effort to make sports safer in the United States and worldwide.