Max Tuerk’s life to be celebrated during ‘paddle out’ ceremony

A “paddle out” celebration of life for former USC and NFL lineman Max Tuerk will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.

Tuerk died last Saturday during a hike with family members in the Cleveland National Forest not far from their home in Trabuco Canyon. He was 26.

Autopsy results are pending.

Tuerk’s parents said they have donated his brain to Boston University’s CTE Center. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have suffered repeated head trauma. That can be diagnosed only after death.