Thu, Jul. 27, 2006
GREG RISLING
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. - A weeklong auction will be held before the Super Bowl to raise money for retired professional football players who have fallen on hard times, former Green Bay Packers star Jerry Kramer announced Thursday.
Items from former football greats like Mike Ditka, Bart Starr and Fred Biletnikoff will go up for bid. The money will be placed in the Gridiron Greats Fund, a charitable trust that will help former players pay their medical bills and supplement meager pensions, Kramer said.
"There is a need, there is difficulty and there is pain," said Kramer, who played for the Packers from 1958 to 1968. "We can make a difference by helping out."
While raising money from donated memorabilia shouldn't be a problem, there is a major challenge for organizers. They have to not only locate the former players, but get them to agree to take help. Many times, former players are embarrassed by their hardships, organizers said.
"People know all these names but they don't know the straits they are in," said former Baltimore Colts kicker Jim O'Brien, 50, who joined Kramer for the announcement at the National Sports Collectors convention on Thursday.
"These guys paid the price, and helped build the league. It's time we helped them out," said O'Brien, who now lives in Thousand Oaks.
Kramer cited the case of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who died in September 2002.
After leaving the NFL, Webster was tormented by debt, depression and poor health. He was homeless at times, and at one point lived in the Kansas City Chiefs' equipment room, where he worked briefly as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
"He was too proud to have someone go to bat for him," Kramer said.
Some professional athletes make millions of dollars during their careers, but most did not - specially the older players, the men said. For example, Kramer, 70, earned $8,000 in his first year in the league. The year before he retired, he made about $27,000.
Kramer estimates as many as 400 former players, some who are in their 70s, get less than $400 a month from their NFL pensions. His pension has dropped to $158 in recent years, but the NFL added $200 a month for the single year he played prior to 1959.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in May that those who played prior to 1959 were not originally in the NFL pension plan, although they were added years ago. The league spends $5 million a month on retirement and disability benefits for more than 2,500 players, he said.
Many players from his era began drawing pensions at age 45, he said, only to see them drop dramatically when they turned 62 and became eligible for Social Security. A number of those players are without private medical insurance, he said.
The plan for the fund actually had its start on an airplane 25 years ago when Kramer lost his Super Bowl ring. He had a replica made, but in April, he found the original being auctioned online. He told the auction house and Mastro Auctions Inc. president Doug Allen pulled the auction, bought the ring from the seller and returned it to Kramer at no charge.
In May, he and Mastro teamed up to sell his replica ring. It brought nearly $23,000.
It was no accident Kramer chose Mastro to handle the Super Bowl week auction.
Kramer said he hopes that auction will raise between $1 million and $2 million.
Whatever the outcome, Kramer said he'd like to hold a Super Bowl week auction every year.
ON THE NET
http://www.jerrykramer.com
http://www.mastroauctions.com
GREG RISLING
Associated Press
ANAHEIM, Calif. - A weeklong auction will be held before the Super Bowl to raise money for retired professional football players who have fallen on hard times, former Green Bay Packers star Jerry Kramer announced Thursday.
Items from former football greats like Mike Ditka, Bart Starr and Fred Biletnikoff will go up for bid. The money will be placed in the Gridiron Greats Fund, a charitable trust that will help former players pay their medical bills and supplement meager pensions, Kramer said.
"There is a need, there is difficulty and there is pain," said Kramer, who played for the Packers from 1958 to 1968. "We can make a difference by helping out."
While raising money from donated memorabilia shouldn't be a problem, there is a major challenge for organizers. They have to not only locate the former players, but get them to agree to take help. Many times, former players are embarrassed by their hardships, organizers said.
"People know all these names but they don't know the straits they are in," said former Baltimore Colts kicker Jim O'Brien, 50, who joined Kramer for the announcement at the National Sports Collectors convention on Thursday.
"These guys paid the price, and helped build the league. It's time we helped them out," said O'Brien, who now lives in Thousand Oaks.
Kramer cited the case of former Pittsburgh Steelers center Mike Webster, who died in September 2002.
After leaving the NFL, Webster was tormented by debt, depression and poor health. He was homeless at times, and at one point lived in the Kansas City Chiefs' equipment room, where he worked briefly as an assistant strength and conditioning coach.
"He was too proud to have someone go to bat for him," Kramer said.
Some professional athletes make millions of dollars during their careers, but most did not - specially the older players, the men said. For example, Kramer, 70, earned $8,000 in his first year in the league. The year before he retired, he made about $27,000.
Kramer estimates as many as 400 former players, some who are in their 70s, get less than $400 a month from their NFL pensions. His pension has dropped to $158 in recent years, but the NFL added $200 a month for the single year he played prior to 1959.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in May that those who played prior to 1959 were not originally in the NFL pension plan, although they were added years ago. The league spends $5 million a month on retirement and disability benefits for more than 2,500 players, he said.
Many players from his era began drawing pensions at age 45, he said, only to see them drop dramatically when they turned 62 and became eligible for Social Security. A number of those players are without private medical insurance, he said.
The plan for the fund actually had its start on an airplane 25 years ago when Kramer lost his Super Bowl ring. He had a replica made, but in April, he found the original being auctioned online. He told the auction house and Mastro Auctions Inc. president Doug Allen pulled the auction, bought the ring from the seller and returned it to Kramer at no charge.
In May, he and Mastro teamed up to sell his replica ring. It brought nearly $23,000.
It was no accident Kramer chose Mastro to handle the Super Bowl week auction.
Kramer said he hopes that auction will raise between $1 million and $2 million.
Whatever the outcome, Kramer said he'd like to hold a Super Bowl week auction every year.
ON THE NET
http://www.jerrykramer.com
http://www.mastroauctions.com
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