The plight of retired players is a growing concern
By Ethan J. Skolnick
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 1, 2007
Forty years ago, Willie Wood ran the other way in glory. The slick Green Bay free safety snatched a Len Dawson pass and raced 50 yards, as the Packers sprinted to an easy victory in Super Bowl I against Dawson's Chiefs.
Now, many contemporaries and friends see shame as they accuse the NFL and its players association of running away from legendary players like him.
Wood, 69, is certainly in no shape to chase anyone these days.
The Hall of Famer has replaced one knee and one hip, will need to replace the other knee, and maybe the hip, too. He has a wheelchair, and back trouble, and gout, and diabetes, and arthritis in his hands, and even early-stage dementia. While he never took his principal, his pension still earns him only about $1,000 per month -- which is actually four times as much as many players of his era, even after the recent proposed 25 percent increase that is awaiting ratification.
"The medical monster has been a problem for a lot of older guys," said Jerry Kramer, Wood's former teammate. "Costs have escalated so dramatically, and many were caught without insurance, and some were uninsurable. We were able to piece together some funds for Willie, and get him into an assisted living facility."
For now, anyway.
But for Wood and so many of his physically and financially broken contemporaries, who made a pittance compared to current players, the resources run out quicker than any of them ever ran onto a field. Speak to any player who retired before the late 1970s, and you'll hear tragic stories about teammates. Some are invalids, with wives returning to work to pay for care. Some are homeless, or in trailers. Some have passed away penniless, with no family capable of paying for a proper funeral.
After witnessing these declines, along with what they perceive as a prolonged, shameful run from responsibility on the part of the NFL and player union chief Gene Upshaw, several outraged football legends and their supporters are taking a new approach.
"We will have World Wars IV and V before we have resolution on the pension issue," said Bob Schmidt, Wood's former USC teammate and long-time attorney. "You can't win that argument. We have to kill them with kindness. If we go out and do the things that we are capable of doing for these players, the league and the association will have to come along, because otherwise they will really look stupid."
The NFL, and particularly, its players association have come under heavy criticism of late, even from more recently retired Hall of Famers such as Joe Montana and Howie Long. The issues: the meagerness of pensions for old-time players, especially when compared to contemporaries in baseball and the extreme difficulty in receiving total and permanent disability status. Critics have mostly targeted Upshaw, who has touted pension improvements, retirement packages for current players, called retired players "ungrateful" and said he does not represent them.
Upshaw told the Charlotte Observer last year that the NFL can't extend health insurance coverage beyond the current 5-year post-retirement limit because it would be cost-prohibitive, citing a figure between $5 billion to $9 billion to insure current players for life.
The retired player problem has become such a flashpoint that, when asked for comment last week, NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said that Upshaw "would have an in-depth, comprehensive response to all of the media reports" at today's 3:30 p.m. NFLPA press conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Earlier in the day, Mike Ditka will lead a press conference about the concerns of retired players.
At 11 a.m., Kramer will announce the official start of his first Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund auction, through JerryKramer.com.
"I just pray that the other people have an impact on the league, or the pension fund, or the players association, but these are guys who need help right now, today," Kramer said. "Virtually everyone we've asked has donated something."
That includes those who could use help themselves.
Conrad Dobler, an NFL offensive lineman for 10 seasons, now runs a supplemental staffing business for nurses. His house is getting repossessed. His wife is paralyzed. He had seven surgeries in one year, has had his left knee replaced twice, and spent nearly 100 days in the hospital this past year. He pops Vicodin like candy. He has never received a penny of disability money from the union or league.
"You have to be in a coma before you get anything," Dobler said.
He doesn't take his pension, because it would only cover his health insurance, not including his co-payments.
And yet, he says, "There are a lot of other people in worse shape than I am."
And, so while he has six children, and hoped to leave them his mementos -- if not sell them on eBay -- he considers Kramer's to be the ideal charity.
"It's time to quit the bitching and put together an organization to get help where the players need help," Dobler said. "By God, if nobody is going to take care of us, we will do it ourselves, with the help of the players who respected the people like us, the people who made the game great."
That's why Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure is auctioning off a bracelet that former teammate O.J. Simpson gave him, one valued at about $1,500. He wouldn't do otherwise, but after seeing the state of former teammates -- one of which he just visited in a shelter -- and considering "we have realized the union and league will do nothing about this."
"It's an absolute disgrace that the former players, who were screwed all along, have to give up the things that they earned," said DeLamielleure, who has been receiving a $992 pension, which would have been $2,200 if he could have waited until age 55. "If the industry was suffering, then guys could say, `Hey, we understand it.' But it's not. It's booming. We're forgotten, but we're not gone."
They're certainly not going quietly.
Bruce Laird and Tom Matte were among those frustrated by the NFLPA's initial response to a call for help for former teammate John Mackey, who suffers from dementia, and whose wife Sylvia had to return to work as a flight attendant at age 62. So they formed a Google Group, which now includes more than 1,000 retired players, they have lobbied politicians, they have contacted legal firms and worked with Kramer -- also believing they need to act quickly to help former players before real change comes.
Matte, now a Ravens broadcaster, made $85,000 at one point in his career, so he considers himself fortunate despite his medical problems. After a 12-year career, he makes $1,400 per month in his pension, before the 25 percent increase.
"What we have to do is embarrass the league," Matte said.
They aim to represent a group that they believe lacks allies, including current players. DeLamielleure believe that is because Upshaw has not educated them. Matte thinks it's because they "have so much change in their pocket, that they don't care what's happening."
Said Laird: "After new collective-bargaining agreement, the new players get more, and the old players really don't."
His monthly pension is around $200.
"It's not about that, it's about the ancillary benefits the modern player has," Laird said. "We are very happy for the active player. They have finally gotten what they sorely deserve. We would just like everybody to understand that the pioneers who made this game great have been left out in the cold for a long, long time."
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
By Ethan J. Skolnick
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
February 1, 2007
Forty years ago, Willie Wood ran the other way in glory. The slick Green Bay free safety snatched a Len Dawson pass and raced 50 yards, as the Packers sprinted to an easy victory in Super Bowl I against Dawson's Chiefs.
Now, many contemporaries and friends see shame as they accuse the NFL and its players association of running away from legendary players like him.
Wood, 69, is certainly in no shape to chase anyone these days.
The Hall of Famer has replaced one knee and one hip, will need to replace the other knee, and maybe the hip, too. He has a wheelchair, and back trouble, and gout, and diabetes, and arthritis in his hands, and even early-stage dementia. While he never took his principal, his pension still earns him only about $1,000 per month -- which is actually four times as much as many players of his era, even after the recent proposed 25 percent increase that is awaiting ratification.
"The medical monster has been a problem for a lot of older guys," said Jerry Kramer, Wood's former teammate. "Costs have escalated so dramatically, and many were caught without insurance, and some were uninsurable. We were able to piece together some funds for Willie, and get him into an assisted living facility."
For now, anyway.
But for Wood and so many of his physically and financially broken contemporaries, who made a pittance compared to current players, the resources run out quicker than any of them ever ran onto a field. Speak to any player who retired before the late 1970s, and you'll hear tragic stories about teammates. Some are invalids, with wives returning to work to pay for care. Some are homeless, or in trailers. Some have passed away penniless, with no family capable of paying for a proper funeral.
After witnessing these declines, along with what they perceive as a prolonged, shameful run from responsibility on the part of the NFL and player union chief Gene Upshaw, several outraged football legends and their supporters are taking a new approach.
"We will have World Wars IV and V before we have resolution on the pension issue," said Bob Schmidt, Wood's former USC teammate and long-time attorney. "You can't win that argument. We have to kill them with kindness. If we go out and do the things that we are capable of doing for these players, the league and the association will have to come along, because otherwise they will really look stupid."
The NFL, and particularly, its players association have come under heavy criticism of late, even from more recently retired Hall of Famers such as Joe Montana and Howie Long. The issues: the meagerness of pensions for old-time players, especially when compared to contemporaries in baseball and the extreme difficulty in receiving total and permanent disability status. Critics have mostly targeted Upshaw, who has touted pension improvements, retirement packages for current players, called retired players "ungrateful" and said he does not represent them.
Upshaw told the Charlotte Observer last year that the NFL can't extend health insurance coverage beyond the current 5-year post-retirement limit because it would be cost-prohibitive, citing a figure between $5 billion to $9 billion to insure current players for life.
The retired player problem has become such a flashpoint that, when asked for comment last week, NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said that Upshaw "would have an in-depth, comprehensive response to all of the media reports" at today's 3:30 p.m. NFLPA press conference at the Miami Beach Convention Center.
Earlier in the day, Mike Ditka will lead a press conference about the concerns of retired players.
At 11 a.m., Kramer will announce the official start of his first Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund auction, through JerryKramer.com.
"I just pray that the other people have an impact on the league, or the pension fund, or the players association, but these are guys who need help right now, today," Kramer said. "Virtually everyone we've asked has donated something."
That includes those who could use help themselves.
Conrad Dobler, an NFL offensive lineman for 10 seasons, now runs a supplemental staffing business for nurses. His house is getting repossessed. His wife is paralyzed. He had seven surgeries in one year, has had his left knee replaced twice, and spent nearly 100 days in the hospital this past year. He pops Vicodin like candy. He has never received a penny of disability money from the union or league.
"You have to be in a coma before you get anything," Dobler said.
He doesn't take his pension, because it would only cover his health insurance, not including his co-payments.
And yet, he says, "There are a lot of other people in worse shape than I am."
And, so while he has six children, and hoped to leave them his mementos -- if not sell them on eBay -- he considers Kramer's to be the ideal charity.
"It's time to quit the bitching and put together an organization to get help where the players need help," Dobler said. "By God, if nobody is going to take care of us, we will do it ourselves, with the help of the players who respected the people like us, the people who made the game great."
That's why Hall of Fame guard Joe DeLamielleure is auctioning off a bracelet that former teammate O.J. Simpson gave him, one valued at about $1,500. He wouldn't do otherwise, but after seeing the state of former teammates -- one of which he just visited in a shelter -- and considering "we have realized the union and league will do nothing about this."
"It's an absolute disgrace that the former players, who were screwed all along, have to give up the things that they earned," said DeLamielleure, who has been receiving a $992 pension, which would have been $2,200 if he could have waited until age 55. "If the industry was suffering, then guys could say, `Hey, we understand it.' But it's not. It's booming. We're forgotten, but we're not gone."
They're certainly not going quietly.
Bruce Laird and Tom Matte were among those frustrated by the NFLPA's initial response to a call for help for former teammate John Mackey, who suffers from dementia, and whose wife Sylvia had to return to work as a flight attendant at age 62. So they formed a Google Group, which now includes more than 1,000 retired players, they have lobbied politicians, they have contacted legal firms and worked with Kramer -- also believing they need to act quickly to help former players before real change comes.
Matte, now a Ravens broadcaster, made $85,000 at one point in his career, so he considers himself fortunate despite his medical problems. After a 12-year career, he makes $1,400 per month in his pension, before the 25 percent increase.
"What we have to do is embarrass the league," Matte said.
They aim to represent a group that they believe lacks allies, including current players. DeLamielleure believe that is because Upshaw has not educated them. Matte thinks it's because they "have so much change in their pocket, that they don't care what's happening."
Said Laird: "After new collective-bargaining agreement, the new players get more, and the old players really don't."
His monthly pension is around $200.
"It's not about that, it's about the ancillary benefits the modern player has," Laird said. "We are very happy for the active player. They have finally gotten what they sorely deserve. We would just like everybody to understand that the pioneers who made this game great have been left out in the cold for a long, long time."
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel
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