Lloyd Voss (1942-2007)

DEFENSIVE END - PLAYED FROM 1966-1971 LLOYD VOSS
FEB. 13, 1942 - MARCH 1, 2007
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA)
March 2, 2007

Lloyd Voss received a world championship ring in his second season with the Green Bay Packers, who had drafted him in the first round in 1964. He never got another, even after playing six seasons with the Steelers.

Mr. Voss was a defensive end with the Steelers from 1966 to 1971, before there was a Super Bowl trophy in the Golden Triangle, before there was even a famous Steel Curtain defense.

But that never stopped him from trying to be a leader for the Steelers, even during their down years under Bill Austin.

"He was one of those very dependable guys who did it just the way it was supposed to be done," said former linebacker Andy Russell, who was Mr. Voss' roommate on the road and during training camp. "We lost a lot of close games in the '60s and when we had meetings to talk about what was wrong, Lloyd was one of the guys who stood up and was one of the leaders in the locker room."

Mr. Voss, who was acquired by the Steelers in a trade after being the 13th overall pick in the 1964 draft, died yesterday of complications from liver and kidney failure. He was 65.

His daughter, Kristin, 25, of Green Tree, said Mr. Voss had a liver transplant three years ago and had been in and out of intensive care units several times since then.

"He was a great guy who loved to hunt and fish," Ms. Voss said. "He was an all-around good guy who befriended everybody."

Mr. Voss, who lived in Scott, worked 26 years for the Allegheny County Parks and Recreation Department following his retirement as a professional player in 1974. In addition to the Packers and Steelers, he also played one season with the Denver Broncos (1972) and another with the New York Stars and Charlotte Hornets of the defunct World Football League.

Mr. Voss was so dependable he missed only three games in nine NFL seasons.

"He was a great teammate, a super, quality player," Mr. Russell said.

A native of Magnolia, Minn., Mr. Voss played at the University of Nebraska before the Packers drafted him in the first round in 1964. After two seasons, the Packers traded him and end Tony Jeter to the Steelers for a No. 1 draft pick in 1967.

For three seasons, Mr. Voss played on the same defensive line with Mean Joe Greene, a future Hall of Fame defensive tackle who was the team's No. 1 pick in 1969. He was the left end and Mr. Greene was the left tackle. Mr. Voss moved to right defensive end in 1970 when L.C. Greenwood became the starter at left end.

Mr. Voss was inducted to the Nebraska Hall of Fame in 1996.

"He was tough," Mr. Greene said yesterday. "I always felt when I was standing next to him that I should have been the end and he should have been the tackle because I was probably about 2 inches taller than him.

"Lloyd helped me out a lot. He was the guy who helped me run the stunts and I taught L.C., and then we kind of got together. A lot of the stuff we learned from Lloyd."

In addition to his daughter, Mr. Voss is survived by two other children, Sue, 38, of Scott; and Thomas John, 37, of Green Tree. Arrangements are by Slater Funeral Home.
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Green Bay Press-Gazette

Lloyd Voss, a defensive lineman who was the Green Bay Packers’ first-round draft pick in 1964, died Thursday in the Pittsburgh area of complications from liver and kidney failure. He was 65.

The Packers chose Voss, a 6-foot-4, 260-pounder who played at the University of Nebraska, with the 13th overall pick in that draft. Wearing No. 71, he played in all 28 games in the 1964 and 1965 seasons, all as a backup. He missed only three games in nine NFL seasons.

In 1966, Packers coach Vince Lombardi traded Voss and rookie receiver Tony Jeter to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a first-round draft pick in 1967, which the Packers used to select offensive lineman Bob Hyland.

Voss played six seasons with the Steelers, starting at defensive end.

“He was one of those very dependable guys who did it just the way it was supposed to be done,” former Steelers linebacker Andy Russell told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

“He was tough,” Hall of Fame defensive tackle Joe Greene told the Post-Gazette. “Lloyd helped me out a lot. He was the guy who helped me run the stunts and I taught L.C. (Greenwood), and they we kind of got together. A lot of the stuff we learned from Lloyd.”

Voss finished his career with the Denver Broncos in 1972, then spent a season with the New York Stars and Charlotte Hornets of the old World Football League.

After football, Voss settled in the Pittsburgh area and worked for the Allegheny County Parks and Recreation Department for 26 years.

He had a liver transplant in 2004 and had been in and out of intensive care several times since, his daughter, Kristin, told the Post-Gazette.

Voss is survived by two daughters and a son.

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NFL looks at effects of head injuries

Study to focus on brain function after concussions

By Ken Murray
Baltimore Sun reporter

March 8, 2007

Confronted with unhappy and increasingly unhealthy retired players, the NFL is embarking on a study of concussions - estimated to cost as much as $3 million - in search of evidence of chronic brain dysfunction.

Dr. Ira Casson, co-chairman of the league's research team on concussions, this week said he hopes to answer the ominous question "of whether or not a career in the NFL results in any kind of chronic brain injury."

To a number of retired players, including several former Colts, that answer is already in.

Merril Hoge was forced to retire from the Chicago Bears after suffering two concussions within the span of 42 days early in the 1994 season. He says he never had a follow-up evaluation after the first one and was back on the practice field five days later.

When Hoge, a running back, suffered a second concussion six weeks later, he says he stopped breathing in the locker room and nearly died.

"Because I was not re-evaluated, I was allowed to play early and I took another blow to the same frayed area [of the brain] that wasn't healed," said Hoge, an NFL analyst for ESPN. "Normally what happens, it's fatal. Second impact syndrome kills you. ... I got lucky. I [only] spent two days in intensive care."

Jim Cheyunski, a linebacker who played with the Colts in 1975 and 1976, remembers being out on his feet and still calling defensive signals.

"It's unfortunate, but we don't get backed up for all the blood and guts we put out for them," Cheyunski said. His nine-year career left him with an artificial knee, a fused back and depression.

Joe Perry, a Hall of Fame running back who played for the Colts in 1961 and 1962, suffers from pugilistic dementia. At 80, his memory lapses have been increasing at an alarming rate. Perry, who began to play during the leather helmet era, has no doubt the head trauma he endured during a 14-year NFL career is responsible for his impairment.

"When you get cracked on the head and keep getting cracked on the head, you lose your memory and everything else," Perry said. "Whether it comes back to you, it still takes a toll on you."

Casson, a neurologist at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein School of Medicine, said the concussion committee already has done preliminary work on the study of retired players.

The committee will physically examine and neurologically test several hundred retired players and compare those results with a control (non-football) group over a period of years.

"We'll try to see if people who have suffered multiple concussions appear to have significant effect on brain function," said Dr. Andrew Tucker, a member of the committee and team physician for the Ravens.

Casson said his committee also will try to determine whether mouth guards make a difference in mild traumatic brain injuries by testing crash-test dummies similar to those used in the auto industry. "There are claims about a lot of mouth guards that at the moment are unproven," he said.

Casson and Dr. David Viano of Wayne State University became co-chairs when Dr. Elliot Pellman stepped down as chairman last week after 13 years. Pellman, who remains on the committee, had been criticized heavily in recent months over his qualifications and methods in directing it. His colleagues have been quick to defend him.

"We don't plan to change anything in the committee," Casson said. "We are planning to continue the work that he started. If we can do half the job he did, we'll be doing well."

The NFL's policy on concussions has come under scrutiny with the suicide of former safety Andre Waters and the revelation by former New England Patriots linebacker Ted Johnson that he is addicted to amphetamines and suffers from depression and mental lapses. Before this year's Super Bowl, Johnson told The New York Times, The Boston Globe and ESPN that he believes his symptoms are related to repeated concussions in the NFL.

Those cases follow the well-documented deaths of former Pittsburgh Steelers linemen Terry Long and Mike Webster. Both suffered from mental impairment that was linked to brain trauma from their playing careers. Long committed suicide two years ago, and Webster died of heart failure in 2002.

Hoge played with the Steelers from 1987 through 1993 and was a teammate of Long's and Webster's.

"I don't think there's any question that what they sustained, what they dealt with as far as their career, had an effect on that," Hoge said. "To what degree, I don't know for sure. But I would say it was significant."

Pellman's group has reported there is "no evidence of worsening injury or chronic cumulative effects of multiple [concussions] in NFL players."

In 2005, the committee also wrote that players returning to play after a concussion don't incur "significant risk of a second injury either in the same game or during the season."

Both assessments have been sharply criticized by experts in the brain injury field.

N. Carolina research

The University of North Carolina's Center for the Study of Retired Athletes reported in 2005 that retired NFL players "faced a 37 percent higher risk of Alzheimer's than other U.S. males of the same age" after a survey of 2,552 players.

In 2003, a study by the Center said 91.7 percent of repeat concussions in NCAA football players occurred within 10 days of the first injury, and 75 percent came within seven days.

The NFL has criticized the UNC studies because they were culled from surveys, not scientific data. Dr. Kevin Guskiewicz, the research director for the Center, counters by saying UNC has invited in more than 65 players for exams and neurological tests and now has data on more than 150 players.

"Those with three or more concussions were at five-fold risk of being diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment after age 50, compared to someone with no prior concussions," he said.

As the father of three boys who play football, Guskiewicz said his motivation is safety.

"I try to be careful not to paint this ugly, ugly picture," he said. "Clearly, there are [retired players] who are doing just fine. Some say we're trying to paint this ugly picture. That's ridiculous. I've been doing this for 15 years. My goal is to help improve the game to make it a more safe game, regardless of what level it is."

'Elite-level athlete'

Casson and Tucker say their studies are applicable only for NFL players. Though the study of college players shows a high recurrence of concussion when players return within a week, the NFL's numbers suggest players can - and do - return more quickly without incident. One of the NFL studies said 51.7 percent of players who suffered some form of concussion returned to the same game.

"That's a much higher percentage than you'd see in high school or college," Tucker said. "But we know older brains seem to recover from concussions more quickly than young brains. Our data shows that the risk of recurrent concussion in the postconcussion period was extraordinarily low. The length of time between the first and second concussion [averaged] over one year."

Casson suggested the NFL player has been conditioned to the violence of the game by the time he reaches the NFL and is better able to withstand the punishment. He pointed to age, better physical conditioning and the weeding-out process as reasons NFL players are less prone to concussion than high school and college athletes.

Tucker acknowledged there is no single accepted guideline that all NFL teams follow in treating concussions.

"However, NFL team physicians have been educated through our efforts, and I imagine you'll find they're going to abide by the recommendations and general guidelines all sports providers abide by," Tucker said. "That is, you wait until symptoms resolve before a player returns to play.

"We're the beneficiary of an elite-level athlete who seems to recover quicker."

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Paying the Price of Getting Old

By Jeff Davis
March 6, 2007
Chicago Sports Review
http://www.chicagosportsreview.com/printer/article.asp?c=191445

Something is deeply wrong with pro football. It boils down to the simple fact that the richest, most powerful, most popular league on earth, the National Football League, is throwing dirt on its ancestors while they are still alive. The ancestors, of course, are the players who made the game rich and powerful, and are now are begging for some crumbs in the form of a decent pension and health care.

We're talking about the men who played before 1982, when the first of two major strikes that redefined player's pension rights. These are men who were permanently injured from playing a sport that, according to those who participate, is the equivalent of an auto crash every play.

Imagine, say, that you manage to survive 75 or 80 such collisions over a three hour period every week, and did it for no less than 20 weeks (don't forget pre-season games) plus three or four more playoff games. The average Bear this year survived about 1,500 such collisions. That leaves men with battered limbs that lead to crippling, and worst of all, brain concussions that lead to Alzheimer's and dementia.

"Basically, they're waiting for us to die," said Mike Pyle, the former Bears's center, co-captain and past NFLPA president. What a sad commentary.

That's why you are hearing Hall of Famers and former stars like Mike Ditka, Green Bay's Jerry Kramer, Buffalo's Joe DeLamielleure, the Giants's Harry Carson, and their group, they call the Forgotten325. They are standing up for Alzheimer's victims and Hall of Famer's like John Mackey, Pete Pihos, and non-Hall inductee, but championship
linebacker Bill Forester of Vince Lombardi's Packers. They are standing up for perhaps the greatest defensive end of all, the Bears's Doug Atkins who is confined to a wheelchair in his Knoxville, Tennessee home because he can't afford, let alone get, insurance to cover hip replacement surgery.

And there are so many more.

Take the premier cornerback of his era, Herb Adderley, who gave Green Bay and Dallas a dozen years after playing his trade at Duffy Daugherty's Michigan State football factory in the late '50s and early '60s. Because the union told Adderley and other ex-players years ago that the life expectancy of the average pro was age 55, he chose to take his pension at 45. When he outlived the actuarial figuring (as life expectancy for his group pushed 60) Adderley was stuck with a pension that brings him a disgraceful $126 dollars a month. No wonder he says "I'm embarrassed to say I even played in the NFL."

Ditka led the old-timers charge the week before this year's Super Bowl.

"It's a disgrace," said the great Bear tight end and coach. Charging that owners only care about money, not the history of the game, Ditka blasted away. "The owners ought to be ashamed of themselves."

DeLamielleure said it as bluntly as possible, laying co-blame at the feet of union head Gene Upshaw, who takes home millions a year as executive director of the NFLPA.

"Our pension sucks, plain and simple." DeLamielleure said.

When asked about Ditka's comments at his first pre-Super Bowl news conference, a somewhat evasive rookie commissioner Roger Goodell lamely said Ditka was wrong and then said he had to talk things over "with Gene."

Talking things over with Gene Upshaw goes to the heart of the matter according to many former players. After the owners' management council engineered the 1987 strike and hired guys off loading docks and semi-pro teams and called them "replacements," Upshaw stood up and let himself be counted.

Realizing the public and the networks did not like what they saw in 1987, the former Oakland Raiders' Hall of Fame guard forced the owners' hand by decertifying the union. He used the NFLPA war chest dues to finance court cases and eventually, the players won every case.

Before he left office in 1989, Pete Rozelle started a dialogue with Upshaw and he told his successor Paul Tagliabue that he must do the same to end the war. When Tagliabue dissolved the NFL Management Council and took charge of negotiations himself, he was able to forge a truce and ultimately a settlement with Upshaw. The NFL now has lasted two decades without a labor stoppage.

The problem though, is the commissioner and executive director became close personal friends. The old-timers who fought the good fight have another word for it, one almost as dirty as the one all unionists disdain, scab, for "replacements." That word is Sweetheart. And in the labor movement, sweetheart emits an odor that reeks of collusion.

Meanwhile, the fight between the old-timers, now focused against both the league and union, continues.

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Even rocky roads bring old friends together

Roanoke Times
March 3, 2007
by Joe Kennedy

Last Sunday was the first time Raymond Berry had ever been in the Roanoke airport. He picked up The Roanoke Times and read about the death, the day before, of his Baltimore Colts teammate, George Preas.

Berry called B.J. Preas, the widow of the former Colts offensive tackle, and offered to speak at Thursday's memorial service.

"I think I'm supposed to be here today," he told the mourners on Thursday at Second Presbyterian Church, as he reminisced about playing with Preas when both were Colts rookies and when the team won NFL championships in 1958 and '59.

At 74, the NFL Hall of Fame receiver is tall and rangy. He shows no outward effects of his football career, though he says "a few joints" remind him of it at times.

His former teammates, defensive end Ordell Braase, tight end Jim Mutscheller and center Buzz Nutter also spoke at the service.

Sandy Unitas, the widow of the legendary quarterback Johnny Unitas, also attended.

Life is difficult

George Preas died Feb. 24 at age 73 after a 17-year struggle with Parkinson's disease.

Few people can claim to have gone through anything like that, but Sandy Unitas dodged a possible heart attack and Braase's wife died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or Lou Gehrig's disease, several years ago.

Braase, 74, has had three hip replacements and a knee replacement, likely as a result of his football career.

At the luncheon in the church fellowship hall, he said he felt he mishandled his wife's illness.

He tried to learn everything about it, hoping to unearth a cure, though none exists.

And he insisted that she come home from the hospital, so he could care for her and help her to recover.

She died the night before she was to leave the hospital.

"I think she willed herself death," he said.

He subsequently organized an ALS fundraiser to mark the 45th anniversary of the Baltimore Colts' victory in the 1958 overtime championship contest known as "The Greatest Game Ever Played."

It raised $250,000 for research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions in Baltimore.

No warning

For Sandy Unitas, an invitation to speak for a group called Sister to Sister about heart disease and the fatal heart attack that killed her husband in 2002 led her to "walk the walk."

She was overweight and exhausted, and her cardiologist noticed that she was depressed. He ordered tests.

The results showed a 90 percent blockage in a coronary artery. It reduced her heart function by 40 percent.

Two hours later, Unitas underwent open heart surgery.

Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women, she said, and 80 percent of the problems are curable. Depression and stress are prominent among them.

She feels better now. She drove to the service in Roanoke from Charleston, S.C., where she is taking a four-month vacation.

(Coincidentally, B.J. Preas had open heart surgery in December.)

Separate roads

When the final whistle blew in that 1958 championship game, Raymond Berry's life changed in a different way.

He was 27, and "I wasn't a person who thought about God," he said.

But his team's achievement left him enveloped by awe.

He went from the clamorous locker area to a restroom stall and tried to puzzle out the purpose of his achievement.

Ultimately he concluded, "There's got to be more to life than chasing a football."

He almost gave up the game.

Just before the start of training camp in 1960, teammate Don Shinnick "led me to Christ."

Now he speaks to Christian groups and tends to business matters, including a meeting in Christiansburg on Feb. 24.

The meeting led him to the Roanoke airport and the news that his teammate had died.

And that brought him to the service.

As a player, Preas was known as strong and silent.

Berry saw him as "a man that had a natural leadership about him -- a very smart football player."

On Dec. 28, 1958, none of these people knew where their roads would take them.

Separate roads, all of them potholed, brought Berry, Braase, Mutscheller and Nutter, as well as Sandy Unitas, to Roanoke to pay tribute to an old friend.

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Teammates offer toasts to NFL great Lamar Lundy

'I owe everything I accomplished to him,' Deacon Jones says

BY MIKE BENNETT
Richmond (Ind.) Palladium-Item
March 3, 2007

They were equals.

Together as teammates, as partners, as family.

Together through eternity.

The Fearsome Foursome joined again on Friday night to toast Lamar Lundy and to tell heartwarming and humorous tales about the man they loved, the man they will say goodbye to today.

Lundy died last Saturday morning.

His funeral starts at 11 a.m. today at Greater Second Baptist Church, 1371 N. G St.

"I owe everything I accomplished to him," said NFL hall-of-famer Deacon Jones as he sat around a table at Wellings Steakhouse.

Lundy helped calm the race-related bitterness in Jones, helped him focus his immense physical talents onto the football field, his mind onto being a pioneer for black players in the NFL.

"He was our hero," said Rosey Grier, a fellow defensive lineman with the Los Angeles Rams.

"Lamar showed me strength. I never heard him complain," Grier said, alluding to the life-threatening illnesses that Lundy had fought for four decades.

Jones and Grier all hope they have the chance to say a few words about Lundy today at his funeral.

"It's important for all of of us to be here," Grier said. "To let (people) know what he meant to us."

Roger Brown, who joined the foursome after Grier retired, said he cherishes the chance to salute Lundy and his hometown. "It's coming to a celebration of how he lived and how he died," Brown said.

It was obvious that Richmond meant a lot to Lundy, Grier said. "I am really proud to come here," he said. "He loved Richmond. "The people give a lot of love and support to athletics. I feel very comfortable coming here."

Merlin Olsen remembers Lundy for his calmness and his inclusiveness.

"I don't think I ever saw him angry," Olsen said. "His welcoming nature was great."

Olsen also was a hall-of-fame defensive lineman.

Jones said the group will continue to ask for a share of card signings and other Foursome-related events to go to Lundy, possibly into a foundation in his honor.

"It's everybody equal. His name will be in the hat," Jones said. "That's what togetherness is. That will never change."

A steady stream of people passed by Lundy during his calling on Friday. "We anticipated 800 or 900 or more came through," said Tracy Lewis, co-owner of Community Family Funeral Home.

"There was a constant flow of people, but it was never backed up."

Lundy will be buried at Earlham Cemetery. Some streets will be blocked for the funeral procession. "We won't map that out until the morning," Lewis said Friday night.

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N.F.L. Doctor Quits Amid Research Doubt

By ALAN SCHWARZ
New York Times
March 1, 2007

Dr. Elliot Pellman, whose qualifications as the longtime chairman of the N.F.L.'s research committee on concussions have been a subject of widespread debate, resigned as chairman of the committee on Monday.

Pellman had no particular background in neurology, which prompted many outside experts to question his leadership of a group devoted to researching brain injuries. The research that the committee published on the effects and care of concussions among N.F.L. players also was debated heavily because it often ran counter to the findings of scientists not affiliated with the league.

Pellman, whose resignation was first reported by The Baltimore Sun yesterday, declined comment and referred questions to an N.F.L. spokesman. Pellman is also the team doctor for the Jets and the Islanders, and he will continue to serve on the 14-member mild traumatic brain injury committee. Dr. David C. Viano, a biomechanics
consultant in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., and Dr. Ira Casson, a neurologist at Yeshiva University's Albert Einstein School of Medicine, will serve as co-chairs.

Viano, a longtime member of the committee, appeared to contradict one of his committee's major published conclusions yesterday. One specific point of contention regarding the committee's research has centered on the N.F.L.'s allowing half of the players who sustain concussions to return to the same game - a practice the committee defended as safe in an article published in the January 2005 edition of the journal
Neurosurgery. Some believe that this practice could encourage coaches of high school and youth teams to take the same approach; research has shown that concussions sustained by teenagers can be far more dangerous than those in adults.

"We've been cautious in our writings to say that we're only looking at professional football players, and we don't imply any connection of this research at the high school level or for younger people," Viano said in a telephone interview yesterday. "We've limited ourselves as much as possible."

But in the 2005 article in Neurosurgery - of which Viano was listed as the second author, under Pellman - the committee wrote in its conclusion: "It might be safe for college/high school football players to be cleared to return to play on the same day as their injury. The authors suggest that, rather than blindly adhering to arbitrary, rigid guidelines, physicians keep an open mind to the possibility that the present analysis of professional football players may have relevance to college and high school players."

Asked about the apparent contradiction, Viano said, "I think under that particular scenario the word 'may' is appropriate."

Pellman's resignation follows an ESPN magazine report last October on the criticism of the committee's research, and recent articles in The New York Times on the effects of concussions on retired players. A neuropathologist in Pittsburgh determined that the brain of Andre Waters, a 44-year-old former Philadelphia Eagles player who committed suicide in November, showed significant concussion-related damage that
played a role in the depression that preceded his death. And the doctor for Ted Johnson, a former linebacker for three New England Patriots championship teams, said that concussions that Johnson sustained playing football had left him with cognitive impairment and depression similar to that of early-stage victims of Alzheimer's
disease.

Greg Aiello, the N.F.L. spokesman, said that Pellman, who had been chairman of the committee since its formation in 1994, requested to be replaced and that the move was merely administrative. Because Pellman will remain on the committee and continue to serve as the group's liaison with the league office, "his work with the committee will continue," Aiello said.

Asked if Pellman's publicly questioned qualifications as chairman became a distraction or played any role in the decision, Aiello said, "That may be a perception that others have, but not us."

Two years ago, The Times reported that Pellman had exaggerated several aspects of his medical education and professional status in official biographical sketches and a résumé prepared for an appearance before a Congressional panel. At the time, he was chief medical adviser to Major League Baseball in addition to his role with the Jets and the Islanders.

The false statements included a claim to have a medical degree from the State University of New York at Stony Brook, when he actually attended medical school in Guadalajara, Mexico; a claim he was an associate clinical professor at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, when he actually was an assistant clinical professor, a
lower-ranking and honorary position, and did not teach; and a claim that he was a fellow of the American College of Physicians, although he had lost that title six years earlier when he stopped paying dues and was no longer a member of the group.

Pellman said they were minor errors, apologized and corrected them.

Viano's apparent inconsistency regarding one of the N.F.L. committee's major conclusions suggested that the debate over its work may not end with Pellman's resignation.

"I find it very worrisome," said Dr. Robert Cantu, the chief of neurosurgery and director of sports medicine at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass. "They say one thing in one place and in other places other things. They're going against a ton of peer-reviewed, very well scrutinized, multiple academic research centers. And their science is very suspect."

Viano said that studying the long-term effects of concussions on retired players would be among his committee's most important work. He said that the study will take at least three years.

In January, three members were added to the committee: Dr. Joseph Maroon, vice chairman of neurosurgery at the University of Pittsburgh and the Pittsburgh Steelers' team neurosurgeon; Dr. Joel Morgenlander, a professor of neurology at Duke University; and Dr. Thomas Naidich, professor of radiology and neurosurgery at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in Manhattan.

Viano said the addition of those neurological experts would help in the committee's examination of concussions in retired players, but that Pellman's resignation would have no discernible effect.

"I don't see any changes in our direction," Viano said. "I think the important thing for us to do is bring about high-quality research and bring that to a conclusion."

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Ex-Steeler Elbie Nickel passes

by Jim Wexell
SteelCityInsider.com
Mar 1, 2007

One of the Steelers' all-time greats, Elbie Nickel, passed away Tuesday at the age of 84. In 2005 I interviewed Nickel -- who suffered from Alzheimer's Disease -- for the 2006 book "Men of Steel." Here's the excerpt:

Elbie Nickel built his house in Chillicothe, Ohio, for $2,000 in 1949 and sold it for 60 times that amount in 2004.

The buyers, after winning a brief but furious bidding war, were quite pleased. They may have known Elbie Nickel was once a star football player at Chillicothe High School, the University of Cincinnati and the Pittsburgh Steelers, but more important to them was the fact Nickel ran one of the best-known construction companies in southern Ohio.

"Everybody in Chillicothe, when you mention my dad's name, knows who he is," said Joe Nickel. "The people that I talked to, the lady that bought the house, they all talked about the fact that they knew, because of the construction company, that the house was well-constructed. They never mentioned the Steeler connection."

The fact that the greatest tight end in Steelers history is better known for his off-season job says that either A.) Nickel was one fine builder or B.) Pro sport in the 1950s wasn't the game it is today.

Both are true. When Nickel retired from the Steelers, it was because his father had been after him to take over the construction business. So, at the age of 35, Nickel got on with his life's work.

Nickel actually retired twice from the Steelers. At Forbes Field, for the final home game of the 1956 season, Nickel was honored beforehand and then scored two touchdowns. He was carried off the field by teammates after the Steelers beat the Los Angeles Rams, 30-13.

After the season, Nickel played in his third Pro Bowl and was named the Steelers' Most Valuable Player by the Curbstone Coaches of Pittsburgh. They presented him with a trophy with the engraved name of N-I-C-H-E-L.

The slight didn't have anything to do with Nickel coming back for one more season. New backfield coach Jim Finks persuaded Nickel to return in the 1957 pre-season. He caught only 10 passes, but in his second goodbye at Forbes Field he dove to catch a 6-yard fourth-quarter touchdown pass from Earl Morrall to clinch a 21-10 win over the New York Giants.

In the regular-season finale two weeks later, Nickel caught 4 passes for 44 yards and he finished his career as the Steelers's all-time leading receiver with 329 catches. He also retired as the league's Iron Man, having played in a then-NFL record 124 consecutive games. An arm injury in 1957 forced Nickel to miss the fifth game that season, which ended the streak. What does he remember about playing pro
football?

"Well, very little," the 83-year-old said from his room in an upscale Cincinnati nursing home in 2005.

Nickel played baseball and basketball at the University of Cincinnati, but he excelled on the gridiron. In 1942 he led the Bearcats to an 8-2 record, and in 1946, after serving in the military, captained the team to a 9-2 mark, its best in 49 years. Nickel scored the winning touchdown in a 15-6 opening-day win over defending Big 10 champion Indiana in what was the school's biggest victory of the pre-Sid
Gillman era.

Nickel signed a baseball contract with the Cincinnati Reds the following spring but the Steelers convinced him to play football after drafting him in the 15th round in 1947. He would go on to serve as their offensive captain from 1949 through 1957.

The 6-foot-1, 196-pound Nickel was primarily a blocker in the Jock Sutherland/John Michelosen single-wing offense before becoming a receiving threat in 1949, when he averaged 24.3 yards per his 26 catches.

In the penultimate game of the 1949 season, Nickel caught 7 passes for 192 yards against the Bears. He also suggested to Michelosen that the Steelers fake a punt from their own 3-yard line. Bobby Gage took the snap from the back of the end zone and ran for a 97-yard touchdown, the longest play in franchise history.

Nickel blossomed at tight end (known simply as end in the day) when Joe Bach brought the T-formation to Pittsburgh in 1952. Nickel was third in the NFL that season with 55 catches for 884 yards and 9 touchdowns, all team records at the time.

His best pro game occurred late that season. Against the Dick "Night Train" Lane-led secondary of the Los Angeles Rams, Nickel caught 10 passes for 202 yards.

"We had a picture that hung up in the basement that we'd joke back and forth about all the time," said Joe Nickel. "He was catching a pass over "Night Train" Lane. He had him beat by three or four steps."

In 1953, Nickel broke his own single-season team record with 62 catches. The mark stood until Roy Jefferson caught 67 passes for the Steelers in 1969.

Nickel made the Pro Bowl after both the '52 and '53 seasons. He tailed off to 40 catches in 1954, but made what Dan Rooney called "the most famous play we had until the Immaculate Reception" in front of a standing-room only crowd at Forbes Field.

The play is stitched into Steelers lore as an X-and-O tapestry that still hangs in the team's front offices. It tells the story of the play-action bomb from Finks to Nickel that sealed the win and gave the Steelers a 4-1 record. They stumbled after that game and finished 5-7 in 1954.

Nickel caught 36 passes in 1955 and moved to halfback in 1956 before calling it quits after 1957. His 329 catches are 127 more than any other Steelers tight end. Bennie Cunningham is second with 202.

The man they called "Elbows" was named the Steelers' all-time tight end when the 50th anniversary team was chosen in 1982. The best memories?

"I remember him flipping me a game ball after they beat the Browns one time," said Joe Nickel. "About the only other thing I remember is all that stuff they gave him at one of those farewell games. There's a picture in his scrapbook of the ceremony. I looked down at the recliner they gave him. It was his favorite chair until we got rid of it last year."

In 2005, Joe Nickel went through his 26th year as the athletic director at North College Hill High School in Cincinnati. It's the school being made famous by basketball phenom O.J. Mayo, who was considered the best prep player since LeBron James.

Joe Nickel was something of a prep phenom himself. He followed in his father's football footsteps at Chillicothe High and Cincinnati.

"When I became a teenager I always wanted to be able to outrun him," he said of his dad. "Every year, every spring, we'd have our charge across the front yard to see if I could outrun him. I think I was 17 years old and he was about 42 before I could finally outrun him, and one of the things I could do was run. I was fourth in the state track meet my senior year in the 100 and 200. But I had to wait that long to
outrun him in the 30-yard dash because he could move."

Nickel also remembers his dad calling Art Rooney "a father-like figure." The Chief, in fact, named one of his Maryland-bred race horses "Elbie Nickel." Every spring Elbie drove to the Louisville airport to meet The Chief and escort him to the Kentucky Derby.

"It went on for 20, 30 years," Joe Nickel said. "The funny thing was he'd always bring back a mint julep glass for my mom. And then I got married and he wound up having to bring back two mint julep glasses. And then my sister said 'Where's mine?' And my dad said 'I can't drink them. I don't like those drinks, those mint julep drinks. I can't drink three of them.' I don't know what he did but he showed up a
couple of times with three glasses. We've got a whole set of Kentucky Derby glasses, had them for 20 or 25 years. We still have them here."

After Nickel retired from football, he joined the Butt Construction Company, so named after co-founder Jim Butt.

With his father (Joseph Richard Nickel), brother (Eugene Nickel) and Butt, Elbie Nickel's crew built all of the Kroger, Big Bear and K-Mart stores from Cincinnati to Huntington, West Virginia.

"Construction really boomed in this country after the war and they really took off," Joe Nickel said. His dad worked full-time until the age of 60, but Elbie didn't really stop working. He helped friends and family in Chillicothe, and served as the handy man at the local Trinity United Methodist Church.

"In Chillicothe they actually built a shopping center, or more of a strip mall, called Central Center," said Joe Nickel. "My grandfather and my dad had a lot of stock in that, and it's still right there."

So, Elbie struck it rich after football?

"Oh yeah, my grandfather and my dad, they were well off," said Joe Nickel. "He's well taken care of."

Elbie still receives attention from autograph seekers. One was a vice-president with the Green Bay Packers. In 1999, he wrote to ask for an autographed picture for his grandson. Nickel obliged and received a promise from the VP that was repaid to Nickel's grandson.

"My son Mike moved to Milwaukee and my dad gave him the guy's number and said 'Call him up. He'll get you two tickets to a Packers game,'" Joe Nickel said. "So my son called the guy up and he said OK. My son went into work -- he'd only been in Milwaukee for a year -- and he told the guys he was going to the Packers' game. They all laughed at him and said, 'Yeah, right. You can't get into that game. Those
tickets are gone.' So he reached into his pocket and showed them tickets in row eight. They were all stunned."

Story URL: http://story.Scout.com/a.z?s=117&p=2&c=622928


Mar 3, 10:55 am

Former Steelers end Elbie Nickel, 84
Thursday, March 1, 2007

By BOB LABRIOLA
Steelers.com

You've heard about the Immaculate Reception. The star of that one was Franco Harris. But there was another spectacular offensive play earlier in the history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, one that helped the team pull out a critical victory against a bitter rival. The author of that play was Elbie Nickel.

Elbert Everett Nickel, better known to family and friends as Elbie, died peacefully on Feb. 27 with his family at his side. He was 84.

Born on Dec. 28, 1922, in Fullerton, Kentucky, Mr. Nickel learned the value of hard work during the Depression, and he combined those lessons with a natural talent for athletics to carve out a career as a professional football player good enough to be remembered as one of the best in Steelers history.

After graduating from McKell High School in 1940 as a celebrated scholastic athlete in both football and basketball, Mr. Nickel attended the University of Cincinnati and played on the university's football, basketball, and baseball teams. Beginning his sophomore year, he was a starter on the basketball team, a starting left end on
the football team and a star pitcher and left fielder for the baseball team. For those multiple talents Mr. Nickel earned the nickname, "Nick the Slick."

After serving his country in World War II, Mr. Nickel returned to the University of Cincinnati. In the fall of 1946, he was elected captain of the football team and led it to a victory in the Sun Bowl following a regular-season upset of defending Big 10 champion Indiana.

Upon graduation, Mr. Nickel was offered contracts by the Cincinnati Reds and the Steelers, and he chose football because it was his true passion. He played 11 seasons with the Steelers, including a then-record 125 consecutive games. His 329 career catches was a franchise best until the late 1970s, and Mr. Nickel also played in three Pro Bowls. In 1982, he was named to the Steelers' 50th Anniversary Team.

"Elbie was a great player, a better player than people really know," said Steelers chairman Dan Rooney. "In those days, there wasn't a position called tight end, but he really was a tight end. He could block, and he caught the tough passes over the middle.

"And he was part of one of the most famous plays we ever had, probably the second most famous after the Immaculate Reception."

That play doesn't have a catchy name, but it has been memorialized in a different way. When the Steelers moved into Three Rivers Stadium in 1970, Sally Anderson presented the team with a handmade stitchery of a diagram of the play, and this still is displayed prominently in the team's current practice facility.

It was 1954. There was plenty of optimism for the start of that NFL season, and the Steelers did not disappoint.

After a one-point win in Green Bay, the Steelers routed the Washington Redskins, 37-7. A 24-22 loss in Philadelphia left the Steelers 2-1, but then the franchise was energized by its first-ever win over the Browns, and the victory was a decisive one, 55-27. That win over the Browns drew a Steelers record 39,075 fans to Forbes Field.

The Steelers were 3-1, and the next game was a rematch against the Eagles, who were bringing their league-leading 4-0 record to Forbes Field for a game on Saturday night, Oct. 23.

"We were playing the Eagles," said Rooney, "and the Eagles had beaten us in a very controversial game earlier that season in Philadelphia where they broke Jim Finks' jaw. He was our starting quarterback, and Ed Kiely, our publicity guy at the time, was screaming and yelling when that happened, and Bert Bell, who was the commissioner then, walked up to Kiely and said, 'You're fired.'

"Kiely said, 'You can't fire me. I don't work for you.' Bell said, 'You're fired anyway.' Of course, my father got Kiely's job back, and I can't say anything about the officials that day because (current NFL Commissioner) Roger (Goodell) will fine me again. But Kiely was right."

That bitterness carried over into the rematch at Forbes Field, and the game was a physical affair. Ed Kissell's 24-yard field goal in the second quarter provided the only points of the first half, and the Steelers took a 3-0 lead into their locker room at halftime.

The second half was a continuation of the first, with both teams playing tough, hard-nosed football. Then came the pivotal play of the game, and it would become known as the second-most dramatic play in Steelers history, after the Immaculate Reception.

It was fourth-and-1 at the Eagles 40-yard line, and Steelers coach Walt Kielsing decided to go for the first down. In came fullback Jim "Popcorn" Brandt for the Steelers, and the Eagles defense reacted by crowding the line of scrimmage. The fight for this yard of Forbes Field turf was shaping up to be a fierce one.

But the Steelers fooled everybody. Finks took the snap and faked the ball to Brandt, who drew the attention of the Eagles defense, and that allowed Mr. Nickel to slip behind their secondary. Finks dropped back into the pocket and threw the ball to Nickel, who raced 40 yards for a touchdown and a 10-0 Steelers lead.

The momentum from the play created an energy the Steelers used to go on to post a 17-7 win that day and surge into a tie with the Eagles and New York Giants for first place in the Eastern Conference. That was a highlight for a team that had a losing record in 14 of its first 21 seasons.

"Elbie was a good friend of my father's, and he used to go to the Kentucky Derby with him every year," said Rooney. "Elbie lived in Chillicothe, Ohio, which was on the way, because they drove to Louisville. So on the way, they'd pick up Elbie, and they always had a great time."

After retiring from football, Mr. Nickel lived with his family in Chillicothe, Ohio, and worked with his father in the construction business. He lived for over 50 years in his home on McKell Road, and spent his last few years in Cincinnati near his son and grandchildren.

Donations can be made in Mr. Nickel's name to the Alois Alzheimer's Foundation, 70 Damon Rd., Cincinnati, Ohio, 45218.

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Walls donates kidney to ex-teammate Springs

Associated Press
March 1, 2007

DALLAS (AP) - Ron Springs and Everson Walls will always share a bond
forged over their years as teammates on the Dallas Cowboys. That's
nothing compared to their newest link - the kidney Walls donated to
Springs.

Springs and Walls were recovering at Medical City Hospital on
Thursday, a day after the transplant operation - the first between two
former U.S. professional athletes.

"That's brotherly love," Springs told The Associated Press in
December. "It's something you can't explain, but something that I will
always think about every day for the rest of my life."

The former football stars and their doctors are scheduled to hold a
news conference Friday. The players hope they can inspire others to
become organ donors by sharing their story.

The only other known transplants involving former pro athletes as
donors include Greg Ostertag giving a kidney to his sister in 2002
when he was playing for the Utah Jazz, and basketball Hall of Famer
Oscar Robertson donating a kidney to his daughter in 1997. Several pro
athletes have received an organ, with basketball players Alonzo
Mourning and Sean Elliott returning to play in the NBA following their
ordeals.

The 50-year-old Springs has suffered from diabetes for 16 years and
has been on the national transplant waiting list since 2004. The
disease has led to the amputation of his right foot and the big and
middle toes on his left foot, and caused his hands to curl into knots.
He also was forced into a wheelchair and needed dialysis three times a
week.

Providing his body accepts Walls' kidney, Springs will no longer need
dialysis and can expect his hands to regain their normal form. He also
should again be able to walk on his own.

"It's like getting a new battery in a car," Springs said in December.
"I'll be able to be back to basically almost 100 percent normal."

The 47-year-old Walls volunteered to be tested after things fell
through with two of Springs' relatives who were perfect matches.

"I said, 'Well, look, I know my blood type is the same as his. Why not
give it a shot and see what happens?"' Walls said in December.

Springs and Walls became fast friends during Walls' first training
camp with the Cowboys. They played together only four years (1981-84),
but their close relationship continued, enhanced by their wives and
children being close with each other, too.

The duo had wanted to keep the transplant quiet until it happened, but
word leaked in December through Springs' oldest son, Shawn, who plays
cornerback - Walls' old position - for the Washington Redskins.

Ron Springs joined the Cowboys in 1979 and became a starter alongside
Tony Dorsett in '81, the year Walls arrived as an undrafted rookie
from Grambling. Springs left in 1985, finishing his career with two
seasons in Tampa Bay.

Walls led the NFL in interceptions his first two seasons and again in
'85, making him the only three-time leader in NFL history. He picked
off 57 passes and made the Pro Bowl four times over his 14-year
career, which included stints with the New York Giants and Cleveland
Browns.

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