A Go-To Guy Sees Himself in a New Role

By WILLIAM C. RHODEN
New York Times
July 27, 2007

"If I had an enemy and I was trying to conquer him, I would give him money, fame and power. They are three things that are extremely difficult to deal with."

Yesterday, as always, you could count on Curtis Martin to put the moment in perspective. He always had an appropriate answer for every situation.

When the Jets lost a classic heartbreaker of a game as only they could, and members of the news media predicted that the sky would fall, Martin would coolly say: "The sky is not falling. We lost a game. We'll come back stronger next week."

If the Jets won a big game, Martin would temper the urge to make the moment seem larger or more important than it was. With typical grace, he'd acknowledge the victory and add, "We still have a season to play." He always converted on first down.

Martin was the go-to guy for reporters, and for two N.F.L. teams (the Patriots and the Jets). He continues to be the go-to guy for a number of organizations in Pittsburgh, his hometown. And he is the go-to mentor for a number of professional athletes who seek him out for a levelheaded perspective about a world of sports in which the lines between fantasy and reality often blur.

Everyone's go-to guy officially announced his retirement from the N.F.L. yesterday. Martin made a whirlwind, daylong retirement tour, speaking with print, radio and television reporters, saying goodbye, offering retrospectives.

Was the N.F.L., I wondered, in better shape today than it was when he entered the league in 1995?

"I think the league has better athletes," Martin said at the Jets offices in Manhattan. "But I think the rise of talent, the rise of money and the rise of fame and the rise of power has affected the character."

·

Martin, a five-time Pro Bowl selection, is not leaving the game. In fact, he announced that he planned to own a piece of the game. He wants to buy an N.F.L. team.

Martin said that he approached his career like an internship for ownership, studying management styles and all of the components of operating a multimillion-dollar franchise.

"Even the way I've carried myself off the field, my reluctance to do a lot of commercials and a lot of publicity," he said, explaining that he always tried to set himself apart from the activities of most star players. "While most people have seen me as a low-profile player, I've always seen myself as a high-profile owner."

The notion of Martin as an N.F.L. owner is intriguing, particularly in the current sports climate, in which owners and the men and women they hire seem baffled by the young athletes they pay handsomely to run and jump. Increasingly, the method of bridging the gap is a strong-arm, might-is-right approach.

"One of the key differences is that I will be an owner who understands what the player thinks, feels, why he does what he does," Martin said.

"I'll be able to empathize, sympathize and advise athletes in a way that I believe can help out the league as a whole."

I wondered how Martin the owner would deal with Michael Vick the player. Martin played in New York and did the impossible: He stayed out of the limelight. You rarely, if ever, heard about Martin outside of game articles or his various charitable works. No one is saying that Martin is a saint or that he never crossed the line. It's just that you never heard about it. That's a major victory in the current climate of real-time, all-the-time news.

As Martin announced his retirement in New York, Vick, the Atlanta Falcons' quarterback, pleaded not guilty to charges that he and three other men operated an interstate dogfighting ring at a house Vick owned in Virginia.

"I wouldn't turn my back on him," Martin said of Vick. "I wouldn't suspend him. I wouldn't say, 'You know what, Mike, you're out of here.' I would try my best until I knew I could not work with him anymore to give him the support that he needed to succeed."

·

Martin said that Vick reflects the difficulties facing a younger generation of athletes.

"Society equates money with maturity," he said. "Society feels that if you have money and material things, there is no way in the world you should do this or do that. But money gives you more of an opportunity to do what you would normally do.

"When you have all that money and all that fame, people assume you don't need help."

Great players come and go. Indeed, the N.F.L. is built on a steady infusion of great young talent. But in Curtis Martin, the league has lost one of its great go-to guys. His presence will be difficult to duplicate.

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NFL, union unveil plan for needy retired players

Fund to cover costs of joint surgeries

By Ken Murray
Baltimore Sun Reporter

July 27, 2007

For the third time in the past 13 months, the NFL and the NFL Players Association this week announced new initiatives designed to relieve financial strain on needy retired players.

One day after league commissioner Roger Goodell and union executive director Gene Upshaw met with 11 former players, the NFLPA unveiled a $7 million fund that will offer free surgery for joint replacement to uninsured retired players.

It was part of a four-point plan that also will attempt to simplify and expedite the application process for disability benefits, a major complaint of aging retirees.

While the financial commitment promised to lessen the burden on retirees, it did not entirely satisfy the rank and file who feel they have been treated unfairly by the union.

"I think that's a very good start," Hall of Fame linebacker Harry Carson said. "But ultimately it's going to come around to the pension issue for the players. Even if a guy isn't dealing with the problems of disability, when you look at the pension of retired NFL players, it still lags behind other sports that don't have the same brutality as professional football."

The $7 million comes from unspecified contributions from each of the five factions in a program Goodell introduced in May to coordinate medical support services for former players. Those factions include the NFL, the NFLPA, the NFL Retired Players Association, NFL Alumni, NFL Charities and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In a statement issued by Fourth & Goal, a national advocacy group in Baltimore for retired players, organization president Bruce Laird, a former Colt, questioned how far the $7 million would stretch in medical payments.

"I'll defer comment on the details of any proposed plan until I've had a chance to read the document," the statement said. "I'm surprised, though, that the NFL and the NFLPA have found $7 million for the more than 9,100 retired players who built both the league and the union.

"Seven million dollars - an amount equal to what the union's executive director reportedly earned last year - works out to about $760 per retired player."

Dr. Andrew Tucker, Ravens team physician and chief of sports medicine for Union Memorial Hospital, estimated that joint replacement surgeries may cost between $20,000 and $30,000.

NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an e-mail that the $7 million represents an "initial pooling of funds into a central fund. The fund will be built from there."

The launching of the fund nevertheless appeared to show Upshaw's willingness to work toward alleviating the problems of retired players. In a statement issued by the NFLPA, Upshaw acknowledged the need to expedite the process for disability benefits, which can sometimes take as much as two years.

"Today's announcement builds on our record of continually improving retired players' benefits for well over a decade," Upshaw said. "Both the NFLPA and NFL recognize that disabled former players need to get the benefits they deserve more quickly, and we've committed to doing just that."

This week, Upshaw retained former President Bill Clinton's special counsel Lanny Davis and his law firm, Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, to advise him on legal issues and media coverage related to NFL retirees' benefits and other matters.

When the league and union announced pension increases a year ago, they also started a program to help former players with dementia and Alzheimer's disease. The 88 Plan - named for former Colts tight end John Mackey, who suffers from dementia - will provide up to $88,000 a year for institutional care or up to $50,000 a year for in-home nursing care.

"We all recognize the contributions made by those who played in the NFL," Goodell said in a statement. "I fully share Gene's commitment to those men and their families. These programs will be part of a continuing package of improved medical-related services for retired players."

Former union leader and ex-Baltimore Colts linebacker Stan White was appreciative of the new coverage.

"I think these are areas that needed to be improved, the disability and the red tape to get to disability," White said. "Disability is unfair to former players at this point, the way it's executed. There was no reason [for the union or league owners] to fight it the way it's been fought."

NFLPA spokesman Carl Francis said the union was in discussion about different options for improving the disability process.

"As we continue to explore the area of disability, we'll continue to listen to ways to streamline that area," he said.

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DITKA AND RETIRED PLAYERS RESPOND TO NFLPA & NFL ANNOUNCEMENT

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 27,2007

For more information contact:
Jennifer Smith (920) 499- 7133 gridirongreats24@aol.com

NFL RETIRED PLAYERS ADVOCACY GROUPS SPEAK OUT ON ALLIANCE MEETING WITH GENE UPSHAW AND ROGER GOODELL

DITKA & GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND SAY: MEETINGS ARE ANOTHER NFL DIVERSION TACTIC
INVITED ATTENDEES ARE JUST MORE SMOKE AND MIRRORS
ANNOUNCED INITIATIVES LACK SUBSTANCE, DON’T ADDRESS REAL ISSUES

Chicago, Illinois, July 27th -Today MIKE DITKA and the GRIDIRON GREATS ASSISTANCE FUND issued a strong statement in response to a meeting held by NFLPA Union Chief Gene Upshaw and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell regarding issues facing retired NFL Players and an announced alliance to deal with those issues.

The NFL and NFLPA held meetings this week that were touted as bringing together pro football’s leadership on retired player’s issues, eleven retired players were invited to attend the meeting. Roger Goodell stated that he thought it was productive and said, “We had people in attendance who have taken issue with what has been done for retired players. I think we had all the stakeholders there.” The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund and other advocacy groups are more than suspicious.

The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund is a nonprofit, humanitarian organization which is overseen by a board of directors consisting of many players who are advocates of retired NFL players’ rights including: Mike Ditka, Gale Sayers, Joe DeLamielleure, Harry Carson, Willie Davis, and Tom Nowatzke. The organization provides immediate aid and support services to retired NFL players who are in dire need due to lack of adequate disability, medical, and other issues.

In response to the "meeting," Mike Ditka, other board members of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, and a variety of long-time advocates for retired player’s reacted viscerally.

“I don’t believe any of the stakeholders where there. The meeting had no substance. If Gene Upshaw and Roger Goodell wanted the meeting to have substance, members of the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund board would have been invited to attend. Not one member of our board was asked to attend that meeting,” said Mike Ditka, GGAF Board Member. “If they wanted the meetings to have substance, NFL Players who have been long-time advocates of retired players rights such as former Baltimore Colt Bruce Laird, GGAF board members Joe DeLamielleure or Harry Carson would have been there. Most importantly, players and their families who have had to fight an inadequate disability system and bad pensions would have been there such as Brent Boyd, Mike Webster’s son Garrett, Mike Mosley, Brian Demarco, Conrad Dobler, and Herb Adderley. I could name countless others. Were any of them there? Judging by the attendees invited to this meeting it was clear that the NFL and the NFLPA are not that interested in conducting meetings with substance that will bring about the major changes that are needed. Where were the owners?”

“While the NFL and the NFLPA may have good intentions I feel the owners of these franchises need to step up and take some action”. said Hall Of Famer and GGAF Board Member Gale Sayers. “These players helped to build the individual franchises and were a vital part of the organizations they played for. They gave themselves to the team and the communities they played in. The owners should support and care for the players in need who played for their franchise.”

In response to Gene Upshaw’s statements: “There will be a joint effort and one single place to go as it relates to retired players; we are in a position to move forward as one in the alliance. We want to work as one single voice,” The Gridiron Greats organization issued this statement:

The Gridiron Greats as an organization is not standing alongside of Gene Upshaw and not speaking with one voice. The voices that need to be heard are those of the retired players who are suffering, have lived on the streets, used up all their earnings on medical payments, and have to deal with these desperate situations day in and day out –not some hand picked NFL committee of retired players that were selected for their name recognition, celebrity status, and political correctness. It is the opinion of The Gridiron Greats Organization that the meetings held by the NFL and the NFLPA were yet another diversion tactic by the NFL and an attempt to not deal with core issue of overhauling a broken, and what some call corrupt, disability system. The results of the meeting, an announcement of “new retired player’s benefits initiatives” lacked substance, details and does not address the core issues.

Brent Boyd, a retired, dire need player to which GGAF will be providing assistance, had these comments about the meeting and those who were chosen to attend as so called representatives of retired players like him. “I have never seen more smoke than what came out of Tuesday's meeting at NFLPA headquarters. Not only was it a smokescreen to keep real problems out of view, it was a "controlled back fire" intended to burn some of the fuel that has been catching the attention of Congress, the fans, and former players. Did this meeting address fixing the fraudulent NFL Disability claim processes, or how to go back and reverse the most egregious false denials? Did they invite ONE former player who has had to pick asphalt out of their hair after a homeless night's sleep? Have any of Frank Gifford’s or the others in the room had their kids' teeth pulled because they didn't have money to fix a minor dental problem? All because the NFL disability Board was dragging their feet. If not, then don't blow more smoke by telling everyone that retired players and the NFLPA speak as one voice. That is yet another insult to all of us who have suffered without a voice, we are not willing to let these dog and pony shows take the public, the media, or the United States Congress off the scent of their fraud and corruption”

Gene Upshaw stated that “these meetings were a first step in identifying players in need.”

The Gridiron Greats Organization invites Gene Upshaw, or his staff, to contact our office. We would be happy to provide them with a long list of players who are in immediate dire need so the NFLPA can immediately start assisting them. The Gridiron Greats office takes calls all day long from retired players in need. It is our experience that you do not have to have a meeting to identify players in need; unfortunately there are many, many such players all over the country. While Upshaw and Goodell were noticeably absent from the recent Congressional hearings about retired players issues, members of Upshaw’s staff were in attendance. They could have identified a lot of retired players in need from the many that traveled to Washington DC and were in attendance that day hoping that the United States Congress would step in and help them to get the benefits they need.

Neither the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, nor any of its board members, is a part of this NFLPA, NFL alliance; neither are members from any of the others advocacy organizations who have been involved in retired players’ rights issue for many years. The Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund is an independent organization and it will remain that way. The organization is committed to raising money and providing immediate financial support and services to retired players in dire need and working with others such as Bruce Lairds, Fourth and Goal group and the Retired Players for Justice group to help bring about significant and major changes in the area of retired players rights and benefits.

Jerry Kramer facilitated the start of the GGAF organization but is not a member of the Gridiron Greats Board of Directors. But, his heartfelt, humanitarian, efforts got the GGAF started. Kramer was invited to attend the meeting and he participated in the meeting as an individual and not as a representative of the Gridiron Greats Assistant Fund. Kramer’s choice to attend the meeting, and his comments, are reflective of his personal opinion and not that of the Gridiron Greats Organization.

“I am grateful to Jerry for asking me to be a part of the GGAF Board but I called Jerry and told him that I, along with some of the other board members, did not think it was a good idea for him to attend the meeting. It was my feeling that nobody from our board was going to the meeting and neither should he. I felt the meeting was a PR ploy,” said former Super Bowl winner with the Colts and GGAF Board member Tom Nowatzke. “The Gridiron Greats are out there helping many players who are suffering because of the inadequate systems that are being administered by the NFLPA. It is my opinion, and that of some others on our board, that we need to stay focused on our mission and that it is pointless to join them in these meetings.”

“The meeting was pointless because the right people were not asked to participate and the outcome was, as I expected empty gestures that don’t fix the overall problems with disability and pensions,” said GGAF Board member Joe DeLamielleure. “The GGAF is also working with and supporting the efforts of advocacy groups such as Fourth and Goal and Retired Players for Justice. We are committed to supporting their efforts to bring about the significant and meaningful changes that are needed.”

“It’s certainly not our first step in addressing the issues and concerns of retired players. Fourth & Goal has advocated and raised funds for retired players for more than three years, since witnessing how the union turned its back on John Unitas and John Mackey and dozens of other retired players,” said Bruce Laird, president of Fourth & Goal. “We’re extremely disappointed that those of us who have been out in front of these issues were again excluded from any dialogue. Thus, retired players continue to have no representation, no vote and no voice in the NFL or the NFLPA. Fourth & Goal will continue to partner with Gridiron Greats to address the needs of our teammates and to change a flawed system.”

“These meetings are just more of the NFL strategy of delay, deny, and hope they die,” said Bernie Parrish of Retired Players For Justice. “Google the names of the 11 players that were invited to attend this meeting as representatives for retired players, you will find that 10 out of the 11 have never been connected to, or significantly involved in, the issues of retired players rights and one was mentioned only in conjunction with dire need issues.”

“There are a multitude of problems facing retired players,” said Jennifer Smith, Executive Director of the Gridiron Fund. “The problems are vast and range from inadequate disability benefits and pensions to depression, addiction to pain medications, homelessness, and poverty. We are helping players who are dealing with all of these issues.”

The GGAF fund has provided financial aid and support services to retired players who have had their lifetime disability revoked, players who have been denied disability multiple times, players in need of shelter, and families who need support just so they can care for a former player or bury a spouse. The Gridiron Greats organization relies on public and corporate support. Currently, there’s a donation drive underway. The public can learn about specific players in dire need, make a donation, read in depth reaction, and post comments at gridirongreats.org. Donations can also be made by calling 1-800-708-1078.

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Goodell and Upshaw Meet With Ex-Players

By Les Carpenter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, July 25, 2007

After months of complaints from retired NFL players who believe the league and the players' union have abandoned them, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw met with a group of former players yesterday to discuss those issues.

But in the collection of past players at the meeting that included Frank Gifford, Merlin Olsen and Cornelius Bennett, only former Packer Jerry Kramer represented the vocal group of retirees who have spoken out about the league's pension plan and a disability system they insist is designed to deny most claims.

Three hours later, when they emerged, Upshaw and Goodell had little to announce other than that they had talked. They said they would focus on joint replacement, a dire-needs fund, a cardiovascular health program and the establishment of some kind of assisted-living arrangement. But they said they would not build a retirement home for disabled football players, something that has been discussed by the
league and union for years.

"We didn't solve all the problems," Kramer said. "We've got some more things to do."

In many ways, the meeting -- pushed for by Goodell -- seemed to be an effort by the league and the players' association to show they are addressing the issue of retired players. The subject flared up at the Super Bowl and never died down as studies came out showing potential long-term effects of concussions and former players told stories of their difficulty in obtaining disability payments. Many blamed the
league and the union for creating a system that blocked them from collecting.

Upshaw and Goodell said that by bringing together the NFL Alumni organization, Pro Football Hall of Fame and NFL Charities into a group they call "the alliance," more money will be available to provide assistance to players who need it. When asked how much that would take, Upshaw said, "It's the $64,000 question, maybe the $64 million
question." Then he said that by pulling together the various league entities along with Kramer's Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, they would be able to draw money from several entities and put them under a single umbrella.

Goodell and Upshaw already have agreed to let those players who have qualified under Social Security disability standards receive NFL disability, saying this could help solve the problem of injured former players. But because those standards have yet to be applied, it's hard to know how many players it will help.

Kramer has been chastised by many in his organization, including former New York Giants star Harry Carson, for agreeing to take part in yesterday's meeting. Many in the retired players movement have looked skeptically at the meeting as a public relations ploy by the league and union to deflect criticism. Kramer said he too was concerned about his decision and worried about it on Monday night in a conversation
with Olsen.

As the meeting convened yesterday, Kramer said Olsen accosted Upshaw by asking if the meeting was "a dog and pony show or are we going to come up with a solution?"

Upshaw replied, "Forget the yelling and see if we can intelligently look at it."

Kramer said he was encouraged by Upshaw's response.

Bernie Parrish, the unofficial leader of the retired players movement, was not.

"The people they had there are a bunch of self-promoting, owner kisser-ups," said Parrish, who was not invited to the meeting.

Parrish has repeatedly said he wants the NFL players' pensions to match those of baseball (which are significantly higher but also require players to wait until they are 62 to collect) and have the disability system overseen by a firm other than the Groom Law Group, which has done work in the past for the NFLPA.

"When the owners open up their checkbooks and start writing checks for a pension plan like baseball's and trash the disability plan and rewrite it, then they will be doing something," Parrish said.

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Sides take first step

by Ron Snyder, The (Baltimore) Examiner
2007-07-25 07:00:00.0
WASHINGTON -

Former Green Bay Packer Jerry Kramer is willing to give NFL Players Association Executive Director Gene Upshaw the benefit of the doubt when it comes to aiding retired players.

At least for now.

Kramer was among 11 retired players who joined Upshaw and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell Tuesday to discuss improvements for former players dealing with financial problems stemming from medical conditions sustained during their NFL careers.

It marked the first official meeting of a new alliance formed in May.

Assisted living, joint replacement surgeries and cardiovascular care were three areas the alliance pledged to improve. Upshaw said the meeting was the first step toward identifying players in need and bringing the many factions fighting for the same cause together.

"This will be the first time there will be a joint effort one single place to go as it relates to retired players," said Upshaw following the closed-door meeting. "We are now in a position as a group to move forward as one in the alliance."

The meeting represented the latest chapter between the NFL, the NFLPA and former players on how to improve medical benefits for former players.

Many former players, including former Baltimore Colts defensive back Bruce Laird, have criticized Upshaw's handling of the issue. Laird was not invited to participate in the meeting.

However, former players at the meeting view Upshaw more favorably.

Still, several former players acknowledged the issue is far from being resolved.

"This alliance between the NFL, the NFLPA, the Hall of Fame as well as the alumni is a substantial step in the right direction," said former Republican Vice Presidential candidate and Buffalo Bills quarterback Jack Kemp, who headed the AFL Players Association from 1964-69. "There is more that has to be done. We don't want any current player or retired player to think we have solved all the problems today."

Kramer had been one of the more outspoken retirees critical of Upshaw, but is now optimistic Upshaw can improve the NFL's medical benefits for former players.

"I believe we created enough awareness and burs under the saddle to the point that we were noticed," Kramer said. "It appears to me that the new commissioner is working on solving the problem with an open and forthright manner."

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Commissioner Goodell, players union Upshaw meet with retirees

A new assistance program is set up to help former NFL players with critical health and financial issues.

By Greg Johnson, L.A. Times Staff Writer
July 25, 2007

WASHINGTON - NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and players union chief Gene Upshaw sat side by side Tuesday and detailed a planned coalition that will try to ease suffering among former athletes who have fallen on hard times.

Their joint appearance at the NFL Players Assn. headquarters here was an attempt to calm what has been an escalating battle of words.

"The most important thing about what is taking place today is this group of retired players and the players' union understands the plight of retired players and we want to work as a single voice, a single group, to improve the plight of retired players," Upshaw said. "We care about them."

His comments followed a three-hour closed-door meeting that brought together pro football's leadership, representatives from the league's four main charities and 11 former players, including Jack Kemp, Jerry Kramer, Merlin Olsen, Steve Largent and Frank Gifford.

As part of the plan announced Tuesday, a new assistance program will be created that will address several critical health and financial issues, including - in the longer term - some sort of assisted living help. The program will draw an unspecified amount of funding from the league, the union and charities affiliated with professional football.

All of this comes amid a growing wave of protest from former football stars who allege that the pension and disability programs for older NFL retirees are broken and that the league and the players union are not doing enough.

But Goodell was pleased all sides finally had come together.

"I think it was a very productive afternoon," he said. "I think we had all the stakeholders there. We had people who obviously had taken issue with what's been done for the retired players."

The coalition will focus on a handful of broad concerns: an orthopedics program for retirees with knee, hip and shoulder problems; a more-stringent cardiovascular screening system to alert retirees to potential problems; a heftier dire needs fund for retirees facing financial difficulty and, eventually, making assisted living care
available to players with dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

The coalition also plans to continue studying ways to improve pension and medical disability programs offered to NFL retirees.

But those at the meeting acknowledged that big questions remain.

For example, it still must be determined how many former players are in need of medical care and financial assistance and what the price tag will be for such a broad relief effort.

And, while the 11 former players in attendance Tuesday voiced unanimous support for the coalition, it was uncertain how some of the most vocal critics would respond since none were invited.

For example, such former players as Joe DeLamielleure and Bernie Parrish, whose stinging comments helped take the battle public, were not there, prompting one former player to suspect that the coalition "is only going to be so much more window dressing."

Kramer, a former Green Bay Packers lineman who formed Gridiron Greats Assistance Foundation to help NFL retirees in need, acknowledged some of the foundation's board members had cautioned him against attending Tuesday's meeting.

Kramer, though, left the meeting in an upbeat mood.

"Going in, I thought we were going to get snowballed, steamrolled, sandbagged and a bunch of other different things," Kramer said after the news conference. "I'm very encouraged. I think we have a ways to go because I don't think we could solve all of the problems in one fell swoop, in one afternoon meeting."

During the meeting, Olsen, a former Los Angeles Ram, bluntly asked Upshaw whether the coalition really would do what was needed to assist retired players in need.

Kramer said that Olsen cautioned Upshaw against rolling out "a dog-and-pony show."

After the meeting, Olsen said he was confident that the league and union were serious about helping aging former players.

Upshaw said it was time to put aside bickering and hard feelings: "We are now in position as a group to move forward as one in this alliance."

Kemp, president of the American Football League Players Union during the 1960s, said the coalition is "a tremendous step in the right direction. There's more that has to be done, and we don't want any current or retired player to think that we've solved all the problems today."

Goodell, when asked whether the coalition was forged in response to the public frustration being registered by retired players, said it was driven by "our continued focus on always doing things better."

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NFL adversaries try to resolve retiree funding

Today's meeting includes disgruntled former players, union leaders, league officials and NFL charities.

By Greg Johnson
L.A. Times Staff Writer

July 24, 2007

Every year, professional football donates tens of millions of dollars to community organizations, charitable groups and other nonprofits. But IRS filings show that only a tiny percentage of that funding is earmarked for charities that can specifically help former NFL players who've fallen on hard times.

That rankles a growing number of these aging warriors, who are engaged in a bitter and increasingly public battle with the NFL establishment over the plight of the men who made the game what it is today. Some retirees are struggling with financial and medical problems and are blaming pension and disability plans for having fallen short.

This afternoon the battle moves to the Washington, D.C., headquarters of the NFL Players Assn., where chief Gene Upshaw will be host of a closed-door meeting with a handful of former players and representatives from the league and NFL-related charities. The group will include NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who has outlined plans for a coalition that would help former players in dire need.

Former New York Giants star Frank Gifford, 76, who helped found the union, will be at today's meeting. Gifford is glad all sides are finally sitting down.

"Something's not right here, and everyone - the league, owners, former players and fans - all need to get involved," he said.

A number of former players say it's about time.

"It's hard to say this without sounding like a jerk, but it's a slap in the face to retirees when there's $80 million for Pop Warner football, but not enough for people in dire need," said Brent Boyd, who was a guard for the Minnesota Vikings between 1980 and 1986 and ties his inability to hold down a job to having suffered so many
concussions during his playing days.

Boyd received $5,000 from a charitable trust operated by the NFL Players Assn. several years ago when he was homeless and has said he is grateful. But the 50-year-old former UCLA star said the cash-rich sport must do more.

"Charity begins at home, right? But I guess the camera opportunities are not good for the league when they're having to deal with homeless, crippled ex-players."

That football's charitable giving practices are under attack is just another measure of the growing anger among retired gridiron stars, including Hall of Famers Herb Adderley, Mike Ditka and Sam Huff.

The meeting follows months of pitched rhetoric.

Early last month, for example, Upshaw, who became the NFLPA's executive director in 1983 and was reelected in March, fired back at one of those aging veterans, Joe DeLamielleure. A fellow Hall of Famer, DeLamielleure has been sharply critical of Upshaw over retiree benefits. That criticism prompted Upshaw to tell the Philadelphia
Daily News last month: "A guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me, you think I'm going to invite him to dinner? No. I'm going to break his ... neck."

Within days of that comment, a House subcommittee hearing was called to look into the escalating battle.

Goodell, already dealing with cases of player misconduct, would not comment on Upshaw's threatening words but made it clear he wanted a solution. A few days before that House hearing, Goodell called for today's meeting and Upshaw later agreed to play host.

But it was in that hearing on Capitol Hill that Rep. Linda T. Sanchez (D-Lakewood) zeroed in on the heart of the matter, asking why only 3% of past and present NFL players receive disability payments even though "half of all players retire because of injury [and] 60% of players suffer a concussion."

Also expected to attend today's meeting are representatives from pro football's four main charities - the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation, the Hall of Fame's Enshrinee Assistance Foundation, the NFL Alumni Dire Need Charitable Trust and NFL Charities.

According to the most recent IRS records available, these four had cumulative assets of about $27 million in 2005. That year, the reports indicate, the groups distributed about $11 million.

But they are dwarfed by the NFL Youth Football Fund, a separate entity jointly funded by the league and union that promotes the game at the grassroots level. As of March 31, 2006, the fund reported $79.6 million in assets and, between 2001 and 2004, donated $87.5 million to youth and scholastic football programs nationwide.

Former players interviewed for this article generally lauded the league and union for supporting youth-oriented charities. But some also faulted football for failing to show more empathy for old-timers facing severe financial and medical problems.

And some are taking action.

Former Green Bay Packers star Jerry Kramer recently created the Gridiron Greats Assistance Foundation. Ditka operates his own charitable organization, and Bruce Laird, who spent most of his career with the Baltimore Colts, leads Fourth & Goal, a nonprofit that assists needy NFL retirees.

Laird, who was not invited, doubts that today's meeting will lead to substantive change.

"They've had many, many years to address this problem, and they continue to hide from it," he said.

Bernie Parrish, another vocal critic, also is not invited.

"We've got people living in storage units and other guys in dire need," said Parrish, who has created a nonprofit, Retired Players for Justice, an advocacy group. "And the league says, 'We'll fund flag football,' to the tune of $100 million or whatever. They keep saying they want to make the world a better place, but that seems to mean as long as they keep all the money, the world is a better place."

Upshaw repeatedly has defended the union's pension and medical disability plans, as well as its charitable record.

"Last year, this office contributed $1.2 million to 147 needy players," Upshaw said.

The grants helped to cover such financial needs as housing costs, medical bills, burial expenses and tuition. So far this year, the NFLPA has distributed $250,000 through the Players Assistance Trust, a charitable operation funded by the league and union.

The NFLPA and the NFL also have funded the 88 Fund, which provides financial support for former players diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease and dementia, medical conditions that many retirees believe to be a direct result of constant hard hits absorbed while playing the game.

Since the 88 Fund rules were published early this year, the NFLPA has approved 35 applications, Upshaw said, and expects to quickly clear 19 additional requests for the grants that can total up to $88,000 a year for players who are institutionalized.

In an ironic twist, old-timers also benefit from the NFL's string of embarrassing moments because a portion of fines assessed against active players is forwarded to the NFLPA's Professional Athletes Foundation and distributed to retirees.

According to IRS documents, the foundation had $12.9 million in assets at the end of 2005 and in that year distributed $1.2 million in grants to former players and to youth-oriented groups.

Two of the other nonprofits at today's meeting have little in the way of financial assets.

One is the Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinee Assistance Fund, which had about $117,000 in assets at the end of 2005, according to IRS documents. It distributed less than $20,000 to needy Hall of Famers during the two-year period that ended Dec. 31, 2005.

The fund's donations "quadrupled" during the past year, however, according to Hall of Fame President Steve Perry, who credited an outreach program that identifies and assists needy Hall of Famers. Former Los Angeles Rams lineman Tom Mack and former Buffalo Bills lineman Billy Shaw, both Hall members, recently agreed to serve as
liaisons.

Simply having money available isn't always enough, Perry said, because many former players "try to do it all on their own as a matter of pride."

The second is the NFL Alumni Dire Need Charitable Trust, which reported about $886,000 in net assets at the end of its fiscal year on March 31, 2005, according to an IRS filing. During 2005, the trust made $92,718 in grants to "provide financial assistance to former NFL players and coaching staff members suffering from financial and/or medical hardship," according to the filing.

Then there is NFL Charities, the best known and largest of the four nonprofits. It reported $13 million in net assets as of March 31, 2005, and that year steered $6.5 million in grants that focus largely on education and youth services. The nonprofit also funded sports medicine research and foundations created by current and former
players.

Yet professional football's charitable works extend beyond the four main organizations that will attend today's meeting. Each year, for example, the NFL donates broadcast time with a value of about $30 million to the United Way. Various NFL alumni chapters also raise money for charity through golf outings, and hundreds of current and former players operate nonprofits that draw financial support from the
league and union.

Some owners and teams also operate nonprofits. A foundation created by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, for example, reported $20 million in assets at the end of 2005. And the Cleveland Browns Foundation reported $446,000 in assets at the end of that year.

Perry, the Hall of Fame president, said today's meeting could lead to the creation of a "cornerstone" upon which a strong charitable alliance can be built.

"One of the best ways to address the issues that have been raised is by a collaborative effort with all of the parties working in good faith to do the best that we can," Perry said.

Yet even the player roster for this meeting - including Roger Staubach, Willie Lanier and Jack Kemp - has sparked controversy because the most vocal critics won't be there.

"Does that surprise you?" asked Parrish, 72, who has filed a civil lawsuit alleging financial misdealings by leadership of the union he helped to establish decades ago while playing defensive back for the Cleveland Browns.

Kramer knows there is anger.

"Some of the guys said I shouldn't attend," he said, "but I tell them that we've been trying to get them to talk for more than a year, so I'm going to go and listen.... But these guys are not going to go gentle into that good night if we don't come away with some good solutions."

Gifford, for one, is determined to find a solution.

"There's enough money in this game, with more coming in all the time," he said. "Everyone will feel a lot better about it when they do it."

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Vick is topic of discussion after NFL, union form alliance to help retired players

By Howard Fendrich, AP Sports Writer

WASHINGTON - NFL commissioner Roger Goodell and players' union head Gene Upshaw met with nearly a dozen former players Tuesday to discuss a new joint effort to look into disability pay and health care for retirees.

Afterward, it was Michael Vick whose current off-field troubles became the focus of Goodell's news conference. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback was told to stay away from training camp after being indicted on federal charges of sponsoring a dogfighting operation.

Goodell wasn't surprised which topic drew more questions.

"From the moment you read that indictment, it turns your stomach," the commissioner said. "There's obviously a great deal of interest in this. It struck very much an emotional chord. We hear our fans very clearly."

The pension and disability systems haven't drawn nearly the attention Vick's case has, of course, but Goodell and Upshaw have faced criticism from past players. Upshaw billed Tuesday's nearly three-hour session at union headquarters as the first meeting of an NFL-NFLPA alliance that also includes the Hall of Fame and NFL Alumni.

"Some great work has been done before this," Goodell said, "and this is a natural evolution of trying to do things better."

The three main issues discussed Tuesday were joint replacement surgery, cardiovascular care and assisted living.

"The most important thing about what is taking place today is this group of retired players and the players' union understands the plight of retired players and we want to work as a single voice, a single group, to improve the plight of retired players," Upshaw said. "We care about them."

Former players who attended included Jack Kemp, Frank Gifford, Cornelius Bennett, Merlin Olsen, Steve Largent and Jerry Kramer.

"I'm very encouraged with the meeting. We made some significant progress. I think we have a way's to go," Kramer said. "I don't think we could solve all the problems in one fell swoop and one afternoon meeting, but we have started on the problems."

Some retired players have been openly critical of the NFL and the union over the amount of money older retirees get from a $1.1 billion fund set aside for disability and pensions.

Two of the most vocal critics, Mike Ditka and Bernie Parrish, weren't present Tuesday.

"We're beyond all of the name-calling," Upshaw said. "We are now in the process of doing."

Goodell described the new effort as something "where players can come and get private, confidential assistance or be directed where they can get that through our system, a way to create a single funding source where we can pool our efforts ... and find new revenue that can go into this fund."

He and Upshaw also spoke about the importance of research to find out what former players need what sort of assistance.

"What we need to do is communicate better with one another and communicate better with the former players to try to be responsive to their needs," Goodell said.

And, with that, the questions about Vick began.

Goodell said he might meet with Vick, and that he wasn't sure how long the league's review of the case would take. Upshaw said the NFLPA has "had a number of calls. We've had every kind of e-mail you can think of, and they're not good. They're not good at all. Obviously this has struck a nerve."

Goodell was asked whether it's a priority to wrap up the league's review of Vick's case before the regular season begins.

"It's a priority to get all the facts as clear as possible as quickly as possible. We are well aware of the fact the season is fast approaching," Goodell said. "We would like our fans talking about football rather than this kind of an issue."

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UF uses technology in dealing with concussions

By BRANDON ZIMMERMAN
(Gainesville, Fla.) Sun

Chris Leak thought he had suffered a concussion. Turns out, his self-diagnosis apparently was wrong.

The University of Florida quarterback suffered a blow to the head during last year's 21-14 win over Georgia in Jacksonville. Leak, who is now on the Chicago Bears, said he played nearly the entire game with blurred vision and a headache. After the game, Leak told Meyer he thought he'd suffered a concussion. But UF doctors and trainers
evaluated Leak and told him his injury was nothing more than a headache.

"I didn't have a concussion, but I didn't know," Leak said two days after the game. "When you get your bell rung in a game like that, you don't know what to think of it."

Concussions have become the most talked-about football injury in recent months.

As large numbers of former NFL players are diagnosed with depression, memory loss, headaches and early onset of Alzheimer's disease, the league is studying the long-term effects of the injury. And Leak's concussion-that-apparently-wasn't illustrates just how difficult it is to diagnose such head injuries.

"It's tough because there's no black and white," said Kyle Johnston, assistant athletic trainer for the UF football team. "It's something you have to be cautious with and it's something we take very seriously."

Florida has used technology to make the diagnosis and treatment of concussions easier. Like hundreds of other schools across the nation, Florida runs all its incoming players through the ImPACT (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) baseline test.

The computerized exam measures cognitive function, including memory and reaction time. If a head injury is suspected, players retake the exam to determine the severity.

"It tests memory, visual motor speed, reaction time, impulse control . . . these areas," he said. "We go back and test them again on these same tests (if there is a head injury). Then we can see what their visual motor skills are, what their reaction time is."

Very little can be done to prevent concussions in a sport as violent as football. Nonetheless, there are a few ways Florida uses advances in equipment. The Gators give players custom mouthpieces that can help absorb shock. A mold is taken of each player's mouth, and the mouthpieces are made specifically to conform around each player's teeth.

Florida has also taken advantage of recent helmet technology in hopes of preventing concussions. In 2002, equipment company Riddell created a new helmet called the RevolutionT. The helmet's design is different from a normal helmet in that the shell extends across a larger part of the player's jaw.

"We do the best we can to prevent them," Johnston said.

Football isn't the only sport at UF in which its players are wary of concussions. Florida's soccer team also administers the ImPACT baseline test on its players. Like football, diagnosing concussions on the soccer field is not as easy as a torn ligament or broken bone.

"Not one clinical factor can be used to diagnose concussions or determine when to return to action," said soccer team trainer Emily Kiefer.

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Many traumatic brain injuries go undiagnosed

Article published Jul 16, 2007

By DIANE CHUN
(Gainesville, Fla.) Sun staff writer

It's a part of the culture in the National Football League. A player "gets his bell rung" in a hard hit on the field, then assures team trainers on the sideline that he's not severely hurt.

"Put me back in, Coach."

In fact, the player may have suffered a concussion, a trauma to the brain that could haunt his later life in the form of bouts of depression, early-onset Alzheimer's disease or dementia.

Sports agent Leigh Steinberg describes traumatic brain injury as "an undiagnosed health epidemic" and "a ticking time bomb."

Apparently, NFL officials have been listening. Late last month, they called a one-day summit on concussions, asking team medical personnel, members of the league's concussion research committee and outside critics to speak candidly on the issue of brain injuries in the league.

According to the Brain Injury Association of America, football is responsible for approximately 250,000 head injuries each year. The National Football Leagues estimates there are about 100 concussions per season.

The group wrestled with the question of when a player can safely return to action on the field after suffering an apparent concussion. And, indeed, how to determine if a hard hit on the field has resulted in a brain injury.

Ron Hayes is the director of traumatic brain injury studies at the University of Florida and chief clinical program officer of Banyan Biomarkers Inc. Banyan is a Gainesville-based biomedical research company that is developing a biomarker that can tell if brain injury has occurred based on a simple blood test.

Hayes says the meeting called by the NFL to look at brain injury is "an example of popular perception come to grips with a wave of scientific evidence." The researcher adds that the same uncertainties that the NFL faces about brain injuries and the consequences "are faced by kids playing contact sports in this country and the world."

Jason Demery, a UF clinical assistant professor in clinical and health psychology, puts mild traumatic brain injury, or MTBI, in statistical perspective.

There are 1.5 million to 2 million new mild traumatic brain injuries documented each year, according to Demery, and that's probably well under the true figure, since many people who have a head injury don't seek medical attention.

The good news is that the majority of those who sustain a single MTBI go on to recover spontaneously, but there are still 10 percent to 15 percent who still have persistent, post-concussive symptoms a year after their injury, he added.

The NFL's summit provides a public platform to begin discussing the issue, he said.

The incidence of depression and emotional complications can be one of the most devastating aspects of a traumatic brain injury, Demery said.

"The research shows the incidence can be as high as 70 percent or 80 percent after a single concussive episode," he said.

The NFL requires all teams to do baseline testing to measure each player's normal brain function. The results could be compared with a similar test given after a concussion.

Demery, a neuropsychologist, said such tests won't reveal the full picture if a brain injury has occurred.

"Paper and pencil tests are good for identifying some aspects of brain dysfunction, but if you perform poorly, trying to determine what that represents is difficult."

That's where a biomarker will come in, according to Hayes. "It is inevitable. We do this routinely to diagnose every other organ dysfunction but the brain," he said.

When you show up in an ER or are taken off the playing field with a potential brain injury, he explained, it is the same ambiguous situation as if you show up with chest pain. With chest pain you could be having an anxiety attack, acid reflux or a heart attack.

The first thing the ER staff will do is draw a blood sample. After that, he said, the diagnosis can be made unequivocally. "We are on the cusp of having the same technology available for brain injury," Hayes said.

Today, a patient in the ER with a possible concussion will probably be given a CT scan. A CT is time-consuming and expensive, Hayes said, "and what you really need is a rapid blood test that says you either have a brain injury or you don't."

Hayes sees a culture in the NFL "where you don't want to tell physicians what happened. In fact, as an ex-fighter pilot, I can say the last person I wanted to have contact with was a flight surgeon. All they were going to do was take you off duty." He described a recent dinner in Washington with Mike Bragg, a retired NFL player who
spent 12 years as a punter for the Redskins. Bragg said players would tell their trainers, who'd hold up several fingers after a hard knock and ask how many they saw, "Always hold up three fingers."

"Here is a subjective test administered in a culture that doesn't want to tell the medical truth," Hayes said. "Instead, you need an organically based, objective assessment, and it will become available quite soon."

Hayes said Banyan is two or three years removed from approval of its biomarkers for traumatic brain injury. Such a biomarker will identify proteins that are present in the blood as a result of damage to the brain after a suspected concussion. Clinical trials are under way in the United States and Europe.

"The development of this blood test will benefit everyone including NFL players, children on the sports field, accident victims and American soldiers at war," he said.

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NFL fumbling pensions of disabled ex-players

Dorney worries about his head, Ringo suffers from Alzheimer's and Bednarik is fed up.

By Gordie Jones
(Allentown, Pa.) The Morning Call

July 15, 2007

Mostly, Keith Dorney worries about his head.

He has undergone 13 orthopedic surgeries for injuries sustained during his nine-year NFL career. His knees are bad, and getting worse. And the former Detroit Lions offensive tackle, knowing of seven ex-teammates who died before their time, took his pension at the first opportunity -- four years ago, at age 45.

But he worries most about his head.

After all, he said, he "always led" with it.

"I prided myself on violent collisions," he said.

That was true when he was growing up in Macungie and playing at Emmaus High School, true at Penn State and especially true during his pro career (1979-87).

He has not undergone a CT scan, though. He admitted over the phone the other day that that is probably not wise, that what he doesn't know might very well hurt him.

"I'm scared to get anything done," he said. "I'm just trying to throw it under the rug, and not think about it."

Dorney, who now lives in California and does seminars and motivational speeches for the Financial Knowledge Network, fears the NFL is doing the same thing in response to complaints from former players, who believe they deserve more in the way of pension and disability benefits.

And Dorney also wonders if all of the heart-wrenching tales brought to light in recent months -- including that of Phillipsburg native Jim Ringo, the retired Hall of Fame center now residing in a specialized Alzheimer's unit in Virginia Beach -- will make any difference in the way the league goes about its business.

"I am optimistic that there will be some type of change, compensation, bone thrown our way," Dorney said. "It will not be anything extraordinary. ... I'm not counting on any future revenue stream from the NFL, that's for sure."

John Spagnola is more optimistic. Spagnola, the Bethlehem Catholic graduate and former Eagles tight end whose playing career nearly mirrored Dorney's, said things began "snowballing" in November 2006, when ex-Eagles safety Andre Waters committed suicide.

Wracked by depression that was believed to be the result of repeated concussions, Waters offered another reminder of the plight of former players.

Others have emerged, or re-emerged. The Sporting News reported last month that ex-Colts tight end John Mackey, suffering from dementia (another likely side effect of concussions), performs the most basic tasks only because his wife, Sylvia, leaves notes ostensibly signed by former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

ESPN.com recently profiled former Cardinals bad boy Conrad Dobler, who gobbles down Vicodin to dull the pain from his aching knees.

And Mike Ditka and Joe DeLamielleure, point men in the ex-players' fight for improved benefits, produced former Bengals and Jaguars offensive lineman Brian DeMarco for a news conference, and later a congressional subcommittee. DeMarco, unable to work because of severe back problems, has seen his family left homeless three times in the
last four years.

In the meantime, Gene Upshaw, head of the NFL Players Association, has "mismanaged" things, in the estimation of Spagnola, now an investment counselor near Philadelphia. Upshaw told the Charlotte Observer last year that he works for the current players, not the retirees, and in response to criticism from DeLamielleure told the
Philadelphia Daily News he would "break his ... damn neck."

All of this will have a telling effect on the NFL honchos, Spagnola believes.

"The only thing that will move them is public opinion," he said, "which they're very conscious of."

Judy Ringo, Jim's wife, can only hope the league is swayed. Jim, who played 15 years and coached in the NFL for 20 before his retirement in 1989, was diagnosed with Alzheimer's in 1996. Now 75, he was admitted to the treatment facility in Virginia Beach, near the couple's home in Chesapeake, last August.

Judy believes she and Jim have been "extremely fortunate." They were able to make do with pensions from Jim's playing and coaching careers, and as of February began receiving help from the "88 Plan," which was formulated by the NFL and NFLPA at the urging of Sylvia Mackey.

The plan, which gets its name from John Mackey's old uniform number, provides as much as $88,000 a year to ex-players being treated for dementia in a facility, as much as $50,000 a year to those being cared for at home.

So Judy counts her lucky stars.

"I hope the same good fortune is given to all disabled players," she said. "It's something they've earned."

But Dorney doesn't see much help coming from the league or the union. Neither does Chuck Bednarik.

"They don't give a damn about us," the legendary ex-Eagle said from his Coopersburg home. "I mean it. ... They don't care, and I don't care about them."

As Dorney noted, "They'll throw a couple bucks my way, and Spagnola's way, to get the media off their backs, and then go on with the status quo."

Retired Cleveland Browns cornerback Bernie Parrish was even more blunt at the congressional hearing on the matter last month.

"We have been betrayed," he said, according to several published reports. "Our union, [commissioner] Roger Goodell and the owners are operating a system of delay, deny and hope you die."

Neither Goodell nor Upshaw were present at the hearing, but the league representatives on hand disputed the ex-players' claims, saying that pension and disability payments have been on the rise for years.

There was, however, the admission from Douglas Ell, counsel for the NFLPA and the disability plan, that 317 ex-players receive disability benefits, out of an estimated 8,000 retirees.

"In one of the most dangerous sports in the history of mankind, only 300 players are receiving disability payments?" Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, asked Ell, according to the Washington Post.

As troubling as that may be, Dorney sees the bigger picture.

"There's a healthcare crisis facing our nation, not just football players," he said. "I'm almost embarrassed when people make a big deal over the injuries of ex-football players. I know construction workers and fruit workers who are in a heck of a lot worse shape than me."

For his part, Bednarik, whose Hall of Fame career stretched from 1949 to '62, said his health is "not bad."

"I turned 82 on May 1," he said. "That's just a number, as far as I'm concerned. I'm in good health. I have no problems. Thank God I've got my wife. That's the most important part. ... I think God's looking after me."

Ringo played center for the Packers and Eagles from 1953 to '67. Asked how many concussions he might have suffered, Judy said, "I think it's got to be a pretty high number. I wouldn't want to guess. I get stories now about him being on the bus [after a game] and not knowing who won. How often that happened, I have no idea."

So now Dorney worries about his head.

He had other concerns in 1987, his last year as a player. All year his right shoulder bothered him so much, he couldn't lift his arm above his head. Repeated cortisone shots enabled him to play.

After he retired, the shoulder continued to trouble him, so he called the Lions.

"The GM said, 'We believe your shoulder was injured in a non-football-related accident,'" Dorney recalled. "That was their line."

Aghast, he spoke with the trainer, who told Dorney that was standard operating procedure; the team figured Dorney was going to file suit, seeking workman's compensation. He wasn't planning to do so, but had no choice at that point.

He said that while he was rewarded a settlement in the neighborhood of $100,000, some $28,000 of that went toward his shoulder surgery.

And, he said, "I had to sign my life away, saying I would never sue the club again. ... It's a pretty sad story. I felt very betrayed at that point."

But not surprised.

"They're a corporation, trying to cut their losses," he said, "like any corporation does."

Dorney, who now lives on a 14-acre spread in Sonoma County, Calif., which he describes as "a gentleman's farm," has worn a number of hats since retirement. He has been a high school teacher and coach. He wrote a memoir last year entitled "Black and Honolulu Blue: In the Trenches of the NFL." And he plans to write a fictional book about pro football that will be ''an updated, 21st-Century version of 'North
Dallas 40.'"

Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction, though.

And many times, the endings are not happy ones.

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Hall of Fame blocker is on a crusade for NFL retirees

The Free Lance Star (Fredericksburg, Va.)
July 15, 2007 12:35 am
by STEVE DeSHAZO

UNLIKE MANY of his peers, Joe DeLamielleuere didn't need a cane or a walker when he visited Fredericksburg yesterday. But the Hall of Famer might need something other retired NFL players don't: a bodyguard.

DeLamielleuere, who blocked for O.J. Simpson during his glory days in Buffalo, has been one of the most outspoken critics of NFL Players Union boss Gene Upshaw. He feels the union isn't doing nearly enough to take care of the men who helped build the league into a billion-dollar business.

In response, Upshaw told The Philadelphia Daily News last month: "A guy like DeLamielleuere says the things he said about me, you think I'm going to invite him to dinner? No, I'm going to break his --- damn neck."

DeLamielleuere yesterday called that "an irresponsible statement," but that doesn't mean he's not taking it seriously--not with a wife and nine children (four of them adopted). And not when he and his wife grew up in Detroit, where unions don't mess around. He's genuinely worried more about his loved ones than himself.

Still, it's hard to find anyone who doesn't support DeLamielleuere's cause--except perhaps Upshaw and the 1,800 active players he represents.

"We've got the greatest game in the world, with the worst pension and disability [benefits]," DeLamielleuere said during a visit to the Card Cellar at Four-Mile Fork with fellow Hall of Famer Lem Barney.

"If I were a current player, I would educate myself on what these [retired] guys are complaining about. These are the guys who built this league."

What they're complaining about is a pension system that averages less than $13,000 a year per man. The NFL told The Associated Press last month that it pays out $126 million annually in pension and post-career disability benefits, but that only 317 out of more than 10,000 eligible players received disability payments last year.

Football is a violent game that pays well (in the short term), but can leave permanent damage to the body and brain.

Another Hall of Famer, Mike Ditka, has joined the chorus. He testified before Congress last month, when elected officials heard heartbreaking stories like that of former Oakland Raider Curt Marsh, who had a leg amputated and more than 30 surgeries before he was approved for disability.

Ex-Pittsburgh Steeler Mike Webster suffered from dementia that was likely caused by concussions before he died homeless in 2002. Former All-Pro Earl Campbell can barely walk. Upshaw's former linemate in Oakland, Jim Otto, can barely get out of bed because of all the damage his body suffered in 15 years.

Even Fredericksburg native George Coghill, who played just four seasons with the Denver Broncos (but absorbed some of the worst collisions on special teams) severely hyperextended his right elbow and can't fully extend his arm.

"People see you on TV and think you're set for life," Coghill said recently, "but five years later, you still hurt."

If these former players had made the millions today's stars do, it might not be an issue. But Barney never made more than $125,000 in a year before retiring in 1977. "I was a million-dollar player," he said with a smile. "I just didn't get paid like one."

DeLamielleuere's best annual paycheck was $200,000--less than half the league minimum today. And these are relatively healthy Hall of Famers. That's why they count on income from autograph signings like yesterday's.

What about the guys who don't have fame or money? Can't the union find a slice of the pie for the men who sacrificed their bodies to build the NFL into a cash cow?

Congress seemed genuinely moved by last month's gut-wrenching testimony, but there's a war on and an election coming.

New NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has set up a summit later this summer with the league, the union and retirees. But he has been busy negotiating new TV deals, disciplining current knuckleheads like Pacman Jones and Tank Johnson and pondering what he might do about Michael Vick.

What's the answer?

"I don't know," DeLamielleuere said. "I don't have a platform, other than that I'm in the Hall of Fame."

It's a good place to start. And a good fight to pursue.

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Call to mind: Nowinski aggressively tackles issue of concussions in sports

Boston Globe
By John Powers, Globe Staff | July 15, 2007

WALTHAM -- The e-mails come from strangers who've seen him on TV talking about concussions and the terrible damage they can cause. The mother of an NFL player who is worried because her son is no longer the same guy. A soldier asking for the name of someone who can help him. Recently, an old Illinois high school teammate called.

"He said, 'Remember me? I used to block you in practice,' " Chris Nowinski says in a conference room where he works as a consultant for Trinity Partners, a biotech and pharmaceutical consulting firm. "Now, he's suicidal."

As the issue of sports concussions has been spotlighted amid evidence that brain trauma from their playing days may have been linked to the deaths of four former NFL players, the 28-year-old Nowinski has become a prominent voice on the subject, appearing on an HBO special, talking on CNN and National Public Radio, and being quoted in major newspapers.

Nowinski has solid credentials because he's also a victim, a former Harvard football player and World Wrestling Entertainment performer who suffered at least a half-dozen concussions that eventually ended his career.

"That gives him a lot of legitimacy because he's been there and done it," says Dr. Julian Bailes ," who chairs the Department of Neurosurgery at West Virginia University and is medical director at the Center for the Study of Retired Athletes at the University of North Carolina. "He's a sufferer, also."

Nowinski has had migraine headaches, memory loss, sleeping problems, and depression. As he grows older, he could develop the more serious dysfunctions that come with chronic traumatic encephalopathy. "I'm at high risk for everything we're looking at," observes Nowinski, who says that he's still "on a lot of drugs with high copays" four years after he quit wrestling.

Nowinski's research into concussions led to his writing "Head Games," a book about what he calls football's concussion crisis, which was published last fall. Since then, he has become a visible activist, having brain samples from deceased former NFL players Andre Waters and Justin Strzelczyk analyzed to show that concussions likely contributed to their deaths.

"It's one of the few big public health issues that is easily preventable that is left out there and nobody's really taking it up," says Nowinski, who is helping establish the Sports Legacy Institute to do formal research on sports-related brain trauma. "I know all the stories. I just can't sit back and not do it."

Repeated concussions can lead to irreversible neurological damage and dementia. Yet until recently, players who'd been "dinged" or "had their bell rung" were encouraged to shrug it off and get back into the game.

"That culture works for body injuries, where it makes sense to play through bruises, because it makes you tougher," says Nowinski, who finished out a game with a broken hand in high school. "But no one ever separated that for brain injuries. I believe we're smart enough to understand the difference -- if we're told it."

Personal experience

Nowinski says he didn't understand the difference the first few times he absorbed jarring head shots. The first came during a Harvard practice when he was rushing the passer and was leveled by a helmet under his chin. "I remember feeling fuzzy that night," he says. "I kept calling people by the wrong names in the dining hall."

The second time was a helmet-to-helmet smash from a linebacker as Nowinski was returning a short kickoff during a preseason scrimmage. "When I opened my eyes, it was the first time the sky turned orange on me," he remembers. "I took a knee, I went to the sideline, and the next time my number was called, I was ready to go. I didn't know it was worth talking about."

Nowinski ended up playing for the league-champion varsity in 1997 and made second-team All-Ivy as a defensive lineman. Then, as a lark, he tried out for "Tough Enough," WWE's reality show on MTV.

"One of the trainers wanted to send me a welcome-to-the-business message," says Nowinski. "He threw me into the ropes and gave me a clothesline. I remember feeling very strange and off balance. We had a blue ceiling and it went orange on me."

But Nowinski kept wrestling and quickly made a name for himself as "Chris Harvard" (until his alma mater objected), the supercilious H-Man everyone loved to hate. His fellow members of the Class of 2000 who'd gone to New York's investment banks and trading pits were jealous, he'd joked. They were working 100-hour weeks and stressing
out while he was cavorting with Tommy Dreamer, Goldust, and his WWE playmates and making big money.

"I know this is something I could do for 10 or 20 years," Nowinski said in November 2002, just before he performed at the FleetCenter. "I wake up in the morning looking forward to my job -- that's never happened before. I don't see where this will ever get boring."

Two months later, his wrestling career was over. Nowinski just didn't realize it. During the Royal Rumble in Hartford in January, he took a kick to the chin from Bubba Dudley that knocked him halfway into December.

"When I hit the mat I had a massive headache, to the point where I forgot who was supposed to win the match," Nowinski recalls. "I was fuzzy for three weeks, but I still wrestled because I didn't know any better. I just kept trying to be a tough guy."

Soon came the headaches. Memory problems that became progressively worse. Sleepwalking. Depression set in. Yet Nowinski wrestled nearly two dozen times during the next five months, taking on Maven and Hurricane and the rest of the cast until it became obvious he was having severe problems.

"Dude, you're [messed] up," the tag-team manager told Nowinski en route to an Indiana show. "You shouldn't be wrestling anymore." That night in his hotel room, after a violent sleepwalking episode, Nowinski awakened to find himself face down on the floor amid broken glass, overturned furniture, and a terrified girlfriend.

Lasting effects

Wrestling was finished for him, but his post-concussion symptoms continued and worsened. That fall, Nowinski began doing medical research into causes and effects. "To see what was wrong with myself," he says. "Because I wasn't getting any good answers from doctors as to why I wasn't bouncing back."

Every concussion made the next one worse, Nowinski learned, and opened the door to lifelong neurological problems. And from what he gathered by talking to football buddies at Saturday tailgates and from interviewing former pros, concussions had become a crisis in the sport. "Everyone's getting them," he concluded, "and getting a lot of them."

Nowinski had agents shop around his book idea, "but the publishers thought it was too small a market," he says. Last October, Drummond published "Head Games," which has received critical applause but underwhelming sales. "People do not want the responsibility of knowing the information," Nowinski says.

But after Waters committed suicide last year, the subject suddenly became timely. Nowinski asked the player's family for a sample of his brain tissue, which Dr. Bennet Omalu , a neuropathologist at the University of Pittsburgh, analyzed.

Omalu, who'd done similar examinations on the brains of former Steelers Mike Webster and Terry Long, determined that Waters's tissue resembled that of an 85-year-old man and showed early indications of Alzheimer's disease.

Nowinski quickly found himself a go-to guy for TV and radio bookers. He'd just authored a book on the subject, he was a familiar name from his WWE days, he was a Harvard grad, and he was well-spoken and camera-friendly. "No question, having been an entertainer helps," Nowinski says.

>From the media coverage he's seen, the NFL's belated interest in concussions and recent congressional hearings on the problems of retired players, he senses that the message finally is getting through.

After former wrestler Chris Benoit killed himself and his family last month, some observers pondered whether he might have suffered brain damage during his career. "People were saying, I wonder if . . . ," says Nowinski, who knew Benoit from their WWE days. "They're open to the idea. In less than six months, it's part of the lexicon."

While Nowinski says it's "rewarding to know that so much has changed so quickly and that people are open to change," he acknowledges that institutional progress on the athletic side has been coming slowly.

"The awareness is there," Nowinski says, "but changing the culture is another undertaking."

Though the NFL held a concussion summit in Chicago last month and will establish mandatory neuropsychological testing for players, Nowinski questions whether the league will take the logical next step -- diagnosing concussions when they occur and keeping players off the field while they recover. "Concussions certainly aren't going away," he says.

Football is more violent than ever, Nowinski says, with bigger and faster people slamming into each other, and that's not likely to change. "The game is based on hitting other people as hard as you can," he says.

But the damage from multiple concussions can't be mended in the same way a blown-out knee can. "People thought, they retired, so they're fixed," Nowinski says. "They retired because they're ruined."

If medical evidence and headlines about dead former players aren't enough to change things, one big lawsuit from a player could be the catalyst. "The liability issue is a big hammer that will probably be used somewhere by somebody," Nowinski says.

It would be unfortunate, he says, if that's what it takes to make football less of a head game and stop the parade of players with neurological problems. "How many bodies do we have to find," Chris Nowinski asks, "before people take it seriously?"

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Hoge has vital story for NFL

by Tom Pelissero
Green Bay Press Gazette
July 14, 2007

Merril Hoge has advised many NFL players in private, but he's never had a large group sit and listen to his story.

The one where his facemask gets busted in at Soldier Field.

The one where he stops breathing in the training room.

The one where he's rushed to the ER, spends two days in intensive care and never plays football again.

Hoge wishes more people would have listened in 1994, when his NFL playing days ended at age 29. But with the league convening a meeting about concussions last month and launching a study of retired players to gauge long-term effects, Hoge is optimistic he soon will get his chance to reach a broader audience.

"Would you rather give up four weeks, or four years or 10 years or a career?" Hoge said in a phone call this past week. That's the message he sends to any player who asks about concussions, the brain injuries usually caused by blows to the head that are common in this country's most violent mainstream sport.

"Once you weigh (the options) out, four weeks is not that big a deal. Does it mean that you're not going to be losing your mind, and it's going to be hard to sit out a month? Absolutely not. It's still going to kill them."

Hoge - who will be at Oneida Golf & Country Club on Monday for the Ray Nitschke NFL Players Golf Classic, which benefits Options for Independent Living and the Jackie Nitschke Center - never missed an NFL game until the final blow.

He suffered a couple of concussions during his days with the Pittsburgh Steelers, with whom he racked up most of his 5,272 career rushing and receiving yards and 34 touchdowns. But the beginning of the end didn't come until his third preseason game with the Chicago Bears, on Aug. 22, 1994.

Hoge says he never properly was re-evaluated after suffering what he calls a "major head trauma" in that game. So, when he stumbled to the locker room and lost vital signs after cut-blocking two Buffalo Bills in a game Oct. 2 of that year, "it was over for me."

A month after he retired, Hoge went blind for 15 seconds at a wine-tasting event because the part of his brain controlling vision had been traumatized. He still has trouble at times with bright lights, concentration and memory.

"It is, in a sense, more dangerous than paralysis," Hoge said. "(If)you had a fractured vertebrae, and I said, 'Listen, you take a play, you take another shot like that, there's a good chance you're paralyzed,' there's probably not a fool in America that's going to continue to risk that."

In 2000, a jury awarded Hoge $1.55 million in a lawsuit against a former Bears team physician, but the verdict was overturned.

The NFL founded a committee on concussions the year Hoge's career ended. However, the extent of the problem will be re-examined this year because doctors and other independent researchers are linking concussions to everything from depression to death.

Now 42 and an analyst for ESPN, Hoge has met with new commissioner Roger Goodell and expects to remain involved as the NFL continues its research. He's urging the league to "create a formula that keeps players from danger and puts the pressure on the people that are responsible, which are the gatekeepers, which are the medical people,
and create another avenue where they cannot be influenced or pressured by (management) or ownership or coaching.

"I think those things are materializing," he said.

The biggest issue may be getting through to players in the tough-guy culture of pro football who know sitting out with an injury can cost them their jobs.

Hearing Hoge's story is a start.

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Ex-QB Enke among fortunate few who don't need NFL aid

Arizona Daily Star
Published: 07.12.2007

Opinion by Greg Hansen

Fred W. Enke is 83 now and he's a tennis nut. How much of a nut? He watches Wimbledon, start to finish. If it is on TV at 6 a.m., he is watching.

How devoted? He walked outside Tuesday and swept off, in their entirety, the tennis courts at his Casa Grande ranch. It doesn't sound like much of a task, but a week ago Enke was in a hospital bed, morphine dripping into his system, recovering from gall bladder surgery.

"Worst pain I've had in my life,'' he insists. "They took out my gall bladder in nine little pieces, through my belly button.''

When Enke says that something hurts, you believe him.

After retiring from a seven-year NFL career, quarterbacking the Lions, Eagles and Colts from 1948 to 1954, Enke ultimately required surgery to replace both knees, his right shoulder and his left hip. He also had surgery to keep his back in working condition.

"Oh, I'm not sure you can blame it all on football,'' he says, just to be interrupted by his wife, Marjorie, who adds "14 years of football, Fred, 14 years of football. What else could it have been?''

Fred W. Enke, son of legendary UA basketball coach Fred A. Enke, is perhaps the greatest Wildcat athlete of the 20th century, and if not No. 1, somewhere at the front of the Top 10. He does not regret his football days.

"If I don't take medication, I've got arthritis problems,'' he says. "But that can't be related to football, can it?''

If there is one good thing about Enke's post-football body trauma it's that he was so successful in the agricultural business that he didn't have to worry about medical bills. Unlike so many retired NFL players, who last month presented their pension/disability/economic problems at a Congressional hearing, Enke isn't worried about finances.

His monthly NFL pension is $1,400, which has been substantially upgraded several times from its original $350.

"It took us years to get anything,'' he says. "Those who played in the NFL before 1960 didn't get a dime until Pete Rozelle took our case and got the ball rolling for pensions. But I am alarmed to continue to read how many former players are disabled, or have dementia, and are in dire need these days.''

Enke's top NFL salary: $12,000. Signing bonus: $1,000.

The NFL last month announced that $126 million a year goes into post-career disability benefits for retired players. However, Hall of Famer Mike Ditka, the loudest critic of the league's pension system, discovered that just 317 of more than 10,000 eligible players receive disability payments from that fund.

Sandy Unitas, widow of Hall of Fame quarterback John Unitas, told the Congressional subcommittee that Unitas was never approved for disability benefits even though he lost functional use of his right arm.

The NFL pension issue is so provocative that Tucsonan Les Josephson, for 11 years a Los Angeles Rams fullback, says that a retired-players Web site he checks has input from more than 2,000 players.

"I'm probably one of the fortunate ones, knock on wood, that I haven't had major physical repercussions or a number of football-related surgeries,'' said Josephson, who is a mortgage company executive here. "I'll eventually have to have my knees replaced, but I wasn't one of those who got beat up real bad."

Josephson, 64, began taking his NFL pension four years ago. His highest salary over his 1964-74 career? It was $50,000. That means he didn't get wealthy playing for the Rams, nor are his retirement benefits excessive. ("Far below $100,000 a year," he says.)

He has heard the medical and financial horror stories about ex-Packers Willie Wood and defensive back Herb Adderley and about ex-Raiders center Jim Otto, among others.

"I missed one year with an Achilles' reconstruction surgery, and I had a broken jaw and two shoulder surgeries," says Josephson. "One argument against us is that we knew what we were getting into; we knew the risks. But there should come a point where some humanity is involved. If Herb Adderley truly is getting only $128 a month, as has been publicized, that's not right."

Those who played in the '50s, such as Enke and his contemporaries, began with pensions that paid $30 a month for each season of service. In retrospect, he is astonished there wasn't more permanent physical damage.

Some of his teammates eschewed thigh pads, or knee pads, afraid it would limit their mobility. Worse, facemasks weren't implemented until 1954.

"In a 1954 game against the Rams, I saw facemasks for the first time," Enke says. "We wondered what they were. We'd have guys get teeth knocked out every week. Every NFL team was spending a fortune in dental bills.

"Funny, but after that game with the Rams, all of our helmets were taken and sent to the Rawlings company in Chicago and fitted for facemasks by the next Sunday. It might not have been good for the dental industry, but it sure made playing football more safe."

Heated Debate

In the last month, Congress has held hearings on the NFL's pension and disability programs.

Some former players say the NFL provides the worst pension plan in professional sports, although football is one of the most dangerous sports.

NFL players union head Gene Upshaw has come under fire from a group of Hall of Famers that says the union has concentrated too much on current players and ignored the health problems of former players.

Congressional testimony revealed the NFL has $1.1 billion in its disability and pension fund, but has spent only $20 million.

Source: The Associated Press

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A Long Walk for Those Who Responded to 9/11

NY Times
July 12, 2007
Sports of The Times
By DAVE ANDERSON

If you're a Giants football fan, you remember George Martin. As a defensive end and tricaptain of the 1986 Giants along with Harry Carson and Phil Simms in their Super Bowl XXI victory, Martin tackled Broncos quarterback John Elway in the end zone for a safety. Over his 14 seasons, his six touchdowns (three on interception returns) set a
National Football League record for a defensive lineman. Coach Bill Parcells considered him a pillar of locker room leadership.

And on Martin's way to and from the practice field outside Giants Stadium, he couldn't help but see and marvel at the twin towers of the World Trade Center across the Hudson River.

On the evening of Sept. 10, 2001, Martin, returning from a business trip, was on a jetliner about to land at Newark Airport when the woman sitting next to him mentioned that she was visiting the New York area for the first time.

"See the twin towers over there," Martin told her, pointing toward the New York skyline. "Be sure you go down to Lower Manhattan to see them up close."

The next morning, when Martin turned on the television in his Ringwood, N.J., home, he saw smoke belching from one tower. Moments later he saw a jetliner crash into the other tower. One by one, he saw each tower collapse. Soon he, his wife, Dianne, and their four children - Teresa, George II, Benjamin and Aaron - learned that two 23-
year-old neighbors, Christian DeSimone and Tyler Ugolyn, had died in the terrorist attack.

"They were two of God's special angelic kids," Martin said Monday at a Giants football camp for youngsters in Wayne, N.J.

Martin, 54, has not forgotten them or those who responded to the attack: the firefighters, the police, everybody who rushed there. Through his Journey for 9/11, he hopes to raise $10 million to care for first responders who develop illnesses related to the attack and its aftermath. He plans to walk more than 3,000 miles across the nation, from the New York side of the George Washington Bridge to New
Jersey, down to Washington, south to Interstate 40, then west, eventually leading to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.

"All those respondents unselfishly put themselves in harm's way, and they've been forgotten," he said. "People like to call football players heroes, but we're not heroes, we just play football. The last thing I want to do is open old wounds, but these unquestioned true heroes have been forgotten. It's like what John F. Kennedy said when somebody asked why somebody should do something and he said, 'Why
not?' Why shouldn't we do something for the respondents?"

Martin, the sports marketing director for AXA Equitable for the past decade, has been granted a paid leave of absence for his journey.

"I'll walk every mile; no walking a few miles and jumping in a car," he said. "I start Sept. 15, the day before the Giants' home opener. I've been training for a 50-miles-a-day clip - up early and walk 12½ miles before breakfast, do 12½ more before lunch, another 12½ and a short rest in the afternoon, then a final 12½ before dinner and bed. It should take three and a half to four months. I know I can do it."

Martin won't be alone, of course. With a budget of $150,000 for the trip, he'll be accompanied by a police escort and a support staff. His corporate sponsors include Hackensack University Medical Center, North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health Systems, Fairleigh Dickinson University, United Parcel Service, Bear Stearns, Nike, TanaSeybert, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Keyspan Energy, Hunter Douglas, the Giants,
the N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association.

"I was lucky," he said. "As a football player, I never had any broken bones, never had surgery. I don't have an artificial knee or hip. I'm the antithesis of all these former N.F.L. players who have had problems, but they shouldn't be blaming Gene Upshaw and the players association. We all went into the N.F.L. knowing the average career was only about five years. We all went in with our eyes open."

Martin's eyes have always been more open than those of most pro football players. At Armijo High School in Fairfield, Calif., he was the student body president. At the University of Oregon, he was an art-education major before the Giants drafted him in the 11th round.

"When I was at Oregon, I always admired Steve Prefontaine," Martin said, referring to the world-class distance runner who died in 1975. "You'd see Steve running everywhere all over the campus, not just in track meets. It was as if he had a personal affair with nature. I won't be running, but when I'm walking across the country, I'll be
thinking of him."

And when George Martin is making his way across the nation, he'll also be thinking of all those 9/11 responders whom he's walking for.

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Retired Colts skeptical of NFL plan

Thanks to a tendon injury he suffered during a 1968 preseason game, Hall of Fame Colts' quarterback Johnny Unitas had to strap everything from a pen to a golf club to his once powerful hand because he had lost his once strong grip. Still, despite the debilitating injury and pain, Unitas' disability claim with the NFL was denied.

Ron Snyder, The (Baltimore) Examiner
2007-07-11 07:00:00.0

BALTIMORE -

Johnny Unitas' golden arm was nothing more than a lead weight when he died in 2002.

After suffering a tendon injury during a 1968 preseason game, the Hall of Fame Baltimore Colts' quarterback had to strap everything from a pen to a golf club to his once powerful hand because he had lost his once strong grip. Still, despite the debilitating injury and pain, Unitas' disability claim with the National Football League was denied.

That's something Jean Fugett doesn't want to see happen again. Fugett, the President of the NFL Retired Players Steering Committee, said his organization is forming an outreach group to help identify needy players and help them with their disability claims, which he describes as a cumbersome process.

"There are so many hoops to jump through," Fugett said. "Money isn't an issue as the retirement plan has $1 billion in it. 'It's the disability process that needs to be fixed.' We don't have a system in place to find these players."

Today, players appealing disability claims will appear in front of the National Football League Player's Association's retirement board, which has three management - including Ravens President Dick Cass - and three player representatives.

During a league-wide concussion summit last month in Chicago, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he is constantly looking for ways to improve assistance programs for retired players. He hopes a July 24 meeting with NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw and a number of retired players expedite the process.

"We have been working with Gene on alternatives over the last several months, and I think we have some programs that will be responsive, particularly as it relates to potential joint replacements, which is an issue that many former players are dealing with," said Goodell during a press conference at the summit.

Former Baltimore Colt Bruce Laird, who is president of the team's retired alumni chapter, is not sure how the steering committee can accomplish its goal based on Fugett's previous comments to retired Colts players.

Laird added that Fugett said that steering committee members - an advisory group to the NFL Players Association - have no defined responsibilities, job descriptions, power, yearly budget and have no accountability to the NFL retired players chapters throughout the country.

"Jean Fugett since he took office as president of the steering committee has never addressed the rank and file of the NFLRPA," Laird said. "More than 3,100 members belong to the association and there are plenty of avenues to address the group including directories and blogs if he wanted to do so."

NFL NOTES

» NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas did not qualify for disability benefits for three separate reasons:

"First, he was already receiving retirement benefits, and the plan is clear that you can't get both types of income-replacement payments [retirement and disability] at the same time," he said. "Second, he was actually working. Third, all the doctors, including his own doctor, said that he was able to work."

» According to NFL figures, 284 former players are receiving disability payments, totaling $19 million, including some that receive as much as $224,000 annually. There are more than 9,000 former players.

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Upshaw raking in $6.7 million

Salary tops sports union bosses

By MICHAEL O'KEEFFE and TERI THOMPSON
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITERS

Wednesday, July 11th 2007, 4:00 AM

In 1955, then Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, easily the most infamous of all labor bosses, reported an income of $30,000. Of course, he also picked up part ownership in a brewery, a trotting track and a few summer camps, to name a few of his side jobs.

But Hoffa was poverty-stricken compared to NFL Players Association boss Gene Upshaw.

According to the Sports Business Journal, Upshaw, who has been vilified by former players angry over what they call a disability system more interested in denying claims than helping the needy, earned a whopping $6.7 million in the year ending Feb. 28, 2007.

Upshaw, who earned $4.3 million in salary and bonuses from the NFLPA and a $2.4 million bonus through the licensing unit Players Inc., according to the NFLPA's annual report filed with the U.S. Department of Labor, is the highest paid union chief in pro sports.

According to SBJ, the increased compensation came as the union negotiated a player-friendly labor deal with team owners.

"I'm sure he's laughing all the way to the bank," said Bruce Laird, a former Colts player who leads an activist NFL retiree group in Baltimore. "But the fact remains that the system for partial and permanent disability is absolutely flawed."

The NFLPA and Upshaw, whose pay is set by a 10-player committee, have recently been under pressure from retired players on issues ranging from pensions and disability benefits to licensing income.

During the same time period, SBJ reported, former Players Inc. president Doug Allen earned $1.9 million, and his wife, former Players Inc. COO Pat Allen, was paid $633,534.

"I'd love to extend an invitation to Mr. Upshaw to come to my house and see how other guys live," said Brian DeMarco, the former Jacksonville and Cincinnati lineman who suffered extensive back and leg injuries during his NFL career. His family has been homeless three times in the last four years because of medical bills from football
injuries.

"Upshaw owes his entire life to football," DeMarco says of the Hall of Famer, "and now he's stepping away from the guys he sweat with and bled with."

Upshaw's pay dwarfed that of the other union heads, including Major League Baseball Players Association chief Donald Fehr, who earned $1 million, and NBA Players Association executive director Billy Hunter, who made $2.1 million in the 12 months ending on June 30, 2006.

Neither of those unions has a licensing subsidiary comparable to Players Inc.

Former NHL Players Association executive director Ted Saskin was reportedly paid a salary of about $2.1 million before being fired in May.

Upshaw's salary even dwarfs that of his counterpart in management, Roger Goodell, who signed a five-year deal last year for a reported $4 million per year, although he lags far behind baseball's boss, Bud Selig, who earned a reported $14.5million in 2006.

NBA chief David Stern was once the highest-paid commissioner: In 1990, the New York Times reported that Stern earned $3.5 million per year. By 2003, he was making $8 million a year.

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