NFL Football Week 14 – Fallen Heroes Still Battling

Gene Upshaw is the executive director of the NFLPA. The 61 year old Hall of Fame inductee and former Oakland Raiders guard has just been re-elected for his ninth 3 year term. “There’s a factory out there called the NCAA producing spare parts,” says Upshaw, talking about the attrition rate of pro football players due to injury and the younger athletes graduating from college who are anxiously awaiting the opportunity to take their place. Perhaps this ready corp of replacements are so eager to get their shot at the brass ring that they make it way too easy for Upshaw to abandon the players that he represented while they were active, many of whom now have severe medical conditions needing continuous attention.

Upshaw, who left the country so as to be unavailable for the recent spate of Congressional hearings has been criticized for his attitude and his actions towards these NFL veterans. “The NFL Retirement Board’s tactics are to delay, deny and hope we die,” Brent Boyd, a former Vikings offensive lineman testified. Boyd’s career was ended by injuries and he has spent many years fighting for the disability benefits to which he feels he is entitled. Upshaw has become well known recently for his statement in response to criticism by fellow Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, the former Buffalo Bill who was the leader of the “Electric Company” an offensive line that opened the holes which allowed O.J. Simpson to rush for over 2000 yards in 1973. Upshaw reportedly said to a Philadelphia newspaper “a guy like DeLamielleure says the things he said about me… I’m going to break his damn neck.” DeLamielleure told the Charlotte Observer that he takes the threats seriously. “My wife was petrified,” he said. “We grew up in Detroit. You know what unions are. You hear about it. She goes, ‘Hey, this guy is a head of a union, a powerful union and he makes a threat like that, you better take it serious.’ “

Perspective demands that one look at this history of denial and hostility in light of a glaring contrast; the vast heaps of crippled bodies that litter the landscape of life-after-football versus the staggering wealth of the union that built it’s riches on the broken backs of these athletes. According to author Paul Solotaroff, “What emerges is a picture of a labor union that has turned its back on the men who built it, and officials who use their power not to advocate for their brethren but to protect the assets of the 32 owners with whom they once did battle”.

“The NFL is a billion-dollar industry and yet the players who built the league are too often left to fend for themselves,” chairwoman Sanchez said in a statement early in June of this year. “The subcommittee has seen recent reports that the benefit plan offered to retired players may be stacked against players who need serious medical care.” Many former football player have accused the Retirement Board of conspiring to deny their benefits even after scores of doctors have provided reports which show that they are eligible. Players say the board does this by continuing to shop the players around to different doctors and not stopping until they find a physician, regardless of qualifications who will give an opinion favorable to the board’s denial of benefits. Sanchez also said that the subcommittee will examine the arbitration process used to determine benefits for severely injured retirees.