A Good Friend of the NFL is Gone.

Gene Upshaw, the NFL Players Association union leader, passed away only
days after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.

Gene’s entire life was dedicated to the NFL. First, his entire 15-year
playing career was spent as an Oakland Raider, where he played in two
Super Bowls and seven Pro Bowls. He went on to spend more than 25 years
as head of the players union.

He tenure as union leader was not without criticism. He was once
quoted as saying, “Why should I help the retired players, they don’t
pay my salary, the active players do that.” And the salary he was
talking about was close to $3 mil per year.

Upshaw made great strides for the active players, getting them the free
agency deal and the salary cap. But what was always lagging behind was
improved benefits for the retired players, ie. pension benefits along
with benefits for the disabled. As an NFL retired player, I’m more
aware of the improvements needed to help a great number of retired and
disabled players. Until just this year, you had to be blind, crippled
and confined to a bed or wheelchair to get disability benefits from the
NFL. Players would plead their cases, stating that Social Security
recognized them as being disabled and so should the NFL. But the union
would not budge and went so far as to say that even if Social Security
accepted your disability claims, they would not.

Finally this year a “Plan B” was adopted which reversed those rulings.
If Social Security was paying you disability benefits, it then became
automatic for the NFL to do the same. To the many disabled former
players out there this was great, albeit late, news.

NFL players have a unique camaraderie and we are saddened and shocked
by the sudden death of one of our own. My sincere condolences go out
to his wife, Terri, and their three sons.