The NFL: Where Neglecting Ex-Players Happens

(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Bernard Parrish claims that "Gene lies and lies, telling the young guys today that they'll have nothing to retire on if he pays us. It's divide and conquer, and it distracts them from his real job, which is guarding the owner's money."

Even more disgusting is the case of Webster. He was the member of the all-century team, but after he retired he showed signs of dementia.

According to lawyer Bob Fitsimmons, "He was drifting for years when I got him to the doctors, who diagnosed severe TBI (traumatic brain injury). The union hired an investigator to try to discredit Mike, brought their own doctor in who agreed with my doctors, and they still denied us three or four times and kept trying to spend him dry.

"Finally we got to trial and won a huge judgment in district court. But even after the union lost again on appeal, Upshaw told reporters that when the board voted that day, they'd still go against Mike, six to nothing."

What's sickening is the fact that Upshaw is supposed to put the players' interests first, not the owners. Upshaw was the most highly paid union chief—he made more than Billy Hunter and Donald Fehr.

Yet, the only thing that can define Upshaw's legacy as head of the union are his failures. He never got players guaranteed contracts, long-term health insurance, and failed to get a big percentage of total revenues as union chiefs have in other sports.

Ditka states, "I know too many guys it's happened to—Larry Morris, Jim Ringo, Harden Hill, John Mackey; I could go on and on. It just tears you apart to see 'em like that, and then have the league claim it didn't come from football. Why is it all on their wives and families, and how many more are out there?"

In 1994 the NFL established the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury Committee, with Dr. Elliot Pellman at the chair. His expertise wasn't in neurology and that is one of the possibilities why his experts could not find a link between concussions and dementia.

The reason for this was because of Brent Boyd, who like so many ex-players ran out of appeals. His case is definitely sickening, considering he had the opportunity to get $1800 a month, but wanted more because of the concussions and chronic pain.

Barry Axelrod helped him out as well, trying to get the NFL to give him the monetary damages. They went to two different doctors who concluded the same things—that the pain was caused from the concussions.

He went to a third doctor, a neurophysician named Barry Gordon. Gordon didn't even bother taking a look at him—instead a grad student did the exam.

Did the student even do any tests? No.

The only thing he did was shine a light into Boyd's eyes and checked his reflexes. Gordon wrote in his notes that the records were incomplete and that was how Boyd lost out on the money: because he was out of appeals, even with the numerous doctor visits he had before.

Body says, "Every reputable expert says that blows to the head'll cause damage if it happens enough. The NFL happens to have the only neurologists who say the jury's still out."

As stated, Pellman was no expert in neurology and it showed. Why? Because he backed up the practice of sending players with concussions back into games. 

Which, of course, he was scorned by leading neurologists for, and in 2005, The New York Times reported that he'd misstated his bona fides for over a decade. Pellman stepped down right away.

Andre Waters' suicide in November of 2006 opened a lot of people's eyes to the dangers of head injuries. The release of the forensic exams showed that he had a brain of an 88-year-old patient.

Strzelcyzk, like Waters, Long, and Webster, also had the brain of a much older man, or what is referred to as a severely punch-drunk boxer. The NFL committee's doctors downplayed the findings and thought that they were an exception and dismissed their claims as "soft science."

Jennifer Smith, the woman who was helped the DeMarco's, spent a week with them. She helped get things paid as well as getting them a used truck. The fund that she worked with helped get the DeMarco's $20,000, but even with that the charity can't help the DeMarco's out that much longer.

Smith states, "What Brian needs—what all our guys need—is for the league and union to honor their obligations. We're a band-aid at best."

The touching moment of the story is that Smith was able to get DeMarco to a pawn shop in town. What was at the pawn shop? It was a weathered pigskin that was signed by every member of the Jacksonville Jaguars from their inaugural season.

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