“No, I’m going to break his…damn neck.”
Jun 6, 2007 NFL
That is just a snippet of the comments from NFL Player’s Association head Gene Upshaw, upon hearing that Bills Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure was laying into him again about the pensions and care given to former NFL players.
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 … damn neck
This was in the Philadelphia Daily News. Joe D has long been fighting for better pensions and medical assistance for the older players who helped build the league. As an example, DeLamielleure gets a pension of $800 a month for 13 seasons with the Bills and Browns. Even NOW, current players make less than one-third of the annual pension of a Major League Baseball player.
But their benefits still fall short of other leagues. A player retiring after 1998 with 10 years of experience would be eligible for an annual pension of roughly $51,000 at age 55. MLB players with 10 years of service would retire with $175,000 per year in benefits starting at age 62.
It is worth noting that the average lifespan of an NFL player is less than 55 years. Many of the ones that do make it that far have suffered at least one serious injury in that span, often more.
Former Oilers quarterback Dan Pastorini, 57, who had a sterling 13-year NFL career, earns just $1,202.32 a month in pension benefits.
Having been afforded no health insurance by the NFL in retirement, Pastorini must meet an annual $5,000 deductible because of pre-existing conditions that include back, neck and knee problems.
“It’s an impossibility to have ourselves heard,” Pastorini said. “There are a lot of disturbing stories out there. Great players are falling to pieces.
“Upshaw makes me sick. He was a teammate of mine (at Oakland in 1980), and I didn’t like him as a teammate. I like him less now.”
Upshaw repeatedly brushes off these older players by saying he doesn’t represent them, which is technically right, he represents the active players. However, he IS supposed to be the guy on the hook for the pre-1977 players on the Retirement board, which looks into disability claims.
Without question, the Retirement Board’s record for being sympathetic to retired players’ claims has been less than impressive. Of 3,500 players represented, barely 130 (0.37 percent) have earned full disability, according to a 2005 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette study in the wake of Steelers great Mike Webster’s death.
It will be interesting, to say the least, to find out what happens to Upshaw for his threat. If he wanted this issue to go away or be supressed, threatening a Hall of Fame Guard’s life via the papers is not the way to do it.
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