Upshaw Honored for Helping Ex-NFL Players with Brain Injuries

by James Parks, Jun 3, 2007

Gene Upshaw, left, and Paul Tagliabue celebrate signing of NFL players’ contract in 2006.

In his 14 years as a Hall of Fame guard for the Oakland Raiders, Gene Upshaw was one of the best in the sport at protecting the quarterback and runners. Now Upshaw, executive director of the Professional Athletes union and a member of the AFL-CIO Executive Council, is being honored for protecting former players who have suffered brain injuries.

He was one of four people honored May 31 by the Alzheimer’s Association of New York for helping start the “88″ plan. It provides up to $88,000 per year from the National Football League (NFL) and the union for ex-players afflicted with dementia or related problems to help with their care. Doctors have not made a conclusive link between dementia, brain injuries or Alzheimer’s and playing pro football, but there clearly is a need for help for afflicted former players.

Upshaw told Dave Goldberg of the Associated Press (AP) he was taken aback when he first saw the list of retired NFL players applying for financial help under the program.

I played with or against quite a few of these guys. I knew one or two were having problems, but I never knew the extent.

(Click here to read the entire AP article.)

Since the plan took effect Feb. 1, some 35 retired players have been approved for aid, with 19 more applications pending. So far, according to the NFL, 103 potential candidates for aid have been identified.

The “88″ plan is part of the union’s collective bargaining agreement with the NFL and is named for Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey, one of the first former players who qualified. Mackey wore number 88. His wife, Sylvia, was instrumental in persuading Upshaw and former NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue to include aid for dementia in the new contract.

Along with Upshaw and Sylvia Mackey, the New York Alzheimer’s Association honored NFL official Harold Henderson, who jointly administers the “88″ plan with Upshaw, and Dr. Eleanor Perfetto, wife of Ralph Wenzel, the only other former player who has been publicly identified as part of the program.

As Lou-Ellen Barkan, president of the New York City chapter of the Alzheimer’s Association, told the AP:

This is the first union and industry program of its kind, and it’s the first that recognizes the burden the disease puts on families.

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