To All,
As a player representative in 1982, we tried at that time to oust Gene Upshaw and his band of “followers”. We knew at that time that Gene saw an opportunity to follow Ed Garvey’s ideas (that were in no way Gene’s ideas). Sadly to say, Gene, who decided to work for “active players” forgot where he came from and totally forgot about his fellow players because because of Garvey’s ideas. He saw a vision and totally forgot where he came from.
Gene even stated that the “NFL owners are mad at him.” How totally untrue. The NFL owners in our last agreement gave our union the same amount of money as before, but in order to give them this money, the NFL said that our union must handle the disability and pension plans. Gene was happy because he keeps his job, keeps active players happy and makes 6.5 million a year.
I read in an article in the Cincinnati Enquirer when the NFL was looking for a new commissioner that Gene had put in his resume. Someone needs to find out if this was true, and if it was, there is no way that the NFL is “Mad At Him”. Thank you so much for your help.
Glenn Bujnoch
Bengals & Bucs.
