Carroll County (Md.) Times
Thursday, April 10, 2008
OWINGS MILLS — Here’s a statement from former Baltimore Colts
defensive back Bruce Laird, the president of Fourth & GOal, an
organization that benefits retired NFL players, following Stover’s
attempt to oust NFL Players Association union chief Gene Upshaw:
“Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work
to change a small portion of events, and in the total of all those
acts will be written the history of this generation … It is from
numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is
thus shaped.” Those words of Robert F. Kennedy came to mind today when
I learned of Matt Stover’s courageous stand in calling for NFLPA
Executive Director Gene Upshaw to step down.
I’ve known Matt for 12 years and have found him to be a man of
courage, compassion and conviction. During our ongoing dialogue about
retired players, he was always willing to listen — even when he
didn’t agree — and to consider the viewpoints of others. Fourth &
Goal stands behind him as a teammate and as a brother.
We are tremendously proud of Matt, and of the hundreds of retired
players who have stood as one team in Fourth & Goal to advocate for
change. To borrow again from Bobby Kennedy, “Each time a man stands up
for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out
against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing
each other from a million different centers of energy and daring,
those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls
of oppression and resistance.” Today, those tiny ripples of hope that
we — and now Matt Stover — have sent forth are beginning to tear
down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance in the NFLPA.
