By Alan Schwarz/NY Times
WASHINGTON — The helmet sits under glass at the headquarters of the football players union, memorializing the play-at-all-costs warrior who strapped it on every Sunday. Four swaths of duct tape suture the crown. Screws are broken, the enamel is cracked, and two Raiders logos cling for dear life. During his 15 years as an N.F.L. lineman, this was the only helmet Gene Upshaw wore.
Upshaw was immensely proud of this, his associates recalled, from the day he retired through his 25 years running the players union and up until his death in August 2008. That helmet protected him. Kept outside forces away and his inside thoughts intact. One of those thoughts was that playing football had nothing to do with the dementia and cognitive decline so many of his fellow retired players were experiencing — despite outside and even union-financed research that claimed a strong relationship.
“I think we’re just a reflection of society,” he said in a 2007 interview. He added: “I don’t want to take that next leap to say, you know, football caused dementia. I just don’t believe that.” READ MORE
