George Martin - He's "One of Us" an NFL Alumnus!
The Assistant Director at the NFL Players Association – Clark Gaines, sent an email to the head of the NFL Alumni, George Martin on January 25, 2010. The email was also sent by Retired Player Assistant Director, Dee Becker to other NFLPA staff and non-NFLPA employees. Most businessmen would at least put a cc: at the bottom of their letter, letting the recipient know that it was being sent to others, but lately, things aren’t being done in a very businesslike manner at the NFLPA.
The contents of the email and the way it was disseminated, clearly demonstrate the lengths at which the NFLPA will go to discredit the work of the NFL Alumni and disrespect it’s newly “elected” leader, George Martin.
In his email, Mr. Gaines starts off by saying how he and George are friends and that they both spent many years as players serving in the Union. Immediately after that, he starts in with the lies and disrespect by saying “I know you have taking this position having been selected by the Owners as the head of the NFL Alumni. But you better than anyone know, that this union had to strike in 1974, and force a work stoppage in 1982, and strike again in 1987 to get pension fund contributions from the Owners.”
Saying that Mr. Martin was selected by the Owners is a huge slap in the face to all the retired players that invested so much time and effort in conducting a national search to make sure they got the right guy for the job. Trust me. We did!
The search firm of Spencer Stewart, along with a distinguished panel of NFL Alumni, interviewed 140 candidates before selecting Mr. Martin. The selection process was similar to what the NFLPA used to select Mr. Smith.
The NFLPA must really fear Mr. Martin, or they wouldn’t be making false, misleading and downright stupid statements like this, and they wouldn’t be doing everything they can to try and make him look like a pawn of the owners.
Why do they fear him? Well, first of all, he’s a true leader that has shown the ability to rally people together to accomplish something great (Journey 911). Secondly, he wants to bring all retired players under the umbrella of the Alumni and has been given that task by the Alumni Board of Directors. There is strength in numbers and the more retired players that gather under the NFL Alumni umbrella the stronger we all become. Thirdly, once the retired players have united under one organization they will have the leverage to do the things that the NFLPA once tried to do through its Group Licensing Agreements with retired players. (They dropped that program like a hot potato after the lawsuit) Instead of paying retired players what they were owed, they pocketed the money. All of the people that were involved in that scheme are still working at the NFLPA.
There was one thing that Mr. Gaines got right in his email. He talked about going on strike to get “pension fund contributions from the Owners.” If you remember, his boss DeMaurice Smith just recently said “individual owners and teams have spent exactly nothing on retired player benefits”. Every once in a while they slip up and tell the truth.
The NFLPA wants everyone to believe that the money comes from active players. Yes, we all know that the active players make the decision on how the pie is split up. We were all active players and we did it too! The Union just didn’t have enough money or power until after the 1993 CBA to really start to do something significant to the pension plan. But instead of significant increases to retired player pensions, the NFLPA started gorging itself on all types of other retirement type plans like the Annuity Plan, Second Career Savings Plan etc, etc. These plans only help the active players and the more current retirees.
Nonetheless, they now want all retired players to stand by them in this fight against the owners. Well, the Owners just put $100 Million on the table for an immediate increase in retired player pensions. So how did DeMaurice Smith and Clark Gaines respond to the offer? They attacked George Martin and the NFL Alumni!
We have finally backed the NFLPA into a corner and they can’t blame the owners anymore for not wanting to help retired players. Instead of doing what is right for retired players, they have come out swinging, unfortunately, Mr. Gaines and Mr. Smith are fighting the wrong opponent.
George Martin has graciously offered to meet with DeMaurice Smith and work with him to do the right thing, but he has only been met with underhanded, backstabbing political tactics that attempt to make him look like the bad guy.
George Martin has two things going for him that DeMaurice Smith doesn’t.
1) He’s one of us – a retired player - that knows our pain and can relate to us on a level that “D” will never know.
2) He was elected by retired NFL players!
‘Nuff’ said!
Jeff, as expected you speak clearly, professionally, accurate and with confidence.
Nuff said,
Big D
I’m at a complete loss for words as to why the League office, team physicians, retired players, current players, and the NFLPA leadership can’t all get on the same page and negotiate a CBA that will guarantee full medical protection and benefits for players — past, present, and future — who sacrifice their bodies to the NFL. Everything seems to be approached ass-backwards with all the money coming into the league, owners, and players. How much money does everyone need to live while you’re in the prime of your career? We need to start thinking more wisely about life AFTER you leave the game, when the bumps and bruises of years ago catch up to you physically and cognitively! ALL players need to be thinking about their futures beyond the material matters and think about how you’re gonna live life as a healthy, fully functioning adult in real society, as opposed to yakking on ESPN!