Fourth and Goal Unites

“How Could a Life of Such Promise End So Tragically?”

fourthandgoalfoundation — Mon, 21 May 2012 21:30:57 +0000

That was the simple yet startling question Lisa McHale asked, after describing her husband Tom, a Cornell University graduate, NFL veteran and one of far too many athletes whose lives ended as a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.).

Sports Legacy Institute founder and CEO Chris Nowinski and donor families

It’s a question NFL players and coaches – and particularly those who directly or indirectly participated in the bounty scheme – should weigh heavily.

During her remarks at the 2^nd Annual Tom McHale Memorial Fundraiser last Friday night, Lisa McHale also noted that “The single greatest component in the concussion issue is awareness.” The truth in her statement – at least as far as NFL players are concerned – has been evident in recent days:

Former Pittsburgh Steeler Greg Lloyd told WXIX-TV in Cincinnati that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell ‘s efforts to improve player safety “have really tainted the game.” Lloyd went on to say, “It’s the National Football League; it’s a violent freaking game … I want to see somebody hit a quarterback … that is what people come to see. And at the end of the day if he gets hurt, so be it.”
Jon Vilma, one of four current or former New Orleans players suspended for allegedly participating in the Saints’ bounty scheme, filed a defamation lawsuit charging that while Commissioner Goodell was discussing the NFL’s bounty investigation, he “made false statements that tarnished Vilma’s reputation and hindered his ability to earn a living playing football.”
The Louisiana Legislature passed a resolution requesting that the NFL reconsider the suspensions and fines imposed on the Saints as a result of the bounty scheme, citing “widespread public opinion throughout the state of Louisiana and beyond that the penalties imposed upon the Saints are too harsh and should be reconsidered.”
When they travel to away games this season, the New Orleans Saints will leave a seat vacant in honor of dishonored head coach Sean Payton, serving a one-year suspension for failing to stop the Saints’ bounty system and for attempting to cover up the scheme.

They don’t get it.

Lisa McHale, widow of Tom McHale, with Maxie and Dianne Baughan. Maxie Baughan, an All-Pro LB and respected defensive coordinator during a 40-year NFL career, was Cornell’s head football coach when Tom McHale transferred from the University of Maryland.

If Lisa McHale’s message doesn’t provoke some attitude adjustments, surely Dr. Ann McKee’s comments do. At the McHale event, Dr. McKee, who heads Boston University’s Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy, showed slides of damaged brain tissue that painted a stark picture of the damage concussions and head trauma inflict. She has examined the brains of more than 70 deceased athletes – including former professional, college and high school football players, hockey players, pro wrestlers and pro boxers. More than 50 – ranging in age from 17 to over 80 years old – had C.T.E.

I wish Andre Collins, who represented the NFLPA at the Tom McHale Memorial Fundraiser, had been able to stay long enough to hear Lisa McHale, Dr. Ann McKee and Sports Legacy Institute founder and CEO Chris Nowinski speak. Each delivered a message that players – particularly those involved in the bounty scheme – need to hear, and Andre could have carried that message to them. Recognizing that we need to change the conversation from protecting the perpetrators to preserving both players’ health and the game itself, Fourth & Goal looks forward to working with the union to make that happen.

Those of us who attended the 2^nd Annual Tom McHale Memorial Fundraiser – Fourth & Goal board members Maxie Baughan, Sam Havrilak, Maureen Kilcullen and Sylvia Mackey; Rick Volk; Dianne Baughan, Mary Laird and Charlene Volk; and I – will not soon forget Lisa McHale’s closing statement. “If my son Michael was asked, ‘Do you regret that you didn’t get to see your father play in the NFL?’ he’d answer, ‘No, I regret that he’s not coming home for dinner tonight.’”

Imagine that.

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal
Baltimore Colts, 1972-1981
San Diego Chargers, 1982-1983

Eleanor Perfetto to Active & Retired Players: “Come Visit”

fourthandgoalfoundation — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:28:46 +0000

Last week, Baltimore Raven Wally Williams was interviewed on the 105.7 The Fan’s Norris and Davis Show. I did not listen to the show. But, I have been told that Williams was asked about bounties and whether or not he would have still played football if he knew he wasn’t going to be able to walk when he reached the age of 50. I understand that he answered, “Yes,” he would still have played.

I also have a question. But, my question is not for Wally. It is for Wally’s wife, mother, children, or anyone else close to him. If you were told when Wally was playing that when Wally is 60, he will no longer recognize who you are; you will need to feed, dress, bathe and toilet him; he will not be able to speak to you in words or sentences; and his personality and dignity will be taken from him, would you want him to have played football?

I am not so naïve as to think bounties did not and do not exist. I was, however, naïve enough to think that teams would not be so blatant and barbaric about bounties. It’s 2012 and we know what repeated head blows can do to the brain. The thought of intentional head blows targeted at those players with known past concussions makes me feel physically sick for many reasons. The main reason is that for the last 15 years, I have seen and lived with the results of my husband’s brain trauma.

If there is any active or retired player who, with his wife (or significant other), would like to meet my husband, to see what the last 10, 15, 20 or more years of life might look like, my invitation is still open to make the introduction as it has been for the last 5 years. No one has contacted me yet.

Eleanor M. Perfetto

wife of Ralph Wenzel

High Hopes … Dashed

fourthandgoalfoundation — Mon, 07 May 2012 17:46:03 +0000

There were such high hopes among those of us involved in the discussions that led to the reorganization of NFL Alumni as an entity that would speak for – and stand for – retired players. From 1976 through most of 2009 – during various labor actions, CBA negotiations, pension and disability discussions – NFL Alumni had been largely silent on former players’ issues, focusing instead on supporting children’s charities in chapter cities.

With the new structure and focus of the revamped alumni group, we believed there would finally be an organization of retired players, for retired players, by retired players. NFLAA would speak up on behalf of teammates, advocate for and represent their interests, and develop a stream of income to ensure the NFLAA’s independence. That was our vision … and that was our hope.

In fact, in an interview in March, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell noted that the league had provided loans to the NFLAA to help the organization get off the ground, generate income to become self-funded, and develop into an independent former players’ organization. Having been involved in expanding the mission – and having participated in the process that selected the executive director – I’m deeply disappointed. I thought we had our man.

Instead – despite the generous resources provided by the league, including the use of the NFL shield as part of the NFLAA’s logo – the association became mired in financial difficulties, seemed to lack direction and appeared focused on hosting golf tournaments rather than addressing disability, pension and other significant issues that impact retired players.

In effect, although the scouting report had been prepared and a winning game plan had been put into place, the execution failed.

In life as in football, sometimes it’s necessary to change the quarterback. Sometimes a player is better suited for another position. Perhaps this was the wrong fit for George Martin.

By last summer – despite a directive from the NFLAA board of directors to represent former players and to advocate for improved pension benefits and disability system reform during the CBA negotiations – George was unable to garner the necessary access to decision-makers or leverage his position as NFLAA executive director to ensure that these issues were on the table. In fact, he appeared to be deemed irrelevant to the discussions and negotiations, his role reduced to hosting or appearing at a press conference or two. Neither the executive director nor the board of directors could – or would – get it done.

Former NFL players deserve better.

FoxSports.com reported that the NFLAA is considering returning to a singular mission of supporting youth charities. At a time when the long-term effects of football injuries are becoming more and more clear, at a time when those who built the league and the union most need a seat at the table, at a time when the NFLPA has a laser focus on active players, it seems incomprehensible that NFLAA would abandon its mission of acting on behalf of former players. Such a move would not only be disappointing, it would also be disastrous for NFL retirees.

Football is a team sport and no one player stands alone. I urge the NFLAA to – finally – stand with retired players.

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal
Baltimore Colts, 1972-1981
San Diego Chargers, 1982-1983

Former Player’s Suicide Won’t End His Widow’s Fight

fourthandgoalfoundation — Sat, 05 May 2012 12:47:32 +0000

May 3, 2012

Former Player’s Suicide Won’t End His Widow’s Fight

By MIKE TIERNEY

RICHMOND, Va. — For Mary Ann Easterling, the prudent and less painful options, it might seem, are to move away and move on.

Relocate from the home where she found the body of her husband, Ray, a handgun nearby, and the neighborhood where Ray, a former N.F.L. safety, would become disoriented on long-distance jogs, sometimes prompting one-woman search parties at 2 a.m.

Withdraw his name from the class-action lawsuit that accuses the league of improperly caring for retired players with head injuries, a consequence that she contends turned Ray’s last two decades into a living, foggy hell.

Instead, Mary Ann, 59, plans to go nowhere. She won’t leave the brick ranch house on Traylor Drive, furnished with enough fond memories to overpower the unpleasant ones. Nor the legal campaign seeking enhanced treatment and medical coverage for retired players.

“This is for the players’ wives who haven’t discovered the reason their husbands have changed and why their family life is so chaotic,” she said.

Nine days after Ray’s death at 62, ruled a suicide by the police, his widow sat in the living room, recounting their ordeal for two and a half hours in a voice that was never choked by tears and occasionally rose an octave when reflecting mild indignation. This was four days before the former N.F.L. star Junior Seau died Wednesday in California, a gunshot to the chest that the police ruled a suicide, reviving concerns about the possible long-term toll the sport has on its participants.

To Mary Ann’s left, a floral arrangement brightened the fireplace. On a table within her reach was a stack of documents that detailed Ray’s relevant injuries and what she and her husband believed was a lack of sufficient attention to them. The documents had been transcribed from his writing, or at least what she could decipher. His hands would shake, reducing his penmanship to barely legible scribbling.

They met 37 years ago at a Thursday night Bible study co-hosted by Ray in someone’s basement — she a college senior majoring in music, he a “handsome, gregarious pro football player” with the Atlanta Falcons. Twelve whirlwind months later, bonding around their spirituality, they were wed despite this admonition from her choral director about commitment to an athlete: “Do you know what you are getting into?”

Life as an athlete’s spouse turned out to be rather conventional, for the most part, filled by Bible study sessions with Ray’s teammates and their wives, and free of extravagances. (His salary topped out at $75,000.)

Eventually, the choral director’s warning began to resonate, though not as intended. Ray would arrive home woozy, complaining of brutal practices, equating games with combat. Retirement came reluctantly in 1979: he told her, after eight solid but unspectacular seasons, that the body was unwilling to play more football, even if the mind was.

No adverse aftereffects surfaced through the 1980s. Ray’s engaging personality, discipline and diligence proved a good formula in the financial services field. What followed was a downward spiral during which he flipped to being argumentative and forgetful, as if a personality transplant were mixed in with the two dozen orthopedic operations he endured.

Business ventures slid off the rails when Ray, for whom punctuality was a practiced virtue, appeared tardy for appointments.

In many settings, he would blurt out offensive remarks, the filter in his brain no longer functioning at full tilt. Realizing this, he became disengaged, even from his mother, who died a month before he did. At family events, he would show up in running shorts when more formal attire was appropriate.

Staring into space wistfully, Mary Ann said, “I didn’t feel like I was with the person that I married.”

The symptoms went unconnected to football by her and his doctors until late 2010. She was pinballing around the Internet. A report on a suicide led to the case studies of afflicted ex-players.

It was an a-ha moment. “Like reading my life story for the past 20 years,” she said.

In three months, there came a diagnosis: dementia. Hallelujah, thought Mary Ann, even if the news was tantamount to a death sentence. Mystery solved.

Ray’s decline continued unabated, with Mary Ann’s fear for his well-being increasing proportionally. The suicide of Dave Duerson last year hit close to home. Like Ray, Duerson played safety, and with a daredevil style.

Ray had told Mary Ann that entering an institution for long-term care was unacceptable. Frustration over such fundamental activities as walking from one room to another, then not remembering why, was building.

Still, Ray would set out on his runs, and not just neighborhood jogs, amid which he would often stumble and fall. Five days before the end, Mary Ann accompanied him to a track, where he knocked out sprints of 220 and 150 yards, asking in between if he was pumping his arms correctly.

He had also taken to chopping up fallen trees in the area and collecting the logs. An accident took off part of his thumb.

On the morning of April 19, along with her husband’s lifeless body, Mary Ann discovered a note, written with his increasingly numb and quivering hands.

It was addressed to her, sprinkled with “I love yous” and containing evidence that his faith had not wavered. Quoting from the letter, she said, “I’m ready to meet my Lord and savior.”

She acknowledged a sense of relief, and not just for herself after 20 years of exhaustive caregiving, although she never considered handing it off.

In her mind’s eye, she can see Ray in heaven, suffering no more, his brain functioning normally.

For now, Mary Ann intends to keep intact the self-described man cave, a two-room basement where Ray maintained an office and stored mementos.

Hanging from the walls are photos, mostly black-and-white, of him lunging into a ball carrier, often headfirst. There are annual team portraits, a few Ray Easterling football cards, his framed No. 32 jersey, a lightly padded helmet that was standard in his day and game balls, one of them ominously inscribed with the words, “Paid the Price.”

One more remembrance sits outside, near the garage at the top of the driveway: stacks of logs, covered by a clear tarp, cut by Ray’s trembling hands.

He had assured his wife that there would be enough wood to warm their house through the next few winters.

Haunting Words from Junior Seau

fourthandgoalfoundation — Sat, 05 May 2012 02:09:24 +0000

Junior Seau’s family has agreed to allow his brain to be examined by researchers into chronic traumatic encephalopathy. In this March 2012 article, Sports Illustrated’s Jim Trotter asked Seau about the perception that NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was making the game too soft with his enhanced enforcement of player safety rules.

“It has to happen,” Seau said. “Those who are saying the game is changing for the worse, well, they don’t have a father who can’t remember his name because of the game. I’m pretty sure if everybody had to wake with their dad not knowing his name, not knowing his kids’ name, not being able to function at a normal rate after football, they would understand that the game needs to change. If it doesn’t there are going to be more players, more great players, being affected by the things that we know of and aren’t changing. That’s not right.”

Read more: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2012/writers/jim_trotter/05/02/junior.seau/index.html#ixzz1txMTlYrb

Message from Walker Gillette

fourthandgoalfoundation — Tue, 01 May 2012 20:39:13 +0000

Dear NFL Former Players Chapter Presidents:

I am a former NFL player and the son of a former NFL player.

My father (http://vshfm.com/inductees/inductee_details.php?inducteeID=81) thought he was doing the right thing for my mother when he selected the survivor’s benefit option so his pension would continue after his death. But NO, the NFL powers-to-be don’t think his widow, my mother, should be eligible for the Legacy Benefit. It is a disgrace and I am ashamed and unable to explain to my mother why.

I understand the league has agreed to pay over half of these widows’ benefit, BUT what does it take to get the NFLPA and Mr. Smith, executive director, to get off their butts and pay their share. Since my mother is 88, are they hoping she and other widows will die before they make a decision? That is the way it appears! How selfish can they (NFLPA) be? The popularity of football was built by the older players like my father … is this the way to thank them?

I plead, urge, and insist that you force something to be done for these widows. Get the NFLPA leadership to cover their share of the cost. What would you do if it was your mother? Enough is enough … do something!

Walker Gillette

NFL 70′ – 77′

The Silence of our Friends

fourthandgoalfoundation — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 21:44:28 +0000

“Widows and other beneficiaries of vested pre-93 players who died prior to the 2011 CBA being signed are still awaiting word on their Legacy Benefit eligibility. The league has told the NFLPA that it would pay more than half the costs for this widows’ benefit and the union has that proposal under consideration.” – Joe Browne, Senior Advisor to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, in his letter to retired NFL players

“ ”
– DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director, NFLPA

“ ”
– NFLPA Former Players’ Board Members

That’s right – there are no quotes from De Smith or the former players’ board members because they’ve said nothing. I have personally contacted at least 20 NFLPA Former Players’ Chapter Presidents and board members, to inform them of the exclusion of the widows from the Legacy Benefit and to encourage them to speak out in support of the widows – and more importantly, to urge NFLPA officials to act. From the time I first contacted the NFL when the issue first came to light several months ago, the league has remained steadfast in its support of the widows. Moreover, NFL officials have agreed to pay 51% of the estimated $12 million cost to extend the Legacy Benefit to eligible widows (i.e., those whose husbands were vested veterans who retired prior to 1993 and who died prior to August 4, 2011). Yet the union has remained silent.

Here’s another quote for you:

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” – Martin Luther King Jr.

The silence of our friends – pretty powerful words from Dr. King.

Clearly it’s going to take a grassroots effort to get the union to act. So I’m urging each one of you to speak out. Contact NFLPA Former Players’ Chapter Presidents and board members and insist that they act on behalf of the widows. Contact the NFLPA leadership and insist that they pitch in the union’s share of the cost to cover the widows. This situation has gone on far too long.

What if it was your wife who’d been excluded?

Bruce Laird
Vice President, NFLPA Former Players, Baltimore Chapter
Baltimore Colts, 1972-1981
San Diego Chargers, 1982-1983

NFLPA Former Players Board of Directors

Cornelius Bennett
Reggie Berry
Ron Davis
Derrick Frost
Eddie Khayat
Jim McFarland
Erik McMillan
Mickey Washington
Leonard Wheeler

NFLPA Former Players Department

Nolan Harrison, Senior Director
Andre Collins, Director

Need contact info? Email baltimore colts alumni at msn.com

Money, money, money, money

fourthandgoalfoundation — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:15:20 +0000

One week ago, NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith – and a contingent of union representatives, including former Saints’ and current Browns’ LB Scott Fujita, Saints QB Drew Brees and newly-elected NFLPA President Domonique Foxworth – met with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and league officials. Fujita and Brees are members of the NFLPA’s executive committee.

Among the topics discussed was possible disciplinary action against players who participated in the bounty scheme.

Following the meeting, Brees told NFL.com, “We didn’t get any meaningful evidence, or any meaningful truth or facts” regarding the bounties. NFLPA assistant executive director George Atallah, in fact, has described the bounty scandal as an “alleged pay-to-injure scheme.”

It seems that both Brees and Atallah remain skeptical about the existence of a bounty system. Yet the union admitted receiving an audio tape in which coach Gregg Williams is heard explicitly extolling players under his charge to injure certain players on the San Francisco 49ers. Moreover, Williams even identified specific areas of the body (e.g., ACL, head, neck) to target. The NFL’s investigation has resulted in the suspension of Rams’ defensive coordinator Gregg Williams, as well as Saints’ GM Mickey Loomis, head coach Sean Payton, and assistant coach Joe Vitt and probable disciplinary action against 22 to 27 players involved in the bounty system.

Still, the union continues to protect the active players who are believed to have participated in the scheme.

In fact, the NFLPA has already retained outside counsel to represent players in any litigation related to bounties. The outside counsel – Richard C. Smith, a partner with Fulbright and Jaworski LLP in Washington, D.C. – was also part of the NFLPA contingent that met with NFL officials last week, as were the union’s General Counsel Richard Berthelsen and Assistant General Counsel Heather McPhee.

As the NFL’s Jeff Pash observed during a discussion with the Associated Press on Friday, the union represents all active players – yet by protecting those who participated in the bounty system, the NFLPA fails to represent the players who were the targets of bounties and/or were injured by bounty-incentivized hits. Pash is right on point. And quite frankly, if I’m a dues-paying member of a union and I’m deliberately injured by another union member – and the union protects that member – I’m angry.

According to Pash, the NFLPA has not shared the Williams tape or any other information on bounties with the league. Moreover, Pash said that although the NFL has invited “a number of players who we think have information” to speak with NFL officials, the players have thus far been unwilling to do so. “We remain open to hearing their views and their knowledge,” Pash told the AP. “The players know what went on in the locker room in a way that we don’t know.”

Again, Pash is right on.

As for Brees, maybe he’s simply trying to protect his teammates on the defensive side of the ball – and certainly with his general manager, head coach and interim head coach suspended for all or part of the season, I’m guessing he’s unwilling to see any further disruption to the team.

Still, it’s difficult to comprehend how he could turn his back on Peyton Manning, Kurt Warner, Cam Newton, Brett Favre and others who were targeted by Williams’ “incentives”. Football is a physically challenging game in and of itself. Add bounties that reward players for injuring opponents and the probability of injury is greatly multiplied.

While injuries are difficult for players to cope with, the burden on families is as great or greater. I’ve seen what wives like Sylvia Mackey and Mary Hilgenberg and Kay Morris and Suzie Heywood – and too many others – have endured.

That’s why the NFLPA’s stand on the bounty scandal is indefensible. And that’s why the union’s failure to act on behalf of the 320 widows who were excluded from the Legacy Benefit is inexcusable.

Under the current terms of the CBA, these widows – whose husbands died before the CBA was enacted on August 4, 2011 – are not eligible for the Legacy Benefit even though each woman’s husband chose the pension option that would continue after his death.

Rather than working with the league, which has already promised to rectify the situation, the NFLPA has instead insisted that the NFL pay the entire cost of including the widows. While the union has refused to contribute $5.8 million (its 49% share of the estimated $12 million cost) to extend the Legacy Benefit to the widows of 320 retired players, it had no problem spending $44 million for an insurance policy that provided active players $200,000 each if the 2011 season had been cancelled.

Is it possible that the NFLPA – the union John Mackey devoted so much of his time and talent to – just doesn’t care about Mackey’s widow Sylvia, who spent the last decade caring for her husband during his descent into dementia?

Or is there a more strategic reason why the NFLPA is ignoring the widows’ plight? Is it possible that the union is hoping to bargain with the league – opening the door to further investigation of the bounties and disciplinary action against players, in return for the league picking up the whole cost of including the widows in the Legacy Benefit?

Regardless of motive, in the NFLPA’s refusal to help the widows, its failure to protect player safety, and its insistence on putting the legal needs of active players before the moral needs of past, present and future players, union officials have made their priorities clear: money comes first.

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal

Open Letter to the Widows of 320 of Our Teammates

fourthandgoalfoundation — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 15:19:42 +0000

It’s hard for me and my fellow members of the NFLPA former players’ Baltimore chapter to know what you all must be feeling. On or around February 1, 2012, you learned that although your husband wanted you protected – he wanted his pension to continue following his death – and although he did protect you, you are not eligible for the Legacy Benefit. Why? Because your husband died prior to August 4, 2011.

As president of the Fourth & Goal Foundation, I can tell you that we have lobbied the NFLPA, the NFLAA, and the NFL on your behalf for months. I have personally called and written to league officials, as well as members of the NFLPA’s former players’ board and the NFLAA’s board. Only the league has answered our appeals on your behalf.

Fourth & Goal board member Sylvia Mackey has also personally contacted league officials as well as NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. Again, the league responded immediately. Yet it was one month before De Smith responded – and he simply punted the issue, calling on to the league to cover the approximate $12 million cost of extending the Legacy Benefit to you. Sylvia’s remarks at an NFLAA Super Bowl press conference were overshadowed by the focus on questions about the NFLAA’s financial instability. Although she also addressed the NFLPA’s former players’ convention, no resolution was offered or adopted on your behalf.

Although NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has said he will get it fixed – and league officials have reiterated that statement – neither the Commissioner nor the league can do it alone.

The Legacy Benefit was included as part of the Collective Bargaining Agreement, negotiated between the NFL and the NFLPA as an additional benefit for former players who retired prior to 1993. Any change, alteration or enhancement to the CBA must be agreed upon and shared by both the union and the league.

Nothing – no letters, no phone calls, no recruiting other widows to the effort, no press coverage – will right this wrong until and unless De Smith works with Roger Goodell to make it right.

During my 12-year NFL career, my teammates and I had each others’ backs. Nearly 30 years after we retired, many of those relationships endure today. It’s extremely disappointing that the NFLPA former players’ board members — and, for that matter, the NFLAA leadership and board members — don’t have your back.

I encourage you to join with Fourth & Goal in urging De Smith and NFLPA’s leaders to stand with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and the league in extending the Legacy Benefit to you, just as your husband intended.

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal Foundation
Baltimore Colts, 1972-1981
San Diego Chargers, 1982-1983

Where’s the Outrage?

fourthandgoalfoundation — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 21:03:23 +0000

According to Sports Business Journal, the NFLPA spent $44 million for a “lockout insurance” policy that would have paid NFL players $200,000 each if the 2011 season had been cancelled.

More than $6 million was spent on outside lawyers.

Yet the requests to extend the Legacy Benefit to 320 widows of former NFL players was punted to the league. The NFLPA has refused to contribute less than $6 million to cover the widows.

Moreover, at the recent NFLPA former players’ convention, no resolution was put forth by the former players’ board. In fact, the issue wasn’t even discussed.

Where’s the outrage?

Bruce Laird
President, Fourth & Goal