AJC > Sports > Columnists > Archives > 2008 > January > 26 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USNFL greats blindsided by final blow
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Terence Moore
Nobody tells a story better than Bill Curry, the former Georgia Tech player and coach, who starred in the NFL. So this one was riveting for several reasons.
Let’s start with the thought of Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey wandering aimlessly around a packed Catholic church during the funeral mass for Johnny Unitas. Not only were Mackey, Curry and Unitas members of the old Baltimore Colts, but Mackey and Curry were roommates near the end of their tenure with the franchise.
“So there was John, unable to find his seat after he apparently got up to go to the restroom, and everybody just froze, but the priest just kept right on going with [his eulogy],” said Curry, sighing. Then he continued to paint an even more chilling picture of Mackey moving about the aisles in search of nothing in particular, before Curry added with another sigh, “It was like a nightmare.”
It was that, but it also was dementia, a condition that zaps an individual’s judgment and memory in dramatic ways. It’s a condition that the 66-year-old Mackey battles in Baltimore after years of getting clobbered in the head by opponents. He joins other former NFL players such as Larry Morris, a Tech Hall of Famer who suffers from dementia in Flowery Branch. They all prove each time they deliver blank stares at loved ones that there is a correlation between football-related blows and various types of dementia.
You know, no matter what the NFL, the players union and their carefully selected group of doctors like to say.
Even so, courtesy of Mackey’s wife, Sylvia, sending a letter two years ago to former commissioner Paul Tagliabue about John’s woes (“Paul said he was so touched that he even showed the letter to his wife,” she said), the league and the union agreed to form something called The 88 Plan. That’s “88,” as in Mackey’s former number.
Through the plan, families of former players suffering from dementia can receive as much as $88,000 per year.
The money is fine, but that isn’t the whole story on dementia that will come to Atlanta on March 29 at Agnes Scott College. There, Curry’s wife, Carolyn, will meet with her six-year-old group called Women Alone Together. It’s an organization for women of all ages who are “widows, divorcees, single by choice or married but feel alone because of a chronically ill spouse or because [they are] physically, mentally or spiritually separated from their mates,” its Web site says.
Sylvia Mackey will be the organization’s guest speaker that day on dementia and its effects.
“Sylvia is just an incredible lady, and the Mackeys have been friends of ours since [the late 1960s],” said Carolyn Curry, owner of a Ph.D in history. “But also this issue comes home to us because of Larry Morris. I mean, he was this great, great player for Georgia Tech, and he’s still strong and handsome, just like John. But when you see both of them now, they’re like a 2-year-old. Sylvia says that just to get John to do normal things that a human being has to do, she’s had to find a different way.”
That way is called using anything involving the NFL. It began when Mackey returned one day from a long walk and refused to shower. Sylvia thought and thought before announcing to John that the NFL mandated that all former players must shower after any activity.
John showered. Just like he began taking his medicine for dementia after Sylvia called them “vitamins” and wrapped them inside a box that she told him came from the NFL. “Sometimes I’ll use my cellphone to call our house phone, and I’ll tell John that it’s Paul Tagliabue calling, and it always works,” said Sylvia, chuckling.
Kay Morris, Larry’s wife, said chuckling is good to relieve the stress involving taking care of her husband, 74, a Decatur High graduate who played professionally for the Los Angeles Rams, Chicago Bears and the Falcons. “We’ve been dealing with this now for almost 20 years, and he’s a little worse than [Mackey],” said Kay Morris, mentioning how Larry’s dementia ruined most of his business ventures and placed the family close to financial ruin. “I don’t even think he recalls that he played.”
She didn’t chuckle.
Permalink | Comments (61) | Post your comment | Categories: Falcons / NFL, Tech / ACC, Terence Moore
Comments
By Herschel Talker
January 26, 2008 6:51 PM | Link to this
I see you’ve really run out of things to write.
By DJ
January 26, 2008 7:47 PM | Link to this
Nice article. Anyone who has dealt with this will understand and appreciate it. Everyone else will make some trite comment.
By Steve
January 26, 2008 7:49 PM | Link to this
First off, “herschel talker”, you are a blithering idiot.
Now, on to the subject - cases like this are the elephant in the room that the NFL refuses to admit exists. How many more John Masckeys and Larry Morrises are out there, long-since used up by the league and forgotten?
Terrence, thanks for sobering reminder th=at there is life asfter Sunday afternoons for these guys, many of whom went through the league long before gazillion-dollar contracts and unstant celebrity-for-life status.
By Steve
January 26, 2008 7:50 PM | Link to this
First off, “herschel talker”, you are a blithering idiot.
Now, on to the subject - cases like this are the elephant in the room that the NFL refuses to admit exists. How many more John Masckeys and Larry Morrises are out there, long-since used up by the league and forgotten?
Terrence, thanks for sobering reminder that there is life asfter Sunday afternoons for these guys, many of whom went through the league long before gazillion-dollar contracts and unstant celebrity-for-life status.
By cenick
January 26, 2008 8:04 PM | Link to this
Thanks for another enlightening article . I did not know about the former players but I know about dementia because my Dad had it before he died. Love your work T M.
By Ken Stallings
January 26, 2008 8:14 PM | Link to this
It ranks as one of the greatest stains that Gene Upshaw has turned his leadership of the NFLPA into a controversial block to pensions for retired players with significant health issues.
For the NFL to make the money they do there is no justification for them to refuse increased funds to needy players who built this league.
By Dan
January 26, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
Why do you post an idiot like Herschel Talker? Nice article, Terrance. Sometimes I worry about Chris Miller, the former Falcons QB,since he had so many concussions ( 15?)
By Brookwood1
January 26, 2008 8:31 PM | Link to this
Mr. Moore,
Thank you for writing this article. The NFL cannot ignore this medical problem as a result of the physical contact. One can only pray for the spouses and families of these men who played before the big contracts.
By george
January 26, 2008 9:04 PM | Link to this
Never thought I would say it, but this was one article that I will not criticize by TM. The current day players should thank God every night for the sacrifices made by the “old veterans” of the NFL to make it what it is today. However, they should do more than that. They should put up a ton of money to see that these old veterans can live their last years in dignity.
By TaxMan
January 26, 2008 9:05 PM | Link to this
How about if the government imposes a special “football tax” on working taxpayers to fund a big pool of cash for former NFL millionaires who have medical problems and run out of money?
By JB
January 26, 2008 9:05 PM | Link to this
It is a disgrace that the NFL has spent $20 million dollars in attorney fees to derail former players medical benifits.These men and their families have suffered enough.It shows the GREED and SELFINDULGENCE of the league.
By hop
January 26, 2008 9:15 PM | Link to this
this is a sad situation that is very prevalent with the older NFL PLAYERS; who are experiencing a myriad of health issues ranging from this illness to being strap to a wheelchair for life.
the union has done nothing but turn it’s back on these players who built the foundation for the growth the NFL IS SEEING TODAy!
this is a very sad situation and thanks to the effort of bill curry,mike ditna and the wifes, the NFL, NOT THE UNION IS STARTING TO TAKE SOME NOTICE.
IT IS ABOUT TIME!!!!!!
By S. Freud
January 26, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this
Y’all have to overlook Herschel Talker.
He has multiple personalities, and, unfortunately, all of them jacka$$es.
By S. Freud
January 26, 2008 9:23 PM | Link to this
Y’all have to overlook Herschel Talker.
He has multiple personalities, and, unfortunately, all of them jacka$$es.
By NFLman
January 26, 2008 9:32 PM | Link to this
How did the “sacrifices” of old nfl players have anything to do with how good the league is today? They got paid a fair market wage and the league progressed due to its marketing power, not “old veterans.”
By Chikara
January 26, 2008 9:40 PM | Link to this
Thank you TM for a great article on a very real problem that the NFL (most notably Gene Upshaw) needs to address. I really hope that during Super Bowl week this issue will come to light. There are numerous people who still have lives to live after they take off the helmet and pads, yet still battle the day to day medical problems. It’s sad and I’m glad there are people who are fighting to resolve this.
Taxman that proposal is a great idea, but how would they get that to pass?
By Da Mick
January 26, 2008 9:44 PM | Link to this
I don’t see how anyone can fail to be moved or at least appreciate how tragic the eventual consequences become after the “glory of the gridiron” fades. Not to be glib or unsympathetic in the least, but I don’t see how we can be a country of rabid football fans on one hand, and then become saddened and concerned about the consequences of the gladiators that sacrificed for fame, fortune, and the women who wanted them because they were football players.
When I was a young boy, like most my age, I wanted to play, but my mother wouldn’t let me for fear of the potential for injury. I was mad at her for it, but it broke the cycle that begins for many of heightened violence as players grow older and larger moving through classes of ball, to the point where a few make it to the NFL. I would ask these grieving wives if they would be with their husbands if they weren’t who they are. I would ask my fellow readers how one can be against the eventual effects of drugs, when one is an avid user themself.
By ray
January 26, 2008 9:55 PM | Link to this
how about the widows of the guys who worked their whole lives in the coal mines - or the widows of the soldiers who died in iraq. at least the nfl guys got to play a freakin’ game for their job, got to be idolized and treated like heros. they didn’t have to play football, they could have joined the service or sold cars or worked construction or whatever. only because they were football players are they given the courtesy of this article. yes, the players union is a total joke - a slap in the face to the concept of a real union, where the union fights to keep the work environment liveable - no 18 hr. days for ten cents an hour while risking your life in a tunnel thats not been inspected.
crappy article. but at least TM didn’t write about the dawgs.
By Ken Strickland
January 26, 2008 10:24 PM | Link to this
TAXMAN, football players didn’t receive million dollar contracts, or anything even close, during the era in which the two aforementioned individuals played. It was the team owners and executives that reaped the majority of the money. Only a depraved and uncivilized mentality would relegate a persons tragic human condition to money. Your ignorant and tasteless comments just goes to prove that IGNORANCE ISN’T BLISS.
HERSCHEL TALKER, your comments just goes to show that you are the one with an extremely NARROW MINDED PERSPECTIVE. Why criticize something you are obviously too ignorant and lacking in depth to comprehend. APPARENTLY YOU’VE RUN OUT OF THINGS TO READ, YOU MORON.
The NFL seems to be using the same tactic used by the US government against Viet Nam Vets exposed to Agent Orange. They used their power and in house medical experts to deny that the chemical had any effect on the soldiers. Eventually they had to fess up and admit they lied.
These NFL warriors are not garbage to be cast on the scrapheep of humanity when they are no longer useful to the NFL. NFL football is a multibillion dollar industry. It’s a shame that most of the team and NFL employees had better medical and retirement benefits than the players who created most of the jobs and made the owners and executive rich.
By The Man
January 26, 2008 10:46 PM | Link to this
Ken Strickland is a fool. And g@y. I agree with Herschel. The subject is good, but clearly Terence has run out of negative and racist things to say.
By Gene
January 26, 2008 11:08 PM | Link to this
Nice article, Terrence. I remember all of these players. Mackey was The Man among tight ends, and Morris was an all-time great at Tech and around Atlanta. It is a shame that opportunists like Upshaw have gained control over the players’ union. The old guys are certainly deserving of better treatment from the league that they helped build.
By doc
January 26, 2008 11:16 PM | Link to this
tip of the iceberg and sadly the trauma begins waaay before the nfl. it begins in high school and maybe even before that for anyone playing football. it is tragic that there is no true cognitive monitoring going on for anyone playing this sport at any level but maybe, just maybe, it will begin in the pros and pass down when they find how dangerous the sport really is or come up with some way to truly protect the brain.
By Ken Strickland
January 27, 2008 12:20 AM | Link to this
TITO/DAVID PUKE/THE MAN-it’s evident from your response to my post you have a contempt for anyone showing compassion and concern for a fellow human being. Another revealing observation is how you managed to conjure up racist intent from TMoore’s article. You’re obviously projecting your own sick feelings.
You really are one sick deranged little fruit cake. It has to be awfully miserable and unfulfilling being you. Otherwise, why endlessly try so hard to convince others you’re something you could never be.
By trey
January 27, 2008 1:49 AM | Link to this
tu es tonto negro. please leave the city as you came, jim rome called he want an uncle tom to call upon
By Bill B
January 27, 2008 5:45 AM | Link to this
Football is the modern form of “gladiators.” As I see it, there are only two differences. I believe that the ancient gladiators were forced to fight and they were not paid. Football, from college on up, is a violent sport. At the college level, the schools make millions on the efforts of the players. In the NFL, it’s the league, television, and rthe owners who enrich themselves Don’t get me wrong, I like football and played myself in high school. But it is “violent” and becomes more and more so as you progress from high school thru college and the pros.
By suwanee guy
January 27, 2008 6:50 AM | Link to this
Thank you for this sensitive article.
By Juan Pittman
January 27, 2008 7:27 AM | Link to this
Good story Terence, There was a similar story about all the medical and finacial problems former NFL players face after their careers are over. Some of these players are struggling to find medical care or even to have a roof over their heads. One former player was living with his Wife and child in a storage unit because the medical bills had eating up all of their money. This is crazy. The NFL must do a better job at taking care of the people that made it America’s game.
By Vasily D'Efferins
January 27, 2008 8:04 AM | Link to this
People have an obligation to take care of others in need, but consider this: no one forces these men to play a violent and dangerous game that renders them helpless while enriching their employers and providing a release for the bloodlust in the rest of us.
They do it by choice.
We should be ashamed of ourselves for wanting it; the players should be ashamed of themselves for their part providing it. However, if they are willing to take the risk, then they should make sure they are prepared financially and emotionally for the consequences.
By dirty white boy
January 27, 2008 8:51 AM | Link to this
TM,
Appears that quite a few of your readers played too much football without their helments on.
Excellent article.
DWB
By ch67
January 27, 2008 8:54 AM | Link to this
Thanks for the article Mr. Moore. This is an outrage that the league is not doing more to support the older former players.
By Steve
January 27, 2008 10:01 AM | Link to this
.
You totally lost me …
Hypothetical ramblings do not make a good column …
.
By mickey
January 27, 2008 10:19 AM | Link to this
maybe these old players should have learned to manage their money while they were in college for FREE. cry me a river!
By Nurse Ratchet
January 27, 2008 11:05 AM | Link to this
Regardless of these peoples sad circumstances, the utter sic-ness of others posting here without empathy for another humans well being is ASTOUNDING!
Shame on each and every one of your pitiful lost souls, and you know who you are…
By raider66
January 27, 2008 11:11 AM | Link to this
The millions made today by these cry-baby premadonnas is because of what these old timers have done for them. They were not paid millions. Guys like Terry Bradshaw played for $40k per season back in the late 70s. That was not fair market value back in the day. That was highway robbery by the owners. The old-timers are the ones who got free agency started so that todays players could make the millions they do. If the NFL donated the $20 million they have spent in legal fees to fight the old timers that would have gone a long way to helping them.
By Jerry
January 27, 2008 11:14 AM | Link to this
Steve and Herschel Talker are living proof that dementia does not discriminate between world class athletes and world class idiots who sit on their fat rear ends all day. And Mickey, thanks for entirely missing the point. You three goobers obiously ahve suffered way too many blows to the nose. Guys, it’s called ‘reading comprehension.’
Terence, I don’t always agree with you and sometimes get infuriated by what you write (, but this is one of your best in recent years. Great job dude.
By Jerry
January 27, 2008 11:15 AM | Link to this
Steve and Herschel Talker are living proof that dementia does not discriminate between world class athletes and world class idiots who sit on their fat rear ends all day. And Mickey, thanks for entirely missing the point. You three goobers obiously have suffered way too many blows to the nose. Guys, it’s called ‘reading comprehension.’
Terence, I don’t always agree with you and sometimes get infuriated by what you write (, but this is one of your best in recent years. Great job dude.
By John
January 27, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Excellent article, Terence, and well written comments, Ken Strickland. John Mackey was a boyhood hero of mine; I am saddened to see he has suffered this fate.
Say what the Neanderthals will, the free-market blather goes out the window when powerful organizations manipulate research and suppress the free exchange of information to cover their tracks and avoid responsibility.
I wish the Neanderthals would stick to 750 AM and Fox news. It frightens me that they can read.
By John
January 27, 2008 11:28 AM | Link to this
Excellent article, Terence, and well written comments, Ken Strickland. John Mackey was a boyhood hero of mine; I am saddened to see he has suffered this fate.
Say what the Neanderthals will, the free-market blather goes out the window when powerful organizations manipulate research and suppress the free exchange of information to cover their tracks and avoid responsibility.
I wish the Neanderthals would stick to 750 AM and Fox news. It frightens me that they can read.
By PHIL
January 27, 2008 11:46 AM | Link to this
I wish some of the idiots who have made these comments had to deal with a loved one with dementia. Having to help in the care of my elderly mother, whom to my knowledge has never suffered a blow to the head, has given me perspective on this problem. It’s very sad to see otherwise healthy, but aging people suffer this way.
By JohnD
January 27, 2008 11:58 AM | Link to this
John @ 11:28
You are a sad case and just as bad as those who mock and ignore these men.
I agree with TM, and that is very rare, about the NFL obligation to care for the former players. This is not just a problem of the 50’s and 60’s players.
Those who have suffered multiple concussions have experiences such as leaving home and having no idea how to return. Some of these former players are in their 30’s and face 40-50 years of living with the problem.
Compassion is a human trait some of those posting here today seem not to possess.
By Teddy Solomon
January 27, 2008 12:12 PM | Link to this
it is apparent the clown hershel talker has not yet had to deal with this…he will later come to regret and be embarrassed by his obvious stupidity
By TexasWreck
January 27, 2008 12:24 PM | Link to this
Sad story, but remember that the NFL itself is not the only culprit here. Upshaw and the players union in their greed and disrespect for those who made the league, for years refused to even acknowledge the problem or their obligation to help solve it…. That is why I am not a fan of the NFL and go to a movie on Super Bowl Sunday, because the theaters are not crowded and you can see a movie without all the crowd noise.
By Old Redhead
January 27, 2008 12:46 PM | Link to this
This story needs to be told and retold.
My wife and I encountered Larry Morris accompanied by his wife in a department store last week. I failed to put everything together in the few seconds I had shaking Larry’s hand - I hadn’t seen him in more than 25 years and I’ve extra years also. He looked great. God bless his wife for getting him out and handling the situation so well.
Old Redhead
By ChrisFromChattanooga
January 27, 2008 12:48 PM | Link to this
My father suffered with dementia for the last 8 years of his life until he passed away about 4 years ago. It stole his very personality as he went from a funloving, outgoing person who ran a successful business for over 40 years to a depressed, sullen introvert that didn’t even want to leave his home. I had to be with him almost around the clock to take care of him. He was unable to take care of simple, everyday tasks and personal hygiene as we do each day. I loved my Dad with all my heart and as much as I miss him every day I am SO glad that he is no long suffering. May the Lord be with John Mackey, his family and friends as they go through this horror. I will pray for all families of those suffering with dementia.
By Edgar
January 27, 2008 1:40 PM | Link to this
It’s another sad story about our society today. Things must change and that must be done in not the NFL arena but the political arena. Listen to those who promote universal health care. Years ago when they said that Canada and the UK had a mess with their health care system it’s now a completely different story. John Mackey is just one story. There are many more that never played a down in the NFL. I hate to be political here. It’s one place I can usually lose myself without all the other things going on in this world. Please excuse me for this.
By Mark
January 27, 2008 1:46 PM | Link to this
The demented earn no pity from me. They knew the threat going in. Kind of like boxing. Life sucks. Get a helmet.
By michaelgee
January 27, 2008 2:01 PM | Link to this
Terrance, FWIW, dementia affects many of the elderly who never played in the NFL.
I suggest you spend a day at a nursing home, then you will really see the Truth about dementia. It simply doesn’t exist among ex jocks regardless of whatever TV show or Sports articles that you are reflecting upon.
By TobyCash
January 27, 2008 2:05 PM | Link to this
Your article gets an A plus, some of the people who responded have no clue about the health issues some ex-players face. Thank you for the article.
By GT
January 27, 2008 3:38 PM | Link to this
Paul Duke is another suffering dementia. Dodd’s first all American and played for the New York Football Yankees. I love the guy that won’t give any pity, Mark. I tell you what sport, you can have mine for being so stupid. I guess stupidity is a form of dementia, nothing getting through up there and if so you are eaten up with it.
By David Duke
January 27, 2008 4:30 PM | Link to this
It’s rather hypocritical to watch the NFL games and then lament the condition of those we watched play the games. NFL fans love the spectacular hits, the devastating tackles and the bull-rush advances of the football by beefy men crashing into other huge bumpkins. Herschel Walker was a tremendously powerful runner. When hiss college career is reviewed and highlights shown the first thing to hit air is his pancaking of a defender in his freshman season. People watch football to see the fantastic hits just as they watch NASCAR for the wrecks. The crashes in the NFL are rarely as fatal as those in NASCAR. However, they mount up and take their toll later. Remember Earl Campbell? He was a tremendous, fierce, bruising runner. He didn’t run from being hit, he ran to hit! He delivered many a stunning blow while advancing the football. Those hits have come home now and Earl can not walk. He’s chronologically still a young man but his body is very old and frail. The long-term answer to this problem is simple. If people stop watching football it will cease to exist and these injuries will no longer be happening to people. but people won’t stop watching football and they’ll continue to talk about the hard hits and how so and so put a hat on so and so and how his eyes rolled up in his head and how he crumpled and fumbled the ball as he fell and how his bell was wrung and how he struggled to remove the cobwebs and so on. People like to watch other people running into each other, trying to harm each other and then when the person is injured or incapacitated they talk wistfully about what a good player he was and how lamentable it is that his injury or incapacitation occurred! You can’t be more hypocritical than that!
By John
January 27, 2008 4:41 PM | Link to this
As an alzheimers unit nurse, your column was touching and true to the word. many times families visit and seconds after they exit, you ask the patient if they enjoyed the visit. the reply is ” what visit, they never come to see me”” how sad. Thank you for making us sport fans a bit more aware of the facts
By David Duke
January 27, 2008 4:57 PM | Link to this
Ken Strychnine, you are nothing more than an obsessed gay boy engaging in internet stalking. Now listen up Peter Pan, your ignorant raving and ranting isn’t amusing at all and it’s certainly not informative. You are nothing more than a pustule of stupidity upon the buttocks of humanity. Try to come up with something that smacks of some sort of intellectual process. Readers on here tend to skip over your long, dimwitted posts because they know they contain nothing of relevance to the topic under discussion. Now Your Gayness, get over on that cross-dressing site where yo queer a* belongs!
By Keeping It Real
January 27, 2008 5:05 PM | Link to this
Good article Terrence. My father had dementia before he died so I do understand. The NFL needs to do something to help families like the Morriseys and the Mackeys. It should start with the Super Bowl. With all the money made in this event, why cannot some of this money go to a fund for the players.It is the right thing to do.
By Donald
January 27, 2008 5:51 PM | Link to this
Oh, so you now finally decide to get around to this! I guess since the Vick dogfighting case has been put to bed you now want to try and take the high road. Frankly, we don’t need an idiot like you talking about this subject because you’ve come to the party too late. This has been known for quite some time, but Mr. Goddell wanted to concentrate on dogs versus the former players in his own league. So spare me the hype and hypocrispy coming from you and your PETA loving friends, your ilk could care less about these former players because they’re people, not animals!!
By Richard Hall
January 27, 2008 5:52 PM | Link to this
I believe this is one of the most substantive and important columns you have ever written, Mr. Moore. Thank you for enlightening many people to this problem. Dementia is a serious and unsettling problem. It is sad that there are people in the world as utterly stupid as Herschel Talker. If Herschel Talker ever gets dementia no one will know the difference.
By By Louise..
January 27, 2008 6:07 PM | Link to this
Good article Terry, I can sympathise with thes fellows not by knowing them, but by knowing something about dementia. My hubby had it for 6 years before he died, and he would call his own kids by names they did not even know and for 4 years he never called them by their right name. That Hershel Talker must have run out of anything to read for his comments on this article, maybe he should have looked up the AJC’s comic pages and written a comment on them.
Anyway my opinion (please forgive if it goes against some grains.) I think that any future funds garnered for older players later illinesses caused from old football or other sport games should be gathered from ‘The League, Union,Owners as well as the ones that are playing now, Lord knows they make enough money to help the former players out.. The general public should not be supported by the General Public unless they would really want to. Good article ,Terry, and keep up the good work. Louise..
By misawa
January 27, 2008 6:26 PM | Link to this
This is a good article. One of the problems with Professional Football is that the long term effects of a career in pro football are hidden from young men considering football as a career. Young men, high school, jr high school, and college, should be made aware of the dangers of long term injuries as a result of pro football.
By David Duke
January 27, 2008 6:31 PM | Link to this
This past season, Kyle Turley, who announced his own retirement recently, donated a game check for the benefit of aging former players who are in need. So far as I know, no other player has seen fit to contribute to the degree Turley has. The ingratitude of today’s players and owners is monumental! Football players have, by and large, a very short career. Not everyone makes the millions some do. There are millionaire players and billionaire owners who could help out those who did so much to put all those dollars into their accounts. That they don’t is the epitome of greed and is nothing less than shameful.
By KD
January 27, 2008 8:37 PM | Link to this
Good stuff Mr. Moore! Very enlightening
By Teamplayer
January 27, 2008 9:56 PM | Link to this
Very informative story Terrace..Good job Brother.
By shane #1
January 27, 2008 10:59 PM | Link to this
great article!one thing the union and the young players should consider,they will be old one day.yes you can put money aside,but medical costs can be backbreaking,and a lot of these guys played for 10 grand a year or less.congress could solve this problem easily,just threaten to enforce the anti-trust laws they set aside as a favor to the rich nfl owners.those fat cats would move quickly to take care of their own.they don’t want the bad pr,and they don’t want the public to know what breaks the goverment has given the nfl.to be fair,the cost could be split between the owners and the currnt players.mlb ignored steroids until congress stepped in,the nfl will do the same with player health issues.all it would take is for one senator to call a hearing for this issue to be resolved.in an industry making billions,with current players making millions,the fact that ex-players aren’t taken care of is a disgrace.how can any owner claim to care about the fans when he doesn’t even care about his own employees?i have a friend that is an ex nfl player.he is not hurting for money,but that is about the only way he doesn’t hurt.he has had a hip replacement and is in constant pain from neck and back injurys.he still looks great,until he tries to move!