The Long-Term Effects of Sudden Impact
I caught a great feature on HBO's Real Sports last night...
The feature was on the lack of disability and pension benefits to help NFL Alumni, who are seriously struggling with debilitating injuries after their careers.
I quickly remembered the great three-part series of articles that appeared last week in the San Francisco Chronicle from Ron Kroichick. Check out Part I here. Part II here, and Part III here.
What's wild is to see how little voice that former players have in the process for fighting for benefits. In the Real Sports feature, former Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints coach and NFL Hall of Fame Tight End, Mike Ditka, uses Johnny Unitas, who was the face of the NFL in the '60s, as a great example for how these former players live the rest of their lives in long-term hospital stays and agony.
A lot of people believe that former players are loaded with cash to take care of their problems. However, look at the differences in today's salary structures. The NFLPA did not keep official records of player salaries 25 years ago, but two former 49ers players from the SFGate articles estimated the typical salary in 1981 at about $60,000.
In 2005, the average salary reached nearly $1.4 million. The average salary for a starter was $2.26 million.
What does that leave former players to take care of themselves...Very little.
I finally picked up the book "You're OK...It's Just a Bruise" by Rob Huzienga, this past summer. I haven't pushed through it yet. However, I'm looking forward to hearing how the doctors and organizations treated injuries in the '80s. The organizations' actions most certainly are leading to the problems that NFL Alumni are experiencing today.
Here are some interesting stats from the articles listed above. Keep in mind, these guys are mostly between their late forties and early fifties.
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30 Number of players from the 1981 team reached by The Chronicle for this story
The feature was on the lack of disability and pension benefits to help NFL Alumni, who are seriously struggling with debilitating injuries after their careers.
I quickly remembered the great three-part series of articles that appeared last week in the San Francisco Chronicle from Ron Kroichick. Check out Part I here. Part II here, and Part III here.
What's wild is to see how little voice that former players have in the process for fighting for benefits. In the Real Sports feature, former Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints coach and NFL Hall of Fame Tight End, Mike Ditka, uses Johnny Unitas, who was the face of the NFL in the '60s, as a great example for how these former players live the rest of their lives in long-term hospital stays and agony.
A lot of people believe that former players are loaded with cash to take care of their problems. However, look at the differences in today's salary structures. The NFLPA did not keep official records of player salaries 25 years ago, but two former 49ers players from the SFGate articles estimated the typical salary in 1981 at about $60,000.
In 2005, the average salary reached nearly $1.4 million. The average salary for a starter was $2.26 million.
What does that leave former players to take care of themselves...Very little.
I finally picked up the book "You're OK...It's Just a Bruise" by Rob Huzienga, this past summer. I haven't pushed through it yet. However, I'm looking forward to hearing how the doctors and organizations treated injuries in the '80s. The organizations' actions most certainly are leading to the problems that NFL Alumni are experiencing today.
Here are some interesting stats from the articles listed above. Keep in mind, these guys are mostly between their late forties and early fifties.
------------------------
30 Number of players from the 1981 team reached by The Chronicle for this story
20 Number of those 30 who said they live with persistent pain
9 Number of those 30 who have been told they eventually will need a joint replacement
3 Number of those 30 who have already had joint replacement surgery (two knees, one shoulder)
2 Number of those 30, including Joe Montana, who have had spinal fusion surgery
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People didn't get to see Johnny Unitas at the end of his life. And people now wonder why former players like Joe Montana do not want to make a lot of public appearances.
Shame on the NFL Players Union.
Support NFL Alumni,
IronDog
Labels: NFLAlumni JoeMontana JohnnyUnitas RonKroichick SanFrancisco49ers HBORealSports Irondog
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