Post by TheShadow on Aug 22, 2008 16:07:48 GMT -5
blogs.wsj.com
Your guest Fixer is David Roth:
Gene Upshaw was an immovable object — and often also an overwhelming force — on the Raiders’ offensive line during his Hall of Fame playing career, and an era-defining head of the NFL Players Association during his two-plus decades on the job. On Thursday, he succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 63, leaving behind fans, players and writers to puzzle over an exceptionally complicated and driven man.
One part of Mr. Upshaw’s story is not subject to debate. “Most of the obits written so far have focused on his work with the union, but I’d like to remind people of his days on the field,” CBS Sports’ Pete Prisco writes. “Gene Upshaw was a badass. Wearing jersey No. 63, Upshaw would pull out with his catlike quickness, lead the backs behind him, throw an explosive block, those clubs-for-arms sending an opposing defensive player to the ground, and then keep on moving.”
After the 11-time All-Pro moved from the playing field to the NFLPA’s corner office, though, things got a bit more complex. As head of the NFLPA, Mr. Upshaw deftly parried numerous challenges from NFL owners — and one from a faction of active players in April, as detailed then by your Guest Fixer — but he leaves behind a confounding legacy.
“Upshaw had become more of an emperor than a leader; there was no succession plan, and Upshaw did not seem interested in forming one,” William C. Rhoden writes in the New York Times. “[He] had become too cozy with ownership, and that subsequent go-along-to-get-along relationship was not in the best long-term interests of the active players. [And Upshaw] had assumed too much unscrutinized control over the N.F.L. Players Association and especially over Players Inc., the union’s licensing subsidiary. Upshaw was scheduled to appear in court next month as part of a class-action suit involving the finances of Players Inc. Now, some questions will never be answered.”
For all Mr. Upshaw’s triumphs, his unwillingness to engage the complaints of his fellow NFL retirees — many of whom suffered debilitating injuries during their careers and have embarrassingly limited retirement benefits — remains his signature failure and a source of great bitterness. “Former NFL players who feuded with Gene Upshaw over retirement and disability benefits are having a hard time biting their tongues,” Michael O’Keeffe writes in the New York Daily News. ” ‘In the end, Gene Upshaw did not take care of the guys who made the NFL what it is today,’ said former Giant Sam Huff. ‘I feel sorry for his family. You want to be sympathetic but it is hard to do.’ ”
For contemporary players, Mr. Upshaw’s legacy is less fraught, according to the Chicago Tribune’s Dan Pompei. “NFL players should say a prayer today for Gene Upshaw and his family,” Mr. Pompei writes. “Without him, free agency as we know it never would have existed.”