jakncoke
08-21-2008, 08:45 AM
Hall of Fame football player and longtime NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw has died. Upshaw, 63, had been fighting pancreatic cancer. Gene Upshaw Kevin Terrell/WireImage.com Gene Upshaw, a Pro Football Hall of Fame guard, was the lead voice for NFL players for the better part of the last two decades. Clear Channel Online first reported the story early Thursday morning. ESPN has confirmed the report. Upshaw played offensive guard with the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders from 1967 until 1981. He was a seven-time Pro Bowl selection and an 11-time All-Pro selection. He played in three Super Bowls -- winning two -- and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987. Upshaw was the Oakland Raiders' first-round choice in the first combined AFL-NFL draft in 1967. The 6-foot-5, 255-pound lineman had played center, tackle and end at Texas A&I. Upshaw moved to guard with the Raiders, starting in 207 straight regular-season games until being forced out of action by injury for one game in 1981. Upshaw returned the next week and played in 10 more games in what turned out to be his final season. Upshaw was a member of the bargaining committee for the NFLPA throughout his playing days in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After his retirement, he took over as NFLPA executive director in June 1983. Upshaw led the players union through a strike in 1987 and years of anti-trust litigation against the league, including a brief period in which the NFLPA became a professional association rather than a union. The union eventually accepted a salary cap in return for free agency. Union members got a bigger share of league revenues because of the deal. Players have prospered so much that NFL owners recently opted out of the latest labor contract, which was negotiated two years ago by Upshaw and then-commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Upshaw was criticized by some for not being tough enough in negotiations with Tagliabue, a close friend of the union head. He also was blamed by many older veterans for not dealing sufficiently with their health concerns. But the salary cap for this season is $116 million and the players are making close to 60 percent of the 32 teams' total revenues, as specified in the 2006 agreement. In all, the players will be paid $4.5 billion this year, according to owners. Upshaw came up against controversy in 2006 when some 325 retired players from the AFL and NFL came forward with accounts of being given minimal disability benefits. Baltimore Ravens kicker Matt Stover had been leading an effort to oust Upshaw as the NFLPA executive director. In April, he e-mailed a plan to fellow player representatives to have a new union boss in place by March 2009. Upshaw responded, speaking of the looming labor confrontation with owners when the current contract expires, by saying: "I would never leave until this deal is done." Upshaw is survived by his wife, Terri, and sons, Justin, Daniel and Eugene Jr.
R.I.P
ESPN - Hall of Famer Upshaw loses battle with pancreatic cancer - NFL (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3545830)
R.I.P
ESPN - Hall of Famer Upshaw loses battle with pancreatic cancer - NFL (http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3545830)