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Carter: Union Doing Its Part To Assist

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By IRA KAUFMAN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2008

TAMPA - The sense of betrayal was palpable.

When a group of former NFL players gathered in a Tampa hotel ballroom last week to raise awareness for the needs of their peers, they spoke from the heart about the plight of pro football's pioneers.

"A lot of these players need a lot of help," Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers said. "Many of the players today feel they started this league, but they are standing on the shoulders of others - and they tend to forget that."

The Players Association is a convenient target for the frustrations of prideful men who find themselves in economic and physical distress after sacrificing their bodies on NFL fields.

"The disability program in the National Football League is a joke," said Hall of Fame TE Mike Ditka, a driving force in the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund. "The program does not work, and it's unfair. You take a proud man and you make him beg, he gets tired of begging."

As the rhetoric escalated in recent years, things got personal between some of the former players and Gene Upshaw, the late executive director of the NFLPA.

Upshaw, a Hall of Fame guard for the Raiders who died three months ago of pancreatic cancer, was accused of turning his back on the men he fought in the trenches for 15 seasons.

Meet another proud man, Tampa Bay defensive end Kevin Carter.

A member of the union's executive committee, Carter bristles at the suggestion the NFLPA cares only about its current members.

"In principle, we definitely support any effort by people to help someone else ... that's awesome," Carter said. "We're not even against people like Mike Ditka, who says bad things about us. But what people need to realize is you can have your horror stories in any walk of life.

"There are legitimate issues here. I've gone up to our nine-year veterans and asked them, 'Do you have any idea how much of your money over the years has been going to former players?' When they say no, I tell them it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $500,000-$700,000 of your money, directly out of your check."

During Super Bowl week, more than 100 former players and coaches will converge in the Bay area to support the Gridiron Greats and their endeavors.

Through a golf event, an autograph session and a gala dinner, significant money will be raised for former players in significant need.

That's a noble undertaking, but Carter wants Ditka, Sayers and the general public to know the union is also doing its part.

"A lot of these former players had bad advice," Carter said. "Who was to know that if you took your pension at age 45, you wouldn't have anything left? With every CBA extension, we've gone back and helped former players - and Gene Upshaw received no credit for that. It's nowhere near perfect, but it's a heck of a lot better than it used to be."

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