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Carson's Problem Not Unfamiliar To Former Players

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By JOE HENDERSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 29, 2009

TAMPA - Fans of the National Football League remember Harry Carson as a ferocious linebacker for the New York Giants. He played 13 seasons, and in Super Bowl XXI against Denver, he had two sacks and forced two fumbles. He recovered them both.

The final affirmation of his career and value to the game came when he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But not long after he retired in 1988, he had a vague feeling something was wrong. He couldn't think straight. He was prone to unexplained rage.

He worked in broadcasting, but would lose his train of thought while on live television. He forgot names of people he had known for years.

"I contemplated suicide at one point but I figured that was the coward's way out," he said.

Doctors told Carson he had post-concussion syndrome, the hangover from multiple concussions he suffered as a player. That was 19 years ago. The problem still persists.

"It's just something you have to deal with," he said. "For the most part I'm fine. Sometimes I'll have severe headaches, so I know I have to avoid environments with a lot of loud noise, bright lights. People look at football players with such adulation. I look at them with a much different perspective."

Carson's story is far too familiar to the many retired coaches and players who gathered Thursday morning at the Super Bowl media center to support the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund. The organization raises money to support ex-players in need – some for medical reasons, and others simply because they don't have enough money to pay their electric bill.

It's an uphill struggle.

The retired players complain their pensions and medical benefits are woefully inadequate, especially when measured against the opulence and $1,000 tickets at the Super Bowl.

"It's a problem that shouldn't exist," said Minnesota Vikings center Matt Birk, one of the few current players to take an active role in helping the former players.

Few Helping Hands

There are about 1,500 active players in the NFL. Approximately 15 of them responded with money during a fund-raising day late in the regular-season. The retirees say they feel abandoned by the league they helped build and the players who make millions on the backs of their work.

"The problem is not going to go away," former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka said. "This is something that doesn't make sense. We were told when we came into this league that we were part of a family. You don't treat family that way."

It is a moral issue.

The NFL is a colossus, but there are too many stories of ex-players who are denied medical benefits, who become addicted to pain medications, or who simply don't have enough to eat or a place to sleep.

"I don't have cable. I don't know how to use a computer. It costs money," said Dwight Harrison, a 10-year NFL veteran for Oakland, Denver, Buffalo and the Baltimore Colts. "The one question I have is 'why?' Why in the world are they putting us through this stuff? The type of lifestyle I live is just unfair. I just don't get it."

Retired players complain they don't have a voice at the bargaining table with the players union when collective bargaining agreements with the owners are made. They say they receive mostly lip service from the union they helped build and token help from owners.

"If they fixed our pensions, we wouldn't be here," former Buffalo Bills guard Joe DeLamielleure said.

Raising Money, Awareness

Gridiron Greats, a private organization, depends on donations and sponsorships. It has raised a little more than $1 million, not including fund-raising efforts here at the Super Bowl. There was a dinner Wednesday night at the Seminole Hard Rock hotel, attended by about 100 former players to raise money and awareness.

There is also an online auction (www.gridirongreats.org) through Tuesday of memorabilia, including a folder from Vince Lombardi's days as an assistant coach with the Giants. There are plays scribbled on the folder as well as other plays and notations inside.

Gridiron Greats has only been around for two years but has done a remarkable job of raising awareness.

Players like Birk and Kyle Turley, who played nine seasons before leaving the league in 2008, have been at the forefront of trying to rally current players to pay attention. There obviously is a lot more work to do, though.

"When I came into the league in 1998, things had been pretty good for players for a couple of years," Birk said. "But there were guys on my team who had walked the picket lines in 1987. They would always remind the younger players that it wasn't always like this, it wasn't always good.

"Now it's 2009 and things look pretty good for the players. There aren't those guys left from the strike to remind us. It's not their fault, but I think a lot of the younger players maybe don't appreciate it. They take it for granted."

And then added something else.

"The league didn't get like this by accident. It got good because former generations of players made sacrifices. We try to keep that in mind as we move forward because every current player at some point is going to become a retired player."

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