Teal and Black: Florida Marlins Forum  

Go Back   Teal and Black: Florida Marlins Forum > Sports Talk > Sports Without the Bat
Home Register GalleryBlogs Members List Mark Forums Read

Notices

Sports Without the Bat Anything besides baseball discussion goes here.

Post New Thread  Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
Old August 21st, 2008, 08:59 AM   #1 (permalink)
Yay!

 
JJ's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: Raleigh, NC
Posts: 17,976
T&B $: 3,427
Reputation: 11392984
My Teams:

PSN Name: PutUpYourDukes
Default NFL HOFer, NFLPA Head Gene Upshaw Dies

Hall of Fame football player and longtime NFL Players Association executive director Gene Upshaw has died.

Upshaw, 63, had been fighting pancreatic cancer.

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.

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."
http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=3545830
JJ is online now  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old August 21st, 2008, 12:41 PM   #2 (permalink)
whysoserious?

 
Ramp's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 8,072
T&B $: 1,108,929
Reputation: 4389251
My Teams:

Xbox Live Gamertag: Matty Business
Default

apparently he was diagnosed only Sunday
__________________
You and your kind, all you care about is money. This city deserves a better class of criminal. And I'm gonna give it to them!
Ramp is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Old August 21st, 2008, 01:40 PM   #3 (permalink)
Kevin "Claus" Garnett
 
Moss's Avatar
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,429
T&B $: 3,794
Reputation: 833121
My Teams:

Xbox Live Gamertag: dbzombie
Default

It's never a happy occasion when somebody dies, but I can't help but hope that now that he's gone, the NFLPA will stop neglecting its retired players. And that would be a very good thing.
__________________
29-8
Moss is offline  
Digg this Post!Add Post to del.icio.usBookmark Post in TechnoratiFurl this Post!
Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
dies, gene, head, hofer, nfl, nflpa, president, upshaw


Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)
 
Thread Tools
Display Modes

Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Bo Diddley dies markotsay7 Music 1 June 2nd, 2008 01:09 PM
Redskins Hire Zorn as Head Coach JJ Sports Without the Bat 1 February 9th, 2008 10:18 PM
NFL Tour Mainge Technology 3 January 19th, 2008 02:55 AM


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 09:44 PM.


Inactive Reminders By Icora Web Design