Gene Upshaw, a Hall of Fame guard for the Oakland Raiders who was just as tough and fearless in his post-playing career, died late Wednesday night at 63.
Though he looked gaunt at appearances this summer, both Upshaw and those who knew him best in football denied that the NFL Players Association Executive Director was sick. The NFLPA’s Web site said Upshaw didn’t learn that he had pancreatic cancer until just four days before his death.
He held the NFLPA together through de-certification and the 1987 strike and wound up negotiating a collective bargaining agreement in 1993 which gave players unrestricted free agency after four seasons.
Although Upshaw was criticized for being too cozy with Paul Tagliabue, the NFL commissioner for most his 25 years in charge of the NFLPA, the average player salary grew from $485,000 in 1992 to $1.4 million last year.
The recent movement by a majority of the NFLPA Executive Board to find Upshaw’s successor now takes on major urgency, what with the NFL owners having opted out of the CBA this spring and an uncapped year approaching in 2010. Upshaw vowed that if the salary cap ever disappeared, it would never return.
Despite that tumult and the ongoing benefits battle with the retired players, Upshaw’s legacy is one of success.
“Few people in the history of the National Football League have played the game as well as Gene and then had another career in football with so much positive impact on the structure and competitiveness of the entire league,” Tagliabue said. “In both careers, if you hit him in the head, he could hit you back twice as hard - but he didn’t always do so. He was very tough but also a good listener. He never lost sight of the interests of the game and the big picture.”
Upshaw, a union leader during the 1974 summer labor stoppage, retired not long before the 1982 strike that cancelled nearly half that season. Upshaw succeeded Ed Garvey as head of the NFLPA in 1983. After the ugly 1987 strike during which the owners fielded teams of replacement players, Upshaw worked with Tagliabue, who replaced Pete Rozelle in 1989, to forge labor peace that has now lasted more than two decades.
“It’s a sad day for the NFL, but Gene’s positive impact and legacy will live on for decades to come,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said. “His leadership played a crucial role in taking the NFL and its players to new heights. Gene did everything with great dignity, pride, and conviction.”
Oakland’s first-round draft choice out of Texas A&I in 1967, Upshaw wasted no time proving his worth as a player. The Raiders reached their first Super Bowl with the rookie starting.
Oakland made the playoffs 10 times and won two Super Bowls during Upshaw’s career and didn’t have a losing record until his final season. Upshaw started 207 consecutive games and was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times.
He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987, his first year of eligibility.
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