Ditka: Owners should be ashamed
Former NFL greats speak out against league's pension plan
It's stories such as this that prompted Hall of Famers Mike Ditka, Jerry Kramer, Joe DeLamielleure and Lem Barney to hold a news conference Thursday to promote an online auction of NFL memorabilia to benefit the Gridiron Greats Assistance Fund, which they hope will do what they claim the NFL and the NFL Players Association won't: Help ex-players in need.
''It's a disgrace,'' Ditka said. ''The owners ought to be ashamed of themselves. The owners are financiers, and they are all about making money. They don't care about the history of the game.''
They call themselves ''The Forgotten 325,'' and they include 40 Hall of Famers. The majority of these ex-NFL players receive less than $200 per month in pension benefits even after the recent increase. Many of them are struggling with disabilities and scraping to pay monthly bills while the league they once represented is raking in record revenues and throwing lavish Super Bowl XLI parties.
''I'm not an ambassador for the NFL,'' Adderley said. ''I don't brag about playing in the NFL for 12 years, playing for [Vince] Lombardi, winning five championships in Green Bay before being traded to the Cowboys and playing in two more Super Bowls. I could brag about that, but I don't. I'm embarrassed to even say I played in the NFL. I stopped wearing my Super Bowl rings and my Hall of Fame ring because I'm disgusted with the way we have been treated, me and the other 325 guys.''
Members of ''The Forgotten 325'' elected to take additional monies out of their pension plan when they reached the age of 45, thereby limiting how much they'd receive after they began collecting Social Security. Several claim that union officials encouraged them to cash out because a study at the time concluded that the average life span of an NFL player was 55.
Even those who didn't elect to take the early cash-out option are finding their pensions inadequate. Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram, who coached professionally for 17 years and led the Kansas City Chiefs to a victory in Super Bowl IV, earned $364.63. Kramer earns $358 per month.
''Our pension sucks -- plain and simple,'' DeLamielleure said.
The players association has increased pensions for retired players as part of new collective bargaining agreements in recent years, but Kramer, Ditka and others maintain that the increases, such as the extra $50 per month Adderley received, are at best inadequate and at worst an insult. Another contentious issue is the league's reluctance to grant players permanent disability.
''The football system is so teeming with wealth that they can afford to be more generous,'' Hall of Fame offensive tackle Ron Mix said.
NFL spokesperson Greg Aiello said pensions are a product of the economics of the era in which players played. What angers ex-players most is the lack of compassion shown by the league and the players association.
''The players association has taken a punitive, unsympathetic and harsh view that can be summarized as, 'Tough luck. You were adults,''' Mix said. '''You made your choices, and that's the way it goes.'''
Ditka said he sent a letter to every NFL owner asking for $100,000 to benefit retired players in need. Ditka said the problem would be solved if all 32 owners made the requested donation. Instead, he received $10,000 from one owner and $5,000 from another.
He said he sent the checks back.
''If we can't help them, nobody's going to help them,'' Ditka said.