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Los Angeles Daily News
Raiders take but give back!
By Steve Dilbeck
Tuesday, March 30, 2004



Maybe at first you just shrug. Give it little notice. Figure it's not something to give much consideration. It's probably natural to be suspicious. The idea can be difficult to fathom when sports pages are flooded with inflated player salaries. The numbers are beyond relating to for most of us now. And it's not a term you hear mentioned much - needy former players.

Yet they are out there. Ex-players who have fallen on hard times. Players often too proud to come forward, to reach out. Guys who played in the NFL before the 1990's, when millionaires became the norm. Many have serious medical problems and modest medical benefits. Former players who can almost slip between the cracks. "There are some travail's that befall some people who aren't on the ledger.

That you can't just push a button and fix." Now an impressive group of former and current Raiders are trying to do something to help. To raise money to benefit former teammates. To do a simple, good deed. Former Raiders greats Howie Long, Marcus Allen, Gene Upshaw and former team executive Mike Ornstein have formed the Silver and Black Fund. Its first function is from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday at the Burbank Hilton, where approximately 30 former and current players will be available to sign autographs.

Bo Jackson, Ronnie Lott, Jim Plunkett, Art Shell, Jerry Rice, Tim Brown, Jim Otto, Allen Long and Christensen are just a few of the players scheduled to sign, be available for photographs, to mingle with their fans. "The perception is if you played professional sports you're rich," Long said. "What people don't realize is, I'm 44 years old and broke into the NFL in 1981. I made 38 grand my rookie year. My contract was 38-48-58 and so on."

"The medical benefits, compared to corporate America, are not great. The pension is not something to bank on where you say "I'm set when I'm 55." "When you add to that, by anyone's standards, a number of these players are handicapped. The Jack Tatums, who developed diabetes and had a leg amputated. There are a number of people who have kind of fallen through that imaginary net." There are others. Former fullback Steve Smith has Lou Gehrig's disease. Ex-quarterback David Humm has multiple sclerosis and does pre- and post game radio analysis from his home in Las Vegas.

Former tackle Lindsey Mason needs a heart transplant. Reggie Kinlaw needs two knee replacements. Mike Davis has hearing difficulties. Smith has a wife and children. Long said they still have hope, he might prove to have Lyme disease, but his treatments continue. "That's a situation where you're above and beyond what his limited medical benefits are, which are not great," Long said. "You're talking about $10,000-$15,000 in just medical expenses a month in order to sustain the treatments he needs.

He's basically had to strip down what he has - home, car, everything - to the point they're just making ends meet to try and sustain the medical treatments." Long said Ornstein really started thinking about a way to help former players in need after former All-Pro center Dave Dalby, who had personal and financial troubles, died last summer when he drove his van into a tree in Dana Point. "It was a shock to a lot of us," Long said. "We just weren't aware of his situation. If something like this makes former players more aware, I think it's accomplished something just in that." Ex-players in trouble often don't know where to turn, or are too proud to seek help.

Long said his new group is hopeful once word of its existence spreads, more former Raiders will come forward. "When something like this is put into play, it makes it easier for a player to reach out within his comfort level," he said. "It's not like you're walking down to unemployment. You're going inside the family. I think we're only hitting the tip of the iceberg here." Raiders attending Saturday's function are all paying their own way. Many others are donating time, keeping overhead low.

This is an alumni effort, with no direct affiliation with the organization. Long said plans are in the works for a more elaborate function in Las Vegas next year. But for a first step, Allen and Long chose to have it in the city where they played, where there remains a strong fan base. "We're learning as we go here," Long said. "I'm hopeful we can continue to evolve as a group without choking each other."

With Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Association, on board, the group hopes its efforts will be duplicated around the country. "We're hopeful that other former players from every NFL city will take a blueprint of this and try to put together something in their city," he said. This is not an effort to be cynical about. There is no hidden agenda, just dozens of Raiders and former Raiders, trying to help former teammates. "Things happen in life in a large part beyond your control," Christensen said. "So when you do have some people who are kind enough to put something together to benefit them, I think they have to be applauded.

"This motive is purely altruistic. There is no subterfuge here. It's to benefit those guys. I don't think people realize that not everyone retires with $5 million in the bank and sits on the porch. That's not how it works." More information on the Saturday's autograph session is available at www.silverandblackfund.com Steve Dilbeck's column appears in the Daily News four times a week. He can be reached at stephen.dilbeck@dailynews.com.