RIP Gene Upshaw

Gene Upshaw, 1945-2008

Eugene Thurman 'Gene' Upshaw, Jr., Hall of Fame offensive lineman, Pro Bowler, Super Bowl Champion and long time president of the National Football League Players Association died this morning, four days after a sudden diagnosis of pancreatic cancer.

Gene was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 1967 AFL draft out of Texas A&I, now Texas A&M-Kingsville, the same school that would produce Darrell Green 16 years later. A center in college, the Raiders and coach John Rauch moved Gene, wearing uniform number 63, to left guard, a position he would keep for 15 years, earning seven Pro Bowl appearances, playing in ten conference championships (three were AFL Championships before the still new Super Bowl) and three Super Bowls, winning two. After a career in which Gene started 207 of 217 total games and became the first and still only man to play in a Super Bowl in three different decades, Gene retired from the NFL after the 1981 season.

Two years later and one year after the 1982 players' strike cut that NFL season from 16 games to nine, NFLPA executive director Ed Garvey stepped down and, in 1983 Gene became the new president of the NFL Players Association. Over the next 25 years Gene guided the union through labor strife, ushered in the era of free agency and established a long term if uneasy peace between the players and owners.

In recent years Gene had come under pressure from players for being too close to the NFL owners and commissioner and was in the midst of running for reelection as NFLPA president while dealing with the controversial matters of a proposed NFL rookie salary cap and financial and medical support of former players.

Gene is a member of the 1987 Hall of Fame class, ironically the year of the NFL's last player strike, after which the owners decertified the NFLPA as a union, this lasted until the newly designated professional association could pursue an antitrust suit against the league to force nearly unfettered free agency, at which point the NFLPA was re certified.

Gene always thought about and did what was best for the game of football and despite the recent downturn in Gene's image with both fans and players, there is no disputing that Gene Upshaw is one of the most important and influential people in the history of the National Football League.

Gene Upshaw was 63.


New York Times story of Gene's death
Washington Post Mark Maske | Jason La Canfora
NFL.com obituary
Gene Upshaw Wikipedia page
Pro Football Hall of Fame Bio



Gene Upshaw as a player, left guard for the Oakland Raiders from here.