Dave Pear's Blog

Picture a 259-pound young man of 21 who had lifted weights for 10 years in order to get a job with Kmart finally being hired by Kmart. Both his older brothers and father had worked at jobs below Kmart but never made it there. He had dreams of being better than all of them. During his interview, the supervisor told the young man with a wink, that there was a place for him at Kmart if he could put on 20 – 25 pounds of solid muscle without losing any speed. The caveat was it needed to be done before he started work in 3 months. Considering there were 50 others vying for his job and he had planned on buying his parents a new home and helping his older brother start a business, the young man returned to school, obtained a prescription for steroids, as he knew the supervisors request was not physically possible without chemical help. He returned to work 3 months later weighing 275 pounds while maintaining his speed as requested. Despite the fact he had fulfilled his obligation, his supervisor fired him after 6 weeks.

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But the young man never gave up on his dreams and landed a job at another Kmart store. Early in his second year working for Kmart, the young man severely inured a knee while doing his duties as a Kmart employee. One of his new supervisors told him he was not injured, convinced him to have his knee drained of 65 – 70 ccs of blood every 2-3 weeks and put him back to work. The knee failed every few weeks prior to being drained, but he reported to work every day as required and did his duties as well as he could with his injured knee. The knee failed again and required surgery, during which they removed all the cartilage but never repaired a torn Anterior Cruciate ligament which was duly noted in the medical records.

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He returned to Kmart after the knee surgery and began working in a new area of the store until he could function at his old position again. While working at his new position, he began developing severe headaches, projectile vomiting, loss of hearing and eyesight. His supervisors told him it was due to a cold, prescribed cold medicine and told him to continue working at his new position until he was healthy enough to return to his original job. He did as he was told but his conditions worsened over the course of 2½ weeks, culminating in focal point paralysis of his right arm. He again returned to his supervisors and relayed to them his paralysis of the night before. His supervisor looked in his eye with a light and told the employee his brain was hemorrhaging. So the supervisor told this employee to go home, lie down and then drive 30 minutes to a hospital later that afternoon… by himself. The young employee did as he was told and subsequently underwent emergency VP Shunt brain surgery that night.

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We were all excited when the NFL finally got rid of Ira “Dr. No” Casson as Co-Chair of the NFL’s “Mild” Traumatic Brain Injury Committee. What surprised us was the selection of Dr. Richard Ellenbogen as co-chair of the newly-named NFL Head, Neck and Spine Committee. Dr. Ellenbogen hails from Harborview Medical Center in Seattle as chief of neurological surgery and has been very proactive at the state level in legislation regarding concussions in youth athletics.

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George Visger was the perfect poster-boy for NFL brain concussions to contact Dr. Ellenbogen: Incredibly intelligent, well-spoken and very vocal as a perfect spokesman on the long-term damage from severe brain concussions that resulted directly from his career in professional football. George has been relentlessly involved with a two-pronged approach to the NFL’s concussion problem: The NFL needs to be held to the same standard as any employer in America when it comes to taking care of its injured employees – both active and retired – and clear rules need to be put in place to ensure worker safety both on and off the field. Last month, George proposed a detailed set of rules that address the most important issue facing the NFL, the NFLPA and its employees. The proposed rules were the result of collaboration among a group of retired players who worked with George to develop some guidelines that have been long overdue. We think they make a lot of sense and it covers ALL players with a common sense approach that only players with first-hand experience could develop.

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On a side note before we present the Visger Rules, we had sent a proposal to DeMaurice Smith several months back as the Amen Clinic trials was closing to see if the NFLPA would be interested in funding brain scans for active players BEFORE and AFTER they started their careers, as well as brain scans for all retired players. After seeing the need to continue helping the retired football players, Dr. Amen had graciously offered an incredibly discounted rate for any and all players sent to any of his clinics. Our proposal was simple: ALL active players would have a SPECT scan before starting their careers as well as when they retired; and ALL retired players would be allowed a brain scan as a new benefit. The cost would have been relatively minimal (considering all the money we see wasted every year as disclosed in the annual LM-2 filings) but the impact and effect would be invaluable to each and every player for a lifetime. George’s proposal goes even further: Each active player would also be required to have annual brain scans as an integral part of their mandatory checkup regimen. With the medical technology available today, each player and the Union could easily be provided with up-to-the-minute information on their entire physical condition that’s complete and accurate to help prevent further injuries. We felt that the proposal was the right thing to do and very pro-player (pro-employee – which is what Unions are supposed to be). Given the League’s recent gestures in this direction, the timing couldn’t have been better for the PA to initiate such a plan. After all, what could the League have to say against such a proactive move? This could easily be a high priority issue during any CBA negotiations which is why we felt it was important enough to present the idea directly to DeMaurice Smith. There has been absolutely NO response since the proposal was sent to them in April. We have no idea why this wouldn’t be a perfect issue for the Union (the retired AND active players’  Union) to take up with the League right now to show real unity by protecting all of its men – past and present. As with everything else, it seems we’re all still waiting just for a response…

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Dave,

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I recently returned from my second exam at Dr. Amen’s clinic on July 10, 2010. My first exam was conducted over 3 days in October of 2009. The October exam was much more thorough than the standard NFL exam due to the fact I have survived 8 (or 9, I’ve lost track) NFL-caused emergency VP Shunt brain surgeries.

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I felt it imperative to relay my updated story and exam results and reach out to all our NFL brothers and their families who may unknowingly be fighting the same demons my family and I have fought the last 29 years since my first NFL-caused emergency brain surgery.

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I feel for the “terror” today’s players must be facing regarding a work stoppage. (To read the Sporting News article ‘NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith: ‘A lot of players are terrified’ about a work stoppage’ – Click HERE.) Luckily, I was able to support myself and family these last 28 years on the $65,000 plus partial playoff money (another $14,000) I made while a member of San Francisco 49′ers team in ’81. Shoot, if I wasn’t such an economically suave 23-year old when I was injured, I never would have survived the next 7 brain surgeries over the years. (The fact I had to sue for Workers Comp to get brain surgeries #2 and #3 paid did help keep the creditors at bay for a while.)

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I can remember times when I had $3.85/day to eat on during the late 80′s. I had 4 emergency VP Shunt brain surgeries in one 10-month period while I was back in school full time trying to finish my biology degree, bouncing in bars at night for $10/hr, swinging a hammer during the day in between classes as a general contractor and carpenter, and working as a live-in counselor at a Crisis Intervention Shelter for runaway youths (Diogenese Youth Services in Sacramento). I did two 28 hour shifts/week living in the home with up to 6 runaway youths at a time, while manning a 24 hr/day hotline. I was paid for 24 hours/shift as they thought you could get 4 hours sleep per night some how. All this for $150/shift, and I was thankful I could pay the bills doing something to help others. That $300/week made the difference between eating or not. I was forced to quit that job during the 1987 four-brain-surgery-run, as I couldn’t remember where I parked my truck, much less be responsible for living with and counseling 6 at-risk youths at one time. Luckily, the anger management issues I developed from the brain surgeries where looked upon as an asset when pursuing bouncing jobs and I was able to demand a premium wage.

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Today’s players need to wake up, give back to the community and thank God and the older guys for paving the way for their lucrative careers, instead of whining when they aren’t guaranteed more than last years players. BEFORE they ever even step on the field!

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Last week, the NFL announced the appointment of two doctors to their newly-renamed NFL Head, Neck and Spine Medical Committee (formerly co-chaired by Dr. No Ira Casson as the Mild Traumatic Brain Injury – MTBI – Committee). Here’s a clip from the New York Times’ Alan Schwarz:

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N.F.L. Picks New Chairmen for Panel on Concussions

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George Visger

Fellow independent retired 49′er, George Visger, recently sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. He was kind enough to share his letter with all of us. George has managed to continue his ongoing battle with the NFL and the NFLPA for recognition and fair treatment of all retired football players despite his personal struggles from football-related brain damage and the subsequent brain surgeries he’s had to endure over the past 20+ years. George’s case is another perfect example of how the NFL stacks the deck against the players when it comes to disability and pensions after football. They know the average career is 3 years or less so they set the standard for qualification at 4+ years. Even at WalMart, an employee qualifies for FULL benefits after a 90-day probationary period. And you can be damn sure if you hurt yourself on the job on your second day of work, you’d be qualified for Workers Compensation benefits with little objection. Only in one of the most lucrative and physical professional sports do they set the standard so impossibly high for its employees. When will we actually see our Union step up for its retired players?

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You can follow some of the recent media coverage on George Visger’s story - click the links below:

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