Thanks to our friend, Jennifer Thibeaux, we have a great collection of photographs from our well-attended Second Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference held April 20 – 22 2012 at The South Point Resort in Las Vegas. Videos and PowerPoints to follow shortly! .
Here’s the slideshow from flickr (there’s an enlarge button in the lower right hand corner of the slideshow screen if you want to view our slideshow fullscreen; just hit ESC to close fullscreen mode): .
With so many areas to cover this year at our Second Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference, we’ve adopted a broadcast format and assembled discussion panels with audience participation instead of individual speakers for the most part. Each panel will be broadcast as a separate topic covering the most important issues and questions retired players want to know. . Each panelist will be given an opportunity to talk approximately 5 – 10 minutes about their particular areas of expertise and interest after which 30 – 45 minutes will then be devoted to general discussions and questions from our studio audience and our online viewers. For a list of our panelists and speakers,clickHERE. We’ll be posting our Panelists’ Bios shortly. . All retired players welcome to participate in this live event but be sure to register for your entry pass today -clickHERE – and book you flight and room(s) at the South Point as soon as possible! The Conference is open to all retired football players by simply registering to attend. Media and other guests are limited and by invitation only –clickHEREto contact us. .
Each panelist will be given an opportunity to talk for approximately 5 – 10 minutes about their particular areas of expertise and interest, after which 30 – 45 minutes will then be devoted to general discussions and questions from our studio audience and our online viewers. For a list of our panelists and speakers, clickHERE. We’ll be posting our Panelists’ Bios shortly. .
EDITOR’S NOTE: Dave will be heading in to the hospital tomorrow morning (Tuesday) for his scheduled total right hip replacement. We’ll keep you posted on his progress. In the meantime, we’ve been following the growing number of new concussion and helmet lawsuits over the past couple of months from all across the country. It’s been hard keeping up with all the details and lawyers and players behind each suit. Last week, many of them were consolidated in a Federal Court in Pennsylvania under Judge Anita Brody. Dave asked one of his attorneys, Jason Luckasevic, from the firm Goldberg Persky & White, to provide an overview and summary of what has happened so far. .continue reading »
Football damaged my brain and it didn’t have to happen
GEORGE VISGER, a former 49er, tells his story . Due to the size and speed of today’s football players, the kinetic energy they generate during hits can have long-term consequences. Here’s my story: .
My football career began at age 11 in 1970 when I suited up for the West Stockton Bear Cubs, the first Pee Wee Pop Warner team fielded in Stockton, Calif. Of the 29 kids on the team, three went on to sign NFL contracts in 1980 (myself — sixth round, New York Jets; Jack Cosgrove — eighth round, Seattle Seahawks; Pat Bowe — free agent, Green Bay Packers). .
During my third year of Pop Warner, I was hospitalized when I knocked myself unconscious during a tackling drill. The exercise was a needless bull-in-the-ring drill that was more of a gladiator competition for the coaches’ amusement than a means of teaching useful techniques to young players. .
The coaches had us form a big circle about 25 yards across and numbered the 40 of us 1 to 20 on each side. When your number was called, you and the player on the other side with the same number sprinted directly at each other and hit head-to-head. .
Concussions followed throughout my high school career, though I never missed a game or practice. In my senior year, we went 11-0 and ranked No. 3 in California. I was selected to the All-America Top 100 Team. .
I entered the University of Colorado on a football scholarship in 1976 as a 6-foot, 5-inch 235-pound defensive tackle, majoring in biology. I was a starter for three years and suffered a number of minor concussions, but I never missed a play except after leg injuries. .
Some reading material for your weekend. We have a recent newsletter from Hausfeld LLP and Zelle Hofmann that provides an update on much of what’s been happening with the retired players’ lawsuit as well as recent information and links of interest to football players and fans alike regarding concussions. They also provide some straight-forward analysis of the new CBA and how it will affect retirees’ benefits that you probably won’t be hearing from the NFLPA any time soon. .
And Sports Life Magazine’s Rick Kelsheimer spoke with us last month about Dave’s long battle with the NFL and the NFLPA and was gracious enough to provide us with an advance copy of his story that will appear in the October 2011 edition. . We uploaded full copies of the newsletter and the Sports Life article to Scribd for easy viewing and to make it downloadable for printing. You can also click the Enlarge icon in the center of the menu at the bottom of the viewing screen to go Full Screen for easier reading (just hit the ESC key to close):continue reading »
. Spencer Kopf put in a full hour interview with Sports Life Radio on Tuesday evening and we have the link to the entire piece (just click on the Red PLAY arrow and the interview will start): .
And once it starts playing, you can turn the volume up using the volume button: . . So here’s Spencer’s interview: .
[audio http://www.hvtalkradio.com/phocadownload/SLR 8-9-11.mp3|bg=0x0000ff|righticon=0xff0000] . BTW – Robert also did a one-hour interview on last week’s show (and didn’t want to post it up): .
[audio http://www.hvtalkradio.com/phocadownload/SLR 8-2-11.mp3|bg=0x0000ff|righticon=0xff0000] .
And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window. .
And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away! .
And for those of us with shorter attention spans, the highlights are now up on YouTube from our June 20th 2011 Retired Football Players Press Conference. We’ve uploaded it to YouTube in HD – you can enlarge it to full screen for easier viewing using the enlarge button in the lower right corner of the video window. .
And once again, thanks to Jennifer Thibeaux and her crew. We’re working on shorter individual clips to also be posted daily on YouTube over the following weeks to keep this issue front and center with the fans and general public. Retired Players are NOT going away! .
. And a little something extra: Hall-of-Famer Gale Sayers is mad too! .
. HOW YOU CAN HELP: Click on the Like button on YouTube, as well as passing these videos along to all of your friends. You can also post our video links to your Facebook page if you have a Facebook account and Tweet it to Twitter (you can use those buttons at the bottom of each of our posts). And please be sure to click on the Sign Our Petition link at the top of the sidebar on the right to let everyone know you support these guys! .
We’re back from attending the Press Conference at the Press Club in Washington DC. Thanks to the incredible efforts of the teams at Hausfeld LLC and Zelle Hofmann Voelbel & Mason and Carl Eller, everything came off even better than anyone could have expected. Retired players who attended the conference included Carl, Irv Cross (who moderated), George Visger, Joe DeLamielleure, Lem Barney, Conrad Dobler, Paul Krause, Elvin Bethea and Greg Koch. For the first part of the conference, the retirees were also joined by a group of active players who also made statements in support of the retired players efforts, which included Brendon Ayanbadejo, Duane Starks, Will Witherspoon, Hannibal Navies, Sean James, Anthony Adams, Duane Starks, Stalker McDougal and Mike Dean. We had a strong media presence and there was also a lot of attendance on the conference phone line provided. . We have video of the entire event and will be posting clips from the news conference over the next few days along with a full version of the entire meeting (thanks to our friend, Jennifer Thibeaux, and her young assistant, Elizabeth). And here’s a slideshow of pictures from Reuters News Service at the conference (Click on the picture to open the slideshow in another window): .
Attorney Carl Lopez graduated from Georgetown University Law School in 1975 and is a member of the Washington State Bar and President of Lopez & Fantel, a Seattle law firm. He has been named multiple times to Law and Politics Magazine’s list of Washington Super Lawyers. He’s also a member of the Million Dollar Advocates and Multimillion Dollar Advocates. Selected for “The Best Lawyers in America.” Carl is a certified Contract Advisor, with his first NFL contract negotiation in 1978; among players represented are Jack Thompson and more recently, Robbie Tobeck. . On very short notice, Carl managed to fly in just for the day from Seattle and gives an overview on the current CBA and the Union’s decertification with an emphasis on how it will affect retired players directly. Carl also reveals some fascinating anecdotes from his many years of dealing with the NFLPA and the NFL while representing many players. . (Our videos are hosted on Vimeo in HD and you can watch them full screen by clicking on the Expand button in the lower right corner of the video window.) .
This past week, we’ve probably seen even more media coverage on concussions than all past years combined. It’s been like a huge tsunami of people, events and timing all converging to drive interest in a subject that’s been hidden away by years of denial. . Terry Bradshaw had already made some side comments publicly last year while he was on the air and just as suddenly as he blurted them out – and as with all things NFL on network television – nothing more was ever brought up again until this past week. Bradshaw mentions his recent visit to the Amen Clinic in Newport Beach as part of Dr. Amen’s continuing studies on concussions and the brain. Here’s the clip from FOX Sports: . Video: Terry talks treatment .
And you can read the full article on MSN/FOX Sports – click HERE.
Since leaving our Conference in Las Vegas, our friend Jennifer Thibeaux has been diligently working away night-and-day at editing and improving the sound quality of the video material recorded at our First Conference at the South Point Resort in Las Vegas – and she didn’t disappoint us! Jennifer’s obviously put a lot of work into ensuring that our message gets out clearly. Here are the first talks from Friday morning, March 25th. We’ll have all of the videos posted up through the weekend as they’re completed. . Dave Pear was born in Vancouver, Washington and grew up in Portland, Oregon. Dave attended the University of Washington on an athletic scholarship and played defensive tackle for the UW Huskies from 1971 – 1975. He graduated with a degree in Political Science. .
He was the first Tampa Bay Buccaneers (0-26) player to be selected to the Pro Bowl in 1978 and played in Super Bowl XV in 1980 for the Oakland Raiders (first wild card to ever capture the title –Oakland Raiders 27 – Philadelphia Eagles 10). . After leaving football with severe injuries following Super Bowl XV, Dave has been fighting the NFL for his earned disability and medical benefits since 1979 and since his first application was turned down in 1983 and has become a vocal advocate for retired players’ rights. .
(The videos are hosted on Vimeo in HD and you can watch them full screen by clicking on the Expand button in the lower right corner of the video window.) .
Dave opens the Conference and talks about some of his personal battles for himself and his retired brothers: .
IFV Conference – Dave Pear from Jennifer Thibeaux on Vimeo . Attorney John Hogan is a well-known speaker on Social Security disability and frequently makes presentations throughout Georgia and nationally. He serves on the board of directors of the National Organization of Social Security Representatives and is a former co-chair of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Social Security section. You’ve seen John’s posts and comments frequently on Dave’s Blog and many others as a proactive advocate for retired football players. .
John has been advocating for a total reform of the current NFL/NFLPA Disability Plan and has been successful in many of his cases representing retired NFL players in their Disability and Social Security Disability cases. .
Here’s disability attorney John Hogan discussing the NFL/NFLPA’s broken Disability Plan as well as highlights from some of his past year’s experiences: .
All of the presentations from our Conference were streamed live on Ustream and also recorded for editing. We’re currently working on editing all of the videos and enhancing the sound quality. (HINT: Headphones might help!) However, many of you have already been asking about viewing the videos so we decided to upload them in their rough versions so those of you who couldn’t attend the Conference in person can watch them. As soon as Jennifer and her team finish the editing, we’ll get the improved versions online immediately. (The videos do take some time to load up so please be patient while each frame loads up. You can also view them in Full Screen mode by clicking on the button in the lower right corner of each video frame.)
Hall-of-Famer Ron Mix attended and spoke at our first Annual Independent Football Veterans Conference last week, held at the South Point Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. We received Ron’s overview and editorial letter this morning and we’re posting it in its entirety below. Thanks, Ron! .
You can view and read more of the entire event by going to the site by clicking HERE. (We will be updating the site constantly all week long as we finalize sound enhancements on all our videos as well as add more commentary and PowerPoints from our speakers.) And if you would like to help advance our cause by being a founding donor, please feel free to go to our Donation page by clicking HERE. . continue reading »
Due to the size and speed of today’s football players, the kinetic energy they generate during hits can have long-term consequences. Here’s my story:
Dave Pear was born in Vancouver, Washington and grew up in Portland, Oregon. Dave attended the University of Washington on an athletic scholarship and played defensive tackle for the 
Attorney John Hogan is a well-known speaker on Social Security disability and frequently makes presentations throughout Georgia and nationally. He serves on the board of directors of the National Organization of Social Security Representatives and is a former co-chair of the Georgia Trial Lawyers Association, Social Security section. You’ve seen John’s posts and comments frequently on Dave’s Blog and many others as a proactive advocate for retired football players.