Football Retirees Take One For The Team

by Vanessa Loy (BPRW)

The sports world is a major institution in American culture, and football players seem to have a special mystique among athletes. Maybe it is because football is one of the few sports left that is uniquely American. In fact, the word "football" in most other countries refers to the sport we call "soccer." It could also be that football players embody the American ideals of strength, youth, discipline, achievement and wealth.

Many football players are heroes in their personal lives as well as on the field. Gale Sayers earned the nickname "Kansas Comet" and membership National Football League Hall of Fame in his position as a running back for the Chicago Bears. He also was a close personal friend of the late Brian Piccolo, a teammate who died of cancer in 1970. Their friendship, which broke the racial boundaries of that era, was depicted in the 1971 television movie "Brian's Song." Decades after those events, Sayers has retired from playing football, but he is not completely retired from his involvement in the sport.

Sayers is among several former National Football League players who recently testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, as reported in the Rockford Register Star. The retired players advocated legislation to improve retirement and disability benefits for players disabled as a result of injuries on the field. While hazards are a risk in many occupations, injuries for athletes can mean the loss of their livelihood, if not their lives. Sayers himself sustained injuries on both of his knees that ended his football career prematurely.

This scene teaches some lessons for a society where athletes have nearly divine status in many fans’ eyes. It shows that athletes are subject to the same frailties as the rest of us. It also shows that while fame and fortune are enjoyable, they are only temporary. It shows what it means to look out for the younger generation. And since most athletes only have a handful of years to make their living playing professionally, it shows the need to develop the mind as well as the body.