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By BRIAN LINDER
The (Orangeburg, S.C.) Times & Democrat

A gallon of vodka per week and somewhere around three packs of cigarettes a day.

Not the words that usually proceed: keeps the doctor away, but so far so good for Alex Hawkins.

Yes, it's true, the infamous "Captain Who" is still alive and kicking in Denmark. And, surprisingly, despite his regimen - he says smoking is the stupidest thing he's ever done, but he does get a little help here and there downing all that vodka - he's still pretty vigorous at 70 years old and counting.

Friday afternoon, Hawkins sat in a Coca-Cola chair in his home overlooking the Edisto River and lit up a BASIC, his cigarette of choice. He's had two knee surgeries, but they don't bother him. He's also had three hip replacements, but all in all, for a man that played in the NFL for 10 years, he's doing fine.

"I've been very, very fortunate," he said. "The three hip replacements are attributable, I guess, to all athletics. One was a faulty operation, so I had to have another."

Fact is, Alex Hawkins isn't well-schooled on this whole retired players trying to get better disability benefits thing. He just hasn't been that involved with the National Football League Players Association. But, a number of his former teammates on the Colts have, and Alex is starting to pay attention too. How could he not?

Just weeks ago, Sandra Unitas came to visit he and his wife Charlie. That's Sandra, the wife of Alex's old running buddy, Johnny, the all-time great Colts quarterback. And, if you ask him, Hawkins will tell you Unitas had as much to do with the NFL becoming the billion-dollar business it is today as anyone.

"My first year in the league was 1959, which was a year after Unitas won a championship in sudden death in New York City," he said. "Until then, nobody filled up the stadium except for the Colts. That was the only place in 1959 that you had a sell-out crowd, and that was because of Unitas. It was kind of the golden team after that game.

"He was on national television," Hawkins continued. "It was the first overtime game. It had all the drama and everything that you need. It was the turning point in pro football. From that point on, the numbers just soared. What is that worth? I think - quite a lot."

But, Johnny didn't get a lot, and after her stay at the Hawkins' home on the river in Denmark, Sandra headed to Washington to stand alongside retired veterans such as Mike Ditka and Harry Carson in the fight for improvements in the NFL's disability benefits system. Johnny had injured a tendon in his right arm, and because of that, spent his
later years, right up until his death on Sept. 11, 2002, having to button his shirts with a rubber hook.

Sandra held that same hook up in front of Congress to illustrate what her husband had to go through. He was denied his disability claim by the NFL because the league ruled he was healthy enough to hold a job. But, Unitas wasn't the only former Baltimore player Alex had seen struggle.

"Six of the 36 guys I played with on one of those teams got Alzheimer's or dementia," he said. "And, three are dead. That's an inordinate percentage. That's a sixth of the team."

That list includes Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey.

"The last time I saw (Mackey) was at Unitas' funeral,and he didn't even know where he was," Hawkins said. "I feel so sorry for John because John would stand out in the rain and sign autographs - pouring rain - and I'd say, 'John stop all this.' And, he'd say, 'If they want my autograph, I'll stay here until I drown.'

"That's the kind of person he was," he continued. "When he could no longer sign his autograph - he couldn't walk from here to the door without someone wanting his autograph - it really hurt him."

And, how could Hawkins forget George Preas, the 6-foot-2, 240-pound offensive tackle that Colts players called George "Priest." Preas passed away Feb. 24, 2007, after a long bout with Parkinsons.

"I was up in Virginia speaking, and Preas' wife was at a banquet where I spoke," Hawkins said. "She said, 'Can you come by and see George?' And, I said, 'It's my understanding he doesn't know where he is.' And, she said that was true, but a few times he had come out of it for a brief period of time, and it was always when an ex-teammate of his came over.

"So, I said I'd be there in the morning," he continued. "And, the next morning I went there to the care center where he was being kept, and I went over to him hoping to get his hand and make eye contact. I remember, his mouth was open and his head was laid back on the bed and - never, not a single thing."

Hawkins said it's tough to watch friends go through things like that, especially friends he made with the Colts. That team, he said, had a special bond. But, looking back, he also isn't surprised the physical issues have become such a problem for so many retired players. In today's NFL, athletes sometimes have to play hurt. In the late 1950s and into the 1960s, players often had to play hurt.

"You had to play hurt," he said. "We only had a 36-man roster."

These days, Hawkins does find himself wondering about his own memory. Of course, he's not sure if it's the vodka, the cigarettes, the fact that he's getting older or just plain paranoia, but he is concerned a little.

"I compare myself with other people when I'm playing golf," he said. "I don't know how much ties in with the trauma of getting hit in the head so much, you know, to what extent it has anything to do with that, I don't know, and I can't worry about it because the damage has been done.

"The NFL is doing a lot of research now into dementia and Alzheimer's," he continued. "They send us forms from the league office, and you know, they ask if we have any trouble with our backs, any injuries that remain, our memory, how much damage has been done and to what extent we can perform as a normal person. But, we never get the results of it.

"I'm very sympathetic to the older players with mental conditions - if there is enough money, I'd like to see them taken care of."