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Thanks to a tendon injury he suffered during a 1968 preseason game, Hall of Fame Colts' quarterback Johnny Unitas had to strap everything from a pen to a golf club to his once powerful hand because he had lost his once strong grip. Still, despite the debilitating injury and pain, Unitas' disability claim with the NFL was denied.

Ron Snyder, The (Baltimore) Examiner
2007-07-11 07:00:00.0

BALTIMORE -

Johnny Unitas' golden arm was nothing more than a lead weight when he died in 2002.

After suffering a tendon injury during a 1968 preseason game, the Hall of Fame Baltimore Colts' quarterback had to strap everything from a pen to a golf club to his once powerful hand because he had lost his once strong grip. Still, despite the debilitating injury and pain, Unitas' disability claim with the National Football League was denied.

That's something Jean Fugett doesn't want to see happen again. Fugett, the President of the NFL Retired Players Steering Committee, said his organization is forming an outreach group to help identify needy players and help them with their disability claims, which he describes as a cumbersome process.

"There are so many hoops to jump through," Fugett said. "Money isn't an issue as the retirement plan has $1 billion in it. 'It's the disability process that needs to be fixed.' We don't have a system in place to find these players."

Today, players appealing disability claims will appear in front of the National Football League Player's Association's retirement board, which has three management - including Ravens President Dick Cass - and three player representatives.

During a league-wide concussion summit last month in Chicago, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said he is constantly looking for ways to improve assistance programs for retired players. He hopes a July 24 meeting with NFLPA Executive Director Gene Upshaw and a number of retired players expedite the process.

"We have been working with Gene on alternatives over the last several months, and I think we have some programs that will be responsive, particularly as it relates to potential joint replacements, which is an issue that many former players are dealing with," said Goodell during a press conference at the summit.

Former Baltimore Colt Bruce Laird, who is president of the team's retired alumni chapter, is not sure how the steering committee can accomplish its goal based on Fugett's previous comments to retired Colts players.

Laird added that Fugett said that steering committee members - an advisory group to the NFL Players Association - have no defined responsibilities, job descriptions, power, yearly budget and have no accountability to the NFL retired players chapters throughout the country.

"Jean Fugett since he took office as president of the steering committee has never addressed the rank and file of the NFLRPA," Laird said. "More than 3,100 members belong to the association and there are plenty of avenues to address the group including directories and blogs if he wanted to do so."

NFL NOTES

� NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said Baltimore Colts quarterback Johnny Unitas did not qualify for disability benefits for three separate reasons:

"First, he was already receiving retirement benefits, and the plan is clear that you can't get both types of income-replacement payments [retirement and disability] at the same time," he said. "Second, he was actually working. Third, all the doctors, including his own doctor, said that he was able to work."

� According to NFL figures, 284 former players are receiving disability payments, totaling $19 million, including some that receive as much as $224,000 annually. There are more than 9,000 former players.