It�s happened. Our worst fear has been realized. One of the 320 widows excluded from the Legacy Benefit died before the NFLPA acted on her behalf. Just 16 days after writing to NFLPA Executive Director DeMaurice Smith, Susan Copeland passed away after a brief but sudden illness. She was just 65 years old.How many more?
Susan Copeland�s husband Jim, who played for the Cleveland Browns from 1966 to 1974, died of cancer in June 2010. He was 65. Following his NFL career, Jim Copeland remained in sports, serving as athletic director at Virginia, Utah, William and Mary, and for 11 years at SMU. When Copeland retired from SMU in 2006, former SMU football coach said, �He doesn�t sugarcoat anything, and that�s one of the reasons why I liked him.�
Susan Copeland didn�t sugarcoat anything, either, in her message to De Smith. �He was very proud of being a Brown and especially proud to be a player in the NFL,� she wrote of her husband. �During his years of playing, the teams went on strike several times for the NFLPA and I am extremely disappointed, as I am certain as Jim would have been, that widows are not included in these benefits. I hope that you all see to making this right.�
Unfortunately, De Smith and the NFLPA have ignored her plea, as they�ve ignored the pleas of Sylvia Mackey, Sandy Unitas, Ginny Concannon, Mary Hilgenberg, Denise Tatum, and a host of other widows.
How many more widows must die before the union acts?
Family members noted that Jim Copeland exhibited signs of dementia � which has been linked to head trauma suffered in football � prior to his death. In a cruel irony, the NFLPA � the union that Jim Copeland supported � is diligently, doggedly, and determinedly defending active players who have been fined and suspended for participating in bounty schemes designed to injure opponents.
Months ago, the NFLPA retained outside counsel � Richard C. Smith, a partner with Fulbright and Jaworski LLP in Washington, D.C. � to represent players in any litigation related to bounties.
Months ago, the NFL agreed to pay its 51% share of the estimated $7 million cost to include the widows in the Legacy Benefit.
Months ago, Fourth & Goal board members and numerous widows began contacting NFLPA officials and former player board members.
Months ago, Domonique Foxworth � who now serves as NFLPA president, a position John Mackey once held � declined a request by Mackey�s widow for a meeting to discuss the widows� Legacy Benefit exclusion, saying he�d already heard Sylvia�s �heart on the matter� and a meeting was unnecessary.
Months ago, the NFLPA punted the widows� issue to the NFL and, in the months since, continues to stonewall.
The 320 men � our teammates, our brothers � took reduced monthly pension benefits so that their widows would continue to receive these benefits. The only thing these teammates did wrong was this � they died before the latest collective bargaining agreement was enacted in August 2011. The league has acted on behalf of the widows. The union has not. And now one widow has died.
Is this the NFLPA�s strategy � �One down, 319 to go�?
How many more widows need to die before the union acts?
How many more?
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