NFLPA documents show $10K in help to DeMarco
By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com
(Archive)
Updated: June 12, 2007, 10:48 AM ET
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Mike Ditka has been saying for months that the NFL and NFL Players Association should provide "documentation" if they want to back up their claims that they are meeting the needs of retired players.
In what may be a first significant strike back at a nasty public relations campaign waged by some retired players such as Ditka, the NFLPA on Monday night provided ESPN with nine canceled checks totaling almost $10,000 that it paid out in the past 12 months for rent, utilities and child support to former NFL lineman Brian DeMarco.
DeMarco, 35, appeared at a press conference on Monday with Ditka and fellow Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure, claiming the players union had turned its back on him during a time of financial need caused by his physical disabilities from a five-year NFL playing career.
DeMarco had also told the Chicago Sun-Times that the union had ignored many of his pleas for help.
The NFLPA responded Monday night by producing documents, which included two payments in March from the Player Assistance Trust that totaled almost $3,000 covering rent for DeMarco and a moving company bill. The nine checks covering just under $10,000 since last June were only a "partial report," a union official said, who added that as recently as this past weekend an NFLPA employee wired $300 "out of his own pocket" to DeMarco, who had called saying he was desperate for cash.
Until now, the NFL and the NFLPA had ignored Ditka's request to provide documentation proving the groups are meeting the needs of former players.
"We've wanted to save these guys in need of their dignity, but enough is enough," said Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFLPA. "When they keep calling us out, they better be sure of the facts. We don't need a press conference to tell everyone how wonderful we are. We do our job. We meet their needs.
"We're responsive and we'll continue to be responsive, but DeMarco can't make that claim. In fact, one of the Hall of Famers on Ditka's board is somebody we've helped ... the guy I'm talking about was up there complaining earlier this year when he knew we had just made six mortgage payments for him."
Upshaw would not identify the Hall of Fame player in question but said, "We can't let them manipulate the media anymore. On dire need alone, we made $1.2 million worth of payments to 147 former players last year and paid another $1 million to 140 guys the year before. And we're glad to do it. We don't talk about it. That's what we do."
DeMarco, who was unavailable for comment Monday night, acknowledged to the Sun-Times that he had received about $10,000 in assistance from the NFLPA, yet he still complained about the union's response to his plight.
Another union official told ESPN that it's DeMarco who has been non-responsive, saying he has not returned disability forms which have been sent to him twice and has ignored the NFLPA's instructions to fill out forms for an annuity worth more than $40,000. DeMarco also has received a $50,000 severance claim when he left the NFL after the 2000 season and has a 401(k) plan with $151,000 in it, the official said.
The NFLPA official said it also had lined up a job for DeMarco in Austin, Texas, but that he "no-showed."
DeMarco was a second-round draft pick by the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. He finished his career with the Bengals.
A prominent ex-Jaguars player told ESPN that he and another former teammate "cringed" when they saw DeMarco appear at Monday's press conference. The ex-Jaguar did not want to be identified but said DeMarco has been given significant financial help by his former teammates, including three jobs "that he's blown."
"Now he's walking with a cane in front of cameras," the ex-Jaguar said. "Last time we saw him -- and it was in the past two weeks -- he didn't need a cane. He has some physical problems, yes, but there are other things going on there."
Chris Mortensen covers the NFL for ESPN.
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