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Lions assistant coach joins ex-players suing NFL
By Ed Willes, The ProvinceNovember 9, 2012
Lions defensive line coach Carl Hairston says he has been lucky compared to many former NFL players he knows.
Carl Hairston understands he’s one of the lucky ones because, after 14 years in the NFL, his head is clear and he can stand on the B.C. Lions’ practice field without much pain.
As for others of his generation, well, the sports world is familiar with the stories of Mike Webster, Andre Waters, Dave Duerson and too many others. Those men were Hairston’s contemporaries. Some were his friends.
This is why his name is attached to a lawsuit against the NFL and why more than 3,500 former players are suing the league in an action that could shake the world’s richest professional sports league to its foundation.
“I’ve been lucky,” says Hairston, the Lions’ defensive line coach. “I only had two surgeries. I know guys who’ve had 12 or 13. It’s hard to see what guys are going through. It really bothers me. I can’t do anything about it but make people aware.”
He continues:
“I knew Mike [Webster, the former Pittsburgh Steelers centre who suffered from acute depression, became homeless and died at 50]. I think about those guys a lot, wondering what they’d be doing if they were still in football, if they were still alive.”
And so he’s decided to fight for those who can no longer fight for themselves.
Hairston, a Pro Bowl defensive end with the Eagles and Browns through the 1970s and ’80s, is the lead name in one of the 170 or so suits filed by former NFL players, now being heard in Judge Anita Brody’s courtroom in Philadelphia.
Loosely stated, the former players are alleging the NFL knew the risks associated with long-term head traumas and “fraudulently concealed” players from the effects of concussions.
Helmet manufactuer Riddell is a co-defendant in the suit.
That, at least, is the abridged version of the complaint. For the more detailed version, you’re invited to visit the NFL Concussion Litigation website, where a complete list of the suits and the accompanying court documents can be found.
“This is something that should be done, something I feel strongly about,” said Gene Locks, one of the lawyers acting for the former players and a former Ivy League quarterback at Princeton.
Locks was asked what he hopes will result from the lawsuit.
“That the [NFL] will stand up to be counted; that they’ll examine everyone and provide people with the medical and psychological help they need.”
The dollar value of that goal is uncertain, but if each player sued for $500,000 and won, the total settlement would be $17.5 billion, give or take a billion. As such, the case could take a decade to decide.
The list of plaintiffs is remarkable, a kids’ football card collection come to life. On Hairston’s lawsuit, you can find names like Billy Joe Dupree, the former Cowboys tight end; Jacob Green, one of the all-time great Seahawks; Jim Jeffcoat, another former Cowboy; and all-namer Fair Hooker, a receiver with the Browns. There are about 170 of those suits, all with their own names evoking memories of gridiron gods and larger-than-life figures.
But Hairston will tell you they weren’t gods he played with and against. They were men, mortal men who played a dangerous game and now are seeing the bill come due for their careers.
One of those men is Lions’ personnel director Roy Shivers, who played with the Cardinals in the late ’60s and early ’70s.
He’s asked how his body has held up.
“My knees hurt every morning,” he says. “Everything hurts. When the weather changes my body changes.”
Shivers is due for his second knee replacement over the Christmas holidays. And he also knows he’s lucky compared to some of his former colleagues.
Hairston, a disciple of former Eagles coach Dick Vermeil, coached in the NFL for two decades after his playing career ended and came north this season after Randy Melvin, who held the position last year, returned to the NFL. One of the players who’s shone under his tutelage is defensive end Keron Williams, who led the CFL with 12 sacks this year.
Williams is 28. This is his seventh season in the CFL. He’s asked if he ever thinks about what awaits him in retirement.
“There’s always going to be a price to pay for what we put into this game,” he says. “We can’t really dwell on how our bodies are going to react down the road. That will make you depressed. I’ve heard all the stories. It’s coming for me, but I’m not thinking about that.”
And who knows? Like his coach, he might be one of the lucky ones.