Today's Tidbit... The 1965 NFL Player Benefit Plan

(Personal collection)

With all the money thrown around today to professional football players and the amateurs in the college ranks, it is worth remembering that the monies were less impressive in the past. NFL players did not have medical or life insurance benefits or a pension plan until 1959. Before that, they were on their own.

The players formed the NFLPA in 1956, and while the league did not formally recognize the union until 1968, the NFLPA made progress after appearing at the 1958 owners' winter meeting seeking a benefits plan. Though he lacked the owners' approval to do so, Commissioner Bert Bell agreed to investigate a plan and put one in place within the year. The plan offered players immediate eligibility for medical and life insurance and provided for a pension at age 65 for those with five or more years of service in the league. The plan only recognized NFL service after 1959, so the clock began ticking with the 1959 season, and those playing five, ten, or fifteen years from that point on earned pensions of increasing value.

Questions arose about funding sources since the NFL did not have the financial resources available today. There were only 12 teams in 1959, and the American Football League remained a twinkle in Lamar Hunt's eye, so there were not yet bidding wars by the television networks or for star players, but those would come. Still, of the 363 players selected in the 1957 NFL Draft, only 49 percent bothered to report to training camp. Half the draftees did not consider it worth their time.