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Former NFLPA Exec Dir Ed Garvey, Who Led Players Through Two Strikes, Dies At 76

Former NFLPA Counsel and Exec Dir ED GARVEY, who held the union's top post from '70-83, died yesterday at the age of 76, according to Dave Zweifel of the Madison CAPITAL TIMES. Garvey led the players "through two strikes" in '74 and '82 (Madison CAPITAL TIMES, 2/23). The AP noted one of Garvey's "main objectives was to eliminate" the Rozelle Rule, named for former NFL Commissioner PETE ROZELLE, which "bound players to their teams and prevented free agency of any kind." The union "didn't achieve free agency" until '93, by the time late NFLPA Exec Dir GENE UPSHAW had taken over (AP, 2/22). In N.Y., Richard Sandomir notes Garvey joined the NFLPA "seeking to bring economic and social freedom to players who had experienced little of either in the era before free agency." After "surviving a vote of confidence by player representatives," Garvey resigned from the union in June '83 to be a deputy state attorney general in Wisconsin (N.Y. TIMES, 2/23). Packers President & CEO MARK MURPHY said Garvey "brought a professionalism and a structure to the NFLPA." Murphy: "And he was a fighter." Murphy said that Garvey was "not liked by NFL management." Murphy: "He fought them on everything. To me, he laid the groundwork for what the players have now." On a personal level, Murphy said Garvey "was so smart. He had a way of making everything fun. I owe a lot to him" (MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL, 2/23). In Wisconsin, John Nichols writes Garvey "was a movement man" (Madison CAPITAL TIMES, 2/23).

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