NFL PLAYERS STRIKE: DAY 10 : Upshaw Says Owners Have Racist Attitude

Executive Director Gene Upshaw of the National Football League Players Assn. charged Thursday that a racist attitude on the part of management has prolonged the pro football strike, but President Tex Schramm of the Dallas Cowboys replied that Upshaw sounds like “a drowning man.”

Upshaw also demanded that management resume contract talks for the first time since they broke off last week. The NFL Management Council, however, said it saw no reason to return to the table.

Upshaw made his remarks as nine more players, among them running backs Tony Dorsett of the Cowboys and Tony Collins of the New England Patriots, crossed picket lines, and Mark Gastineau, who has been crossing since the strike started, scuffled with several striking teammates.

Gastineau, who claimed that the strikers spit on him as he drove his car to practice, left his car and began to swing at a crowd of players. The altercation was quickly broken up.

Upshaw said that unnamed management officials have tried to cast him as a black militant who has misled the union.

“I didn’t want to say this, but I think they also have a lot of trouble with me,” Upshaw said at a news conference in Washington. “I was wondering when it would ever get to me and it has.

“It’s gotten to the point now that they look at me as being a black. I’m militant, I’m hostile, I’m going to stop the stadiums, I’m going to do all of those things. When all else fails, that’s the next avenue that they’ll take--try to divide us along the lines of black versus white. That’s something that I’m sure that the players are aware of.”

Replied Schramm, a member of the Management Council:

“Well, that’s certainly grasping at straws. It sounds like a drowning man in his own pool or something. Because I’ve known Gene Upshaw for 20 years and there’s a lot of people who have known him for 20 years and have had high regard for him. I’m really surprised that he would relate a racial issue to himself, because that just isn’t the Gene Upshaw that I have known.”

The Management Council also issued a prepared statement:

“This is a labor dispute. Race has never been a factor in these negotiations. Suggesting that this is anything more is an attempt to obscure the difficult economic issues, including free agency. The Management Council has always been willing to negotiate with the union.”

Upshaw, 42, is the highest ranking black union official in the nation. The former Raider offensive guard was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August. He refused to identify which owners or league officials were making race an issue.

“I would much rather keep that confidential,” he said.

The sides have not met since last Friday, when a three-day bargaining session ended in a stalemate. The owners’ negotiator, Jack Donlan, said that no agreement could be reached on the players’ demand for unrestricted free agency for players with more than four years of NFL experience.

Five months of sometime contract talks have failed to produce a new three-year collective bargaining agreement to replace the contract that expired Aug. 31. The players struck the league Sept. 22. The owners will resume play Sunday with teams of free agents and dissident union players.

An Associated Press survey shows that more than 225,000 tickets have been returned by fans, 31% of the total sold. Figures were unavailable for the Denver Broncos, Atlanta Falcons, Raiders and Washington Redskins, whose streak of 159 straight sellouts is expected to end Sunday.

In Detroit, Owen Bieber, president of the United Auto Workers, urged fans to boycott the games and the telecasts. More than half the 40,000 tickets sold for the Detroit Lions’ home game against Tampa Bay already have been refunded.

Massive labor rallies are also planned for Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia, where the Eagles will play the Chicago Bears, and Sullivan Stadium in Foxboro, Mass., where the New England Patriots will play Cleveland. The Massachusetts AFL-CIO said it will try to stop cars entering the parking lot in Foxboro, where the Patriots say they have already refunded 40,000 tickets.

Thursday’s defections brought to at least 48 the number of union players defying the strike, 24 in the last two days. The other players who returned to work are Denver center Billy Bryan and tackle Dave Studdard; New Orleans safety Antonio Gibson and rookie cornerback Gene Atkins; St. Louis running back Broderick Sargent, and Ram quarterback Steve Dils and running backs Charles White and Mike Guman.

Dorsett, after strongly supporting the strike, reported to camp after receiving a letter from Schramm threatening a cutoff of a lucrative annuity from his contract.

Teams claiming 100% solidarity include Washington, Philadelphia, the New York Giants, Minnesota, Kansas City, Tampa Bay, Cleveland, Buffalo, Chicago and Detroit.

Quarterback Jim Kelly of the Buffalo Bills, who stands to lose $95,000 for every game he misses, said he will remain out even though “I’m not sure what the issues are.”

Miller Brewing Co., a major sponsor of NFL football telecasts, said it was pulling its television commercials from this weekend’s pro football games.

General Motors Corp. said Wednesday that it was not going to advertise, while Ford and Chrysler made similar announcements earlier.