Although baseball players can begin to earn pension benefits during their first professional game, it is harder for athletes in other sports to qualify for pensions. The NFL and NBA each require three years of service.
In the NFL, that's just a little less than the span of an average career, which is just under four years. "That means a lot of guys in the league are getting some pretty limited benefits," said Ken Ruettgers, a former USC offensive lineman who played a dozen years with the Packers and now operates a program that helps pro football players transition into new careers.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Thursday March 01, 2007 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 54 words Type of Material: Correction
Sports pensions: An article in Tuesday's Sports section said former NBA player Bob Elliott was 55 and lived in Phoenix. He is 51 and lives in Tucson. The article also said Elliott earned $22,500 in his rookie year, matching the league minimum in 1977. But Elliott never disclosed his salary for that rookie season.
League and union officials maintain that they have addressed real and perceived pension injustices.
Baseball owners in 1997 went so far as to create a charitable trust that provides pension-like payments to black athletes who, for generations, were locked out of what long was an all-white club.
The NFL has created funds that benefit players with financial and medical hardships. And even before the recent pension upgrade, the NBA had authorized lump-sum payments to some "pre-1965" players.
Yet it isn't enough for some old-timers.
Butch Byrd, 65, a defensive back with the Buffalo Bills in the 1960s who still holds a few team records, qualifies for about $60,000 annually -- about double what he earned during his playing days -- because he could afford to wait before drawing his pension.
He knows he's lucky. "A lot of guys, for whatever reason -- sickness, personal reasons and whatnot -- had to take it early," he said.
Now, word has spread among NFL alumni that Byrd, who leads the New England chapter of a retired players' association, is a go-to guy for veterans and their widows.
"On some days I hate to pick up the phone," Byrd said. "Because by virtue of a conversation with someone, I'm putting hope into their minds -- and you don't know for sure that you're going to be able to deliver."
Aaron Taylor, who won a Super Bowl ring with the Packers in 1997 and now leads a Southern California NFL alumni group, shares the concern.
"The NFL is a multibillion-dollar business, but it's a shame and quite sad, frankly, to see men who were once warriors and stood proud on the football field, to be disabled, or to have [the league] they dedicated lives and bodies to be unsympathetic to their situation.
"It would be like the [knights] serving the king coming back from the battlefield bloody and bruised and the king essentially says, 'Too bad.' "
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greg.johnson@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Three plans
Plans for major sports. Information is as of end of fiscal years in February and March 2005:
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
* Year originated: 1947.
* Participants: 7,403.
* Maximum annual benefit: $180,000 for a 10-year veteran who takes retirement at age 62.
* Net assets: $1.5 billion.
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NFL
* Year originated: 1959.
* Participants: 9,560.
* Maximum annual benefit: $49,860 for 10-year veteran who takes retirement at age 62.
* Net assets: $841,761,127.
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NBA
* Year originated: 1965.
* Participants: 1,328.
* Maximum annual benefit: $170,000 for 10-year veteran who takes retirement at age 62.
* Net assets: $121,122,852.
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Source: Federal filings, players' unions, leagues
