Gene Upshaw RIP

[BYH]

A friend at a wire service tells me it's trying to confirm the death of NFLPA head Gene Upshaw.

Anyone else hear anything?

Mods, if this proves to be wrong, please strike.

 

[BYH]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Birmingham station has a story up. Pancreatic cancer? Had no idea he was sick.

http://www.960werc.com/cc-common/news/sections/sportsarticle.html?feed=104670&article=4127682

 

[jps]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

didn't know either ... too bad.

 

[BYH]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Apparently, no one did. This story from SIX HOURS AGO said he was unavailable for comment.

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/football/nfl/2008-08-19-rookie-cap_N.htm

If true, RIP. Not a fan at all of his NFLPA stewardship (as noted a day or two ago), but what an awful way to go. I saw my wife's aunt go from fine at Thanksgiving to dead by Easter a few years ago from from pancreatic cancer. Sounds like Gene might have gone even quicker.

 

[Smash Williams]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Wikipedia has it up, but not cited. Which means nothing other than someone else read the Birmingham story, but it's amazingly fast for 2 in the morning.

 

[jps]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

saw it in my great grandmother. very painful, so pretty much have to be morphined up. and very, very fast. fastest cancer, as I understand. so if it is caught late, not much time for goodbyes, unfortunately.

 

[DanOregon]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Nothing on ESPN or Yahoo, or CNN...

 

[Smash Williams]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Nothing on the AP wire either.

 

[buckweaver]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

I've said it before: I don't wish cancer on ANYBODY. Hope this isn't true or, if it is, hope he's out of pain quickly.

 

[jps]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

seems to be showing up now on a search ... mostly message boards, one of them saying fox sports radio is reporting it ... so would guess is it's legit.

 

[Smash Williams]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

seems to be showing up now on a search ... mostly message boards, one of them saying fox sports radio is reporting it ... so would guess is it's legit.

The question is, though, is it all based off of that one report BYH posted.

I mean, I'd guess it's legit too, but everyone jumped the gun with the congresswoman yesterday.

 

[BYH]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

seems to be showing up now on a search ... mostly message boards, one of them saying fox sports radio is reporting it ... so would guess is it's legit.

The question is, though, is it all based off of that one report BYH posted.

I mean, I'd guess it's legit too, but everyone jumped the gun with the congresswoman yesterday.

I thought about that too...didn't want to do that at any point, especially tonight/today. But this friend's not some whacko who found a link on a message board, either.

 

[Smash Williams]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

I don't expect he/she is.

I just want to wait up until someone else confirms it so I can post it on my paper's website. Then I can go to bed with a clear journalistic conscience.

All that said, this is terrible news if it's true. I might not have always liked the guy, but pancreatic cancer is an absolutely dreadful disease that moves quickly and painfully. No one should have to suffer from it.

 

[forever_town]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

I had to dig for a link reporting that he's dead. The only thing I found was on Clear Channel's Web site.

Yahoo! and ESPN are not reporting Upshaw as having died. The ESPN wire feed has nothing, either. I had to do a Web search to find the Clear Channel story.

If this report's true, what a terrible loss. I don't much care for the guy, but pancreatic cancer is a terrible way to go.

 

[93Devil]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

http://www.postchronicle.com/news/original/article_212166564.shtml

Gene Upshaw Dead: Hall of Famer, NFLPA Exec Dies From Cancer At 63
by Mike Baron
Gene Upshaw's death has been confirmed. Gene Upshaw, the longtime NFLPA executive director and a Hall of Fame NFL football player,
has died of complications from Pancreatic Cancer.

Upshaw, a former 11-time All-Pro offensive lineman, had been fighting the disease and has now succumbed to it, according to recent reports


Someone is reporting it.

Do a google news search for "gene upshaw" and sort by date.

 

[Football_Bat]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

It's out now.

Damn, pancreatic cancer. Nobody knew.

 

[ChrisLittmann]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Does it make anyone nervous that this is essentially all based around one Fox Sports Radio news report that FoxSports.com hasn't even picked up on at this point?

 

[Drip]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Got to admire Gene. Even in death he kept sportswriters clueless. RIP to a good guy.

 

[beefncheddar]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Joe Delamalure can now rest easy.

 

[ChrisLittmann]

Re: Gene Upshaw dead?

Adam Schefter and Peter King are on Sirius NFL Radio talking about it. Sadly, this seems real.