NEW YORK, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Longtime players' union leader and Pro Football Hall of Fame member Gene Upshaw will be memorialized at each of the 16 NFL opening week games.
Upshaw died two weeks ago of pancreatic cancer. He was 63.
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Gene Upshaw, executive director, NFL Players Association who died two weeks ago, will be remembered during each o the 16 games of the opening NFL weekend. He's shown testifying about the NFL retirement and disability program before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation on Capitol Hill in Washington on September 18, 2007. (UPI Photo/Roger L. Wollenberg) | License Photo
The NFL said Tuesday that all players this season will wear a patch with Upshaw's initials and No. 63, which Upshaw wore during his career with the Oakland Raiders.
Images of the patch will be stenciled on the field of the opening weekend games and a video tribute of Upshaw will be shown in each stadium.
Upshaw played 217 -- the first 207 in a row -- regular-season NFL games, participating in 10 AFL or AFC title games and three Super Bowls. He was a seven-time selection to the Pro Bowl and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987.
Two years after he stopped playing in 1981, Upshaw was made executive director of the NFLPA, a position he held until his death.
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