There should be a plaque commemorating the day in December 1976 that Ed Garvey walked into room 1507 of the Madison Hotel in Washington, D.C. A bronzed wingtip, maybe, set down among the busts in Canton somewhere near Pete Rozelle’s head. This was a meeting of lawyers, which in itself wasn’t so remarkable—after maybe the T formation there is no more quintessential alignment in big-time football than one lawyer sitting across from another. But this one was a little different. History was in motion the day Garvey, the executive director of the NFL Players Association, came to the Madison.
Fate of the Union: What the NFLPA Can Learn From the Fight of '77
