San Jose Mercury News: Former Heisman Jim Plunkett’s painful journey: ‘My life sucks’

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per the San Jose Mercury News:

He rises from a chair next to his Heisman Trophy in a room stuffed with dozens of silver and gold keepsakes that recognize a remarkable sports legacy. At 6-foot-3, Jim Plunkett still commands a room.

But underneath the tanned exterior anxiety grows over an uncertain future.

“My life sucks,” said Plunkett, 69. “It’s no fun being in this body right now. Everything hurts.”

The years of daily pain pulsating from the neck, back, knees, shoulders, hips and head have taken a toll on a quarterback who played 15 NFL seasons and led the Raiders to two Super Bowl victories.

His body is a patchwork of medical magic: Artificial knees, an artificial shoulder and a surgically repaired back. After 18 operations, Plunkett’s activities have been reduced to golf and light workouts at home on a Crosstrainer.

A quiet figure during his quarterbacking days, Plunkett represents a generation of men who played football with a taste for violence while locking their emotions in safety deposit boxes. For decades, Sunday’s heroes have suffered in silence from degenerative brain disease, depression, opioid addiction, Parkinson’s and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).

http://www.mercurynews.com/2017/08/04/jim-plunketts-painful-journey-my-life-sucks/

Go Gophers!!
 

Jim didn't have an easy life.
I wasn't a fan of him when he played because I didn't like the Raiders, but have big respect for him.

He's the last AFC Quarterback to win a Super Bowl not named, Elway, Manning, Brady, Roethlisberger, (or a Ravens QB).
 

I've got news for the kids: most people don't feel "great" at age 69. Plunkett, and most former players usually say they would do it all over again. He even wants his grandson to play.
 

Gotta throw Trent Dilfer in that mix too...he won as starter for the Ravens.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 



I've got news for the kids: most people don't feel "great" at age 69. Plunkett, and most former players usually say they would do it all over again. He even wants his grandson to play.

This was my first thought as well.
 

I often wonder about these stories of pain and memory loss and such. Many sound like normal people experiences.

It's quite certain football has detrimental effects on the body as one ages, but a lot of people have pain at age 69. My father and his friends around Plunkett's age have all had many surgeries, joint replacements, and other maladies. Most don't participate in anything more physically strenuous than golf - few would be on the crosstrainer machine as Jim is. None played a down of football, even in high school. Most had desk jobs in their work lives.

I'm sure he got beat up on the field, but he sounds like he's 69.
 

I've got news for the kids: most people don't feel "great" at age 69. Plunkett, and most former players usually say they would do it all over again. He even wants his grandson to play.

Absolutely agree. Every comment by former players or story like this works from the assumption that life and work don't take their toll on everyone. Especially people that were in physical labor or the trades. When they are in their 60's and 70's, the body is pretty beaten up.
 




I've got news for the kids: most people don't feel "great" at age 69. Plunkett, and most former players usually say they would do it all over again. He even wants his grandson to play.

 




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