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Smith brings a fresh approach

By John Clayton
ESPN.com

Sunday, March 15, 2009

For years, the NFL Players Association operated successfully because it kept its leadership within the family. Ed Garvey put the union on the map in the 1970s and 1980s and tried to become partners with NFL owners despite the unpopularity of the notion. Owners thought he was crazy, but it was Garvey's successor, Gene Upshaw, who took major strides. He held out long enough to eventually gain more than 50 percent of the league's revenues. The selection of Washington, D.C., attorney DeMaurice Smi ...

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