Sweeney Gets $1.8-Million Ruling

SAN DIEGO — A federal court judge Tuesday ordered the NFL pension plan to pay former Pro Bowl lineman Walt Sweeney $1.8 million after agreeing with Sweeney’s allegation that drugs given to him by team employees left him physically and psychologically disabled.

“The NFL fed me full of drugs for years and years and years,” Sweeney, 55, said after the decision by District Court Judge Rudi Brewster. “Basically, I feel it’s ruined my life.”

During his career, Sweeney took copious amounts of steroids, amphetamines, codeine and Seconal, many of the doses given to him by trainers and coaches. He also smoked marijuana as a way to cope with the pressures of the win-at-any-cost attitude of the NFL.

The pension plan trustees, who have fought a two-year battle with Sweeney over the amount of his disability settlement, have the right to appeal Brewster’s decision. The plan’s attorney, Douglas Ell, declined to say whether the trustees will do so.

Sweeney’s lawyers said they felt the case could open the way for compensation for other retired players from the era when teams either endorsed or tacitly condoned the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

“There are hundreds of players in a similar situation as Walt,” said Sweeney’s lawyer, Rhonda Thompson, whose husband is Broderick Thompson, offensive tackle for the Denver Broncos.

Sweeney, an All-American from Syracuse, played 11 seasons as an offensive guard and special teams player with the San Diego Chargers and then two with the Washington Redskins as part of George Allen’s “Over the Hill Gang” of aging players. He started 154 consecutive games and, by his own admission, took drugs before, during and after every one of them.

His headfirst style of play made him a favorite of fans. He played in nine Pro Bowl games and retired in 1975 after suffering a knee injury that not even surgery, therapy and more drugs could mend.

Attorneys for the NFL pension plan have resisted Sweeney’s bid for a disability pension on the grounds that his problems did not become disabling within 12 years of his retirement, the standard set by the plan.

Brewster rejected that argument, saying what the NFL did to Sweeney was akin to a prolonged assault on his body. Brewster initially ruled in favor of Sweeney in August 1995; litigation since then has been aimed at deciding the extent of Sweeney’s disability and the amount of compensation.

Sweeney has gotten no support from Gene Upshaw, executive director of the NFL Players Assn., which appoints three of the pension plan’s seven trustees. Sweeney and Upshaw were rivals during their playing days.

Sweeney indicated his bitterness at the NFL’s continued opposition to his claims. “Dealing with them is like dealing with Satan,” he said.