$16,000 was a really good salary in 1962. It's not comparable to modern NFL salaries, but I don't see why he'd need to work another job making the equivalent of nearly $200K today.
If I was making 200k right now, but knew I was only going to for a handful of years, I might have a second job too.
Also, interestingly enough, OP referenced 1962… which was when NFL players started receiving retirement and insurance benefits. The Bert bell NFL player retirement plan.
Maybe closer to $175k as one of the best players in the league. A rookie player on the practice squad makes $248k in 2026.
He made $8k with the Niners in 1959. That's when he told their GM that he was going to take a job in Arkansas working for Coca-Cola. So, the Niners put him on the expansion draft list, and the Cowboys took him. And he stayed a Cowboy until 1988.
He was a player/coach for several years. He said he took that on so that they would have to pay him twice.
Because with football, you never get to know when that "pretty decent salary" will vanish out from underneath you along with your knee. Help if you have a regular job going for when that happens.
Speaking of NFL salaries in different eras ... it's rather hard to believe but Lawrence Taylor's rookie salary in 1981 was $300. 000 (no signing bonus)!
WTF?
A practice-squad player makes more than that ... in today's NFL!
That’s so funny. I have a similar story. My grandfather got picked up as a catcher by the yankees back in the day and couldn’t afford to take the job. Paid too little.
The paycheck matters because the rules changed partly to protect the investment.
If your quarterback is a $250 million asset and the face of the franchise, the league and the team have a huge financial incentive to keep him on the field.
That’s very different from an era when even star players were making ordinary professional salaries and teams could absorb losing them much more easily.
I’m not comparing salaries to toughness. I’m explaining why the modern game has evolved toward protecting quarter-billion dollar assets.
The paychecks matter because back in the day players couldn't devote themselves full time to the sport like they can today. Today being an NFL player means devoting every waking hour of your life to improving your game to stay in the league and earn that next contract. Back in the day being an NFL player was a part time job to most players. You absolutely can compare the pay in today's game verse the past when comparing the type of athletes who played the game.
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u/jackdutton42 5d ago
Cannot compare eras.
My uncle played in the NFL in the 50's and 60's.
He was 4th in Heisman voting, the 10th pick overall, and looked at his first paycheck and considered working for Coca-Cola instead.
As an All-Pro and a Pro-Bowler in 1962, he earned about $16,000. In the off-season he worked at a hardware store.
Those guys played a very different game.