National Football League

Ex-Giant Martin resigns as NFLAA boss

Published May. 5, 2012 1:00 a.m. ET

foxsports

George Martin, the embattled leader of the National Football League Alumni Association, has resigned from his position as president and executive director of the organization, FOXSports.com learned Saturday.

Martin, a former New York Giants great, had been under increased pressure since a FOXSports.com investigation in January revealed widespread financial mismanagement of the NFLAA.

NFLAA board member David Carter confirmed Martin’s departure when reached at the organization's convention in Chandler, Ariz.

Messages left for Martin were not returned; his company cell phone had been disconnected.

“We appreciate George Martin’s advocacy on behalf of the NFL alumni and their families, including his work on the Legacy Fund pension increases for pre-1993 players and his support for those payments going to the widows of pre-1993 players,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to FOXSports.com.

The NFLAA — which added former player advocacy to its established youth charity mission nearly two years ago — had been propped up by more than $4 million in loans from the NFL. There was criticism that despite spending millions under Martin that the NFLAA had failed in its mission to advance the interests of retired players — either by working with the league and the NFL players union to ensure added resources for retirees or by directly giving money to downtrodden former players.

“George and the board (of directors) ran through $5 million,” said former Baltimore Colts defensive back Bruce Laird, who was on the selection committee that chose Martin for the job. “That’s not only sad, but it seems criminal. That’s a shame. There were guys who put their lives and souls to work to help retired players. Not only did George fail, but the board failed.”

The NFLAA board continued to support Martin in the immediate aftermath of the FOXSports.com report, which detailed how Martin had funneled contracts to family members and gave Super Bowl tickets to a charity he founded. Several of the board members defended Martin during an NFLAA news conference in Indianapolis before the Super Bowl in February.

“We are backing this man 150 percent,” Harry Carson, a former Giants teammate of Martin, said at the time. “We are his teammates and we are doing everything that we can to help our team, the retired players community, be successful.”

Despite the organization’s grim financial outlook, Martin’s lavish spending continued in recent months. The NFLAA and its law firm spent thousands to host a February gathering on Capitol Hill that drew several lawmakers, including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Meanwhile, the NFLAA’s national office in New Jersey laid off workers and forced others to take furloughs as the organization’s dire financial position continued to worsen. Martin had sought even more money from the NFL through renegotiating the logo trust, a key source of income for the NFLAA. The NFL pays the NFLAA $678,000 a year in an agreement that limits usage of the alumni logo, which includes the NFL shield. The logo could be used, for example in promoting NFLAA charity golf tournaments.

“Over the past two months the National Office has been preparing for this battle by instituting austerity measures to ensure we can withstand the negotiation,” Martin wrote to chapter presidents in March in a letter obtained by FOXSports.com. “Where the NFL may believe that we will 'fold our tent' in the face of financial challenges, like during our playing days — the game isn't over until the final whistle blows. We have the strength and longevity to play this game to the end!”

NFLAA leadership even considered suing the NFL, a source with knowledge of the matter told FOXSports.com. The NFL had asked the NFLAA — which was named NFL Alumni before it added player advocacy when Martin was hired in October 2009 — to lobby on behalf of retired players during negotiations for the league’s new collective bargaining agreement.

“I believe, in talking with the retired players, that they want an organization that is going to represent their interests,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in March. “The Alumni was chosen by several groups, saying this should be the organization.

"We have provided loans, we have tried to do what we can to support that independence and allow them to get started. What we want that to be is a self-funding and independent organization. That is why we are willing to continue to try to help them get to that point.

"They have to stand on their own two feet at some point; otherwise you are not truly independent. That is what we are trying to do is give them that independence.”

A person with knowledge of the NFLAA recently told FOXSports.com that the organization might abandon player advocacy and focus solely on funding local youth charities. That was the organization's only aim from its inception in 1976 through 2009.

Senior NFL writer Alex Marvez contributed to this report.