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John Gordy, a former Detroit Lions lineman who led the NFL players' union in 1968 when it negotiated the league's first collective bargaining agreement, has died. He was 73.
Gordy died Friday of complications from pancreatic cancer at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange, his wife, Betty, said.
A star offensive lineman at the University of Tennessee in the 1950s, Gordy was picked by the Lions in the second round of the 1957 NFL draft. He started at right guard his rookie season, when the Lions won the NFL championship, their last league title.
By 1968 he was a seasoned veteran and president of the NFL Players Assn., which he had helped found. Gordy led the union's efforts to press the league's owners on a slate of demands, including higher minimum salaries for veterans and rookies, bigger paychecks for exhibition games, independent arbitration and a greater contribution to the pension fund.
On July 3, 1968, after talks with the owners stalled, the NFL Players Assn. voted to strike.
The owners countered by declaring a lockout. But on July 14, the owners relented...