A Voice for N.F.L. Retirees Amid the Din

Yet Martin’s most difficult endeavor began roughly 19 months ago, when he became the president of the N.F.L. Alumni Association. His charge: to transform a charitable organization into the voice for retired players, to merge a multitude of factions, to forge improved relationships with the league and its players union, which recently decertified.

“This is by far the hardest thing I’ve done,” Martin, 58, said. “It has been the epitome of crisis management at its finest or at its worst, I’m not quite sure.”

Dozens of accolades decorate Martin’s office, which peeks over downtown. A framed walking stick hangs from one wall. A Heisman Humanitarian Award rests behind the desk. One afternoon last week, Martin grabbed a plaque that underscored his current position, as part of an awkward triangle with the N.F.L. and the N.F.L. Players Association. It was an honor from the union.

Martin once served as that organization’s president. But in recent weeks, largely because of mistrust born from the $1.6 million in loans the alumni association received from the N.F.L., Martin has feuded with the union he helped build. Martin said his relationship with the league had been “grossly mischaracterized.” The N.F.L.P.A. declined comment, but in previous interviews, officials made clear their concerns over Martin’s ties to the league that locked its players out last month.

“To realize that I didn’t have an honored place in that organization — to say it was disconcerting would be an understatement,” Martin said. “I’ve been through the strikes. I fought. That’s why I took this personally. To this day, it bothers me tremendously.”

Martin turned down his current post three times. Then came a series of phone calls from Harry Carson, Martin’s close friend and former Giants teammate. Carson told stories of retired players, the homeless, the injured, the downtrodden.

With the Giants, Martin always struck Carson as a father figure, even if that Afro hairstyle Martin sported back then still makes Carson laugh. Martin and his wife, Diane, had players over each Thanksgiving. He missed just six games in 14 seasons. Later, Carson worked for Martin in the business world. Despite their friendship, Carson received honest, often critical evaluations that at once made him want to jump across the table while also deepening his respect for Martin.

Carson used his Hall of Fame acceptance speech to lobby for retired players. Six months later, he met with Commissioner Roger Goodell, who Carson said expressed his desire to consolidate all the voices speaking for retired players. They needed someone who knew something about commitment, Carson said. Someone who walked across the country. Someone like George Martin.

“I threw him in the fire,” Carson said. “If it was anyone else, they would have quit a long time ago. There are issues every day, from the minute you wake up. But he was the one person I thought could do it.”

Early on, Martin attempted to meet with DeMaurice Smith, the new executive director of the N.F.L.P.A. Martin said he called daily, then weekly, naïve to the reality that predated Smith. His predecessor, Gene Upshaw, infamously noted that he did not work for retired players, and this, Carson said, “created an image problem for the N.F.L.P.A.”

The union wondered why Martin insisted on the one-on-one with Smith. Martin seemed obsessed.

The job presented far more challenges than one relationship. Until he took over, the alumni association was strictly a charity. Martin changed the mission, changed the structure, changed the board.

He found problems deeper than anticipated. So many organizations lobbied on behalf of retired players that they divided themselves over what Martin called “irreconcilable similarities.” They all wanted the same thing — better pensions, better health benefits — but they went about it in different ways, creating a disjointed, fractured movement.

“Somebody had to be in charge of herding all these cats,” said Randy Cross, a retired offensive lineman turned television analyst. “George is the right guy. But his initial job was the definition of thankless.”