60 Heroes: Leonard Lindquist’s Key Legal Guidance

When the players needed an outside labor lawyer for its union in 1970 following the merger of the NFLPA and AFLPA, they turned to Leonard Lindquist, founding partner of the Lindquist & Vennum firm in Minneapolis. A year later, he was appointed as the NFLPA’s first general counsel, bringing the vision and leadership necessary to help unionize the organization. 

Teamed with future NFLPA Executive Director Ed Garvey, who had served as an associate at his law firm, Lindquist played an important role in advising NFLPA President John Mackey to file for union certification with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). The move helped the NFLPA become the first major sports union to be certified by the NLRB in 1971. 

Lindquist later served on the union negotiating committee throughout the 1974 strike, and his law firm was counsel for the players in the famous John Mackey case that struck down the Rozelle Rule and brought settlement of the “freedom issues” in 1977. 

His work continued through the 1980s, including as a consultant when the union went on strike in 1982 to fight for its percentage of gross revenue proposal. Lindquist was still practicing law at the time of his death in 2004 at the age of 92 and he will be remembered for his determination to help make the NFLPA what it is today.