60 Years: Spurred to Action

For nearly 30 years, Joseph “Chip” Yablonski served as an outside counsel for the NFLPA, working on several important cases that advanced player rights. He successfully represented the NFLPA in the early 1980s when a group of agents challenged the union's representation of players, and was a key member of the NFLPA's negotiating committee in 1982 when the union went on strike in support of its Percentage of Gross Revenue plan for player compensation.

In 1985, Yablonski was co-counsel in an NFLPA case that challenged the Commissioner's right to implement random drug testing of players. The NFLPA eventually won the case and gained an important legal victory as it prepared for negotiations with the owners in 1987.

In 1989, the NFLPA hired Yablonski to challenge the NFL clubs' implementation of a fixed wage of $1,000 per week for practice squad players, and Yablonski eventually won a ruling that said the NFL's labor exemption to the federal antitrust laws had ended with the expiration of the prior CBA. Although the decision in the case, known as Brown v. NFL, was eventually overruled by the Supreme Court, Yablonski's victory in the lower court helped the NFLPA reach its historic free agency settlement with the NFL in 1993.

Yablonski retired from law practice in 2012 after serving the rights of employees, including pro football players, for almost 40 years. But NFLPA members continue to reap the benefits and protections that Yablonski helped achieve.