Gene Upshaw

CTL-E-7038 · Person · other · 1945–2008

VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)

Combined Graph record U-07910 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-7038.

Eugene Thurman 'Gene' Upshaw Jr. (August 15, 1945 – August 20, 2008) walked on at Texas A&I University — now Texas A&M University–Kingsville — and became the Oakland Raiders' first-round draft choice in 1967, then held left guard for fifteen seasons (1967–81). The Raiders' offensive captain for nine years, he played in 217 games, missed only one league game, won two Super Bowls, and became, the Raiders record, the first player in NFL history to participate in Super Bowls in three different decades. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1987 in his first year of eligibility, only the second guard inducted at that time. Upshaw then served a second, equally consequential career as executive director of the NFL Players Association from 1983 until his death in 2008 — a role in which, the Texas State Historical Association notes, he became the first African American to head a major players union, leading the association through the 1987 strike and the litigation era that ended with free agency and a salary cap in the 1990s.

The record

• Also known as: Eugene Thurman Upshaw Jr.

Notes

Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0393. Firsts disposition: ASSERTED as sourced — first player in NFL history to participate in Super Bowls in three different decades (Raiders; TSHA states the same-team form, the only player to play in Super Bowls in three decades) and first African American to head a major players union (Texas State Historical Association, of his NFLPA executive directorship). Office chronology is carried carefully: player representative, NFLPA president in 1980 (TSHA), executive director 1983 until his death in 2008 (Raiders and TSHA agree). Pro Bowl count varies by source form (six Pro Bowls plus one AFL All-Star Game in the Raiders account; seven Pro Bowl appearances in the university and ESPN accounts); the description therefore makes no Pro Bowl count claim. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Upshaw is the bridge between the two halves of this lane — a guard from a small Texas school for Black and brown students who first protected quarterbacks for fifteen years and then, for twenty-five more, protected every player in the league at the bargaining table. Photo: HELD — see visual_assets basis; no depicting Commons photograph exists under his name, and the memorial patch file was not substituted for a portrait.

Sources

• Oakland Raiders. "Gene Upshaw — Hall of Fame." Raiders.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• Texas State Historical Association. "Upshaw, Eugene Thurman, Jr." Handbook of Texas. Accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
• Texas A&M University–Kingsville Athletics. "Gene Upshaw" (obituary release, August 21, 2008). JavelinaAthletics.com. Accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)

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Record CTL-E-7038 · Combined Graph record U-07910 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources.
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