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The price they paid

    by Will Bunch | Columnist
    Published 

Arising from my reporting for the new "Give It To Steve!" here's the flip side of football's glory days of the 1940s...the impact from way too many blows to the head:

"The bones in his neck were like steps - they were jagged, jagged steps, not straight like they would be in a normal person's MRI," she said. "And you could see the damage to his brain - they determined that it was from blows to the head."

The Pihos family also learned that his condition was far from unique for the players of pro football's "Greatest Generation" of the 1940s and 1950s, who played a pivotal role in taking the NFL from its rough-and-tumble roots into a $9-billion-a-year entertainment colossus in the 21st century.

The Daily News has confirmed with family members that three Eagles Hall of Famers from the team's golden era of the late 1940s - Pihos, who died last August, four-time NFL rushing champ Steve Van Buren, and two-way standout Chuck Bednarik - are or were enrolled in the league's 88 Plan to help care for players diagnosed with dementia believed related to football injuries.