"This CBA is the first set of rules that both Clubs and players must abide by."
-- Gene Upshaw, AFLPA Executive Director

The AFL Players Association partnered with the AFL during the Annual Board of Player Reps Meeting to build a playground at Johnson Elementary School in New Orleans.

At the end of the 2008 season, the Arena Football League will lose yet another esteemed player as he continues his legacy off the field. After 13 years in the AFL, Columbus Destroyers Linebacker, Leroy Thompson will be hanging up his #33 jersey this spring in exchange for a much-earned retirement. And if anyone has made their mark on the AFL, surely it is Thompson.

The veteran linebacker has myriad accomplishments to decorate his resume, but it all started back in 1996 when he first stepped onto the Arena gridiron with the Albany Firebirds (later to become the Indiana Firebirds). With the Firebirds, Thompson earned his first Arena Bowl Championship in 1999. Three years later, he became the Ford Tough Man of the Year before trekking to the New Orleans Voodoo in 2005 and finally ending his career in 2008 with the Columbus Destroyers where he played in the 2007 Arena Bowl.

But Thompson wasn’t just a player. He was a man who stood for the issues, as evident in his active participation with the union, The AFL Players Association. In 2004, he acted as a player rep for the Indiana Firebirds. And from 2004 to 2008, he proudly represented the players by sitting on the AFLPA Executive Committee. Throughout his role as a player and board member, he acknowledged many positive changes.

To begin, Thompson stated that the biggest transformation the players have encountered is the protection they now have and the ability to get their problems solved whenever they have an issue through the guidance of the AFLPA. Another noteworthy issue he recognized is the fact that players now have arbitration rights whereas they can get their issues or problems resolved arbitrarily—a right they never had before becoming a union and having that representation.

At the end of the day, Leroy Thompson has impacted the game and policies of Arena Football and will forever be able to celebrate his endeavors. But beyond what exists in his career portfolio, Thompson attributes his greatest role and accomplishment to becoming a father. India (11 years), Tyleira (11 years), Devin (6 years), and Leroy (6 years) will continue the Thompson legacy, and undoubtedly also make their father very proud.