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DeMaurice Smith is the executive director of the National Football League Players Association.
If you are a high school or college football player watching the NFL Draft with dreams of being selected by an NFL team in the future, take the time to learn the story of a man named Ray Dennison, as it will reset everything you think you know about how players fit into college sports. Ray Dennison was a U.S. Army veteran, husband and father of three who came back to join the Fort Lewis A&M football team at the encouragement of the head coach. Dennison was defending the opening kickoff for the Aggies in September of 1955 when he went to make a tackle and an opponent’s knee fractured his skull. The blow to the head ultimately killed him 30 hours later.