Hey, welcome. I'm Ellis Dean on behalf of BlackDoctor.org, and I'm here with, NFL legend, Edgar Fields. I feel a special connection to you as a, as a Falcons season ticket holder. Oh, my! So, so yes, sir, I, I raised my hand. When, uh- even though I was a young child, when you were playing, I, I do remember those teams. I was a- been a football fan my entire life, so thank you- Thank you. Thank you ... for playing for the Falcons. And, so how did you make that transition from going from the gridiron and, and, and fighting on behalf of the team to going into the public sector and fighting for people's healthcare?

Everybody talk about their journey. Right. I was a youngster that came to Atlanta from Texas A&M. Mm-hmm. Third-round draft pick by the Falcons. I got involved with the community. first couple of years, of course, I was like every other youngster, every other NFL player. I went to all the clubs. I met the owners, be it Mr. V's- Right ... Cisco's, you know, all these places. I got involved in politics to vote for the folks that was here at that time. I was fortunate enough that I met one of the civil rights icons, Reverend Dr. James Orange. Yes, sir. and James became one of my mentors- ...

while I was still playing football. And James called every one leader, and he said, "Leader, we need to- you need to tell your story. You need to get out here." You know, so I was fortunate. I was fortunate to follow him and to meet Hosea, to meet Andy- ... to meet Joe and all the leaders, Billy McKinney, and, you know, and to fight the fights.

Right. And they're the ones that taught me that there's nothing that you can do without community. I don't care what you do. Right. You know? Right. You have civil rights, you have human rights, all right? And you have to combine all the two- ... or three, in many cases. I'm involved in labor. I've, I've work- worked with unions for many years, and we tie ourself to any community that we go to work in. Right. All right? We have members that clean your chickens. We have people that- Right ... put food on your table. Are those folks afforded the same healthcare, the same education, the same healthcare benefits in their cities?

I can call- I can name places today- Right ... that don't have healthcare in the areas. Oh, absolutely. You've got south Georgia. You got, you got right between Columbus, right between Auburn, hospital closed. Yep. You know, majority Black communities. You go all the way down to, in, in the areas down. But then let's stay right here in Atlanta. Mm-hmm. You know? Let's look around our own communities. Where's the healthcare, and where are they going to get it today? But I had great leaders. I had great teachers, you know, and you can't sit on the sideline and wait for somebody else to do it.

You know what, though? You put in the work, though. You had the leaders- Yeah ... but you listened, and you followed. Yeah, sure. And that, that's a testament to, to you. And as I was listening to your story, I'm, I'm listening it through two lenses, right? Because my father had prostate cancer.

Both my grandfathers had prostate cancer, and you- I know the statistics. I've been in this healthcare space for- Oh ... for a long time. And how do you What words do you tell someone like me to overcome that fear, to continue to get tested, to continue to fight that fight when you know it, there's a higher probability that you're gonna be one of those men that, that one in six Black men- Yeah ... that have to deal with this? Yeah. It's hard to take the fear away from a person- ... because you always, it's al- what if is always there. Yeah. You know, just like I pointed out, when I go to the doctor, even though they said I'm in tiered, I still tell Dr.

Midwell that- Yeah, right. But I still go. Right. Because I don't want it to go a year- Yeah ... and I, and I, and I'm not tested. Yeah. 'Cause, you know, because it can happen. You know, so the healthy fear makes you, makes you go to the doctor. Yeah. You know, I'm not gonna sit at home, because sitting at home ain't gonna get, ain't gonna get checked. No, man. You know, and just like everyone has said, "If you catch it early enough, you can beat this." Yes. Right? So and the only way I can catch it early enough is by getting my butt up and going to that doctor's appointment.

You know, I'm- I go. Okay. I get my heart checked. I get my brain checked. I get, anything that, that I have, I'm getting it checked. I tell folks, "They're gonna know why I died." You know, it ain't gonna be, there's not gonna be a story, "Well, Willie died, and we don't know why." No, they're gonna know because- ...

'cause I've gone, been to the doctor. We've been fighting it. And you fought it the whole way. I fought it the whole way. Yes, sir. Yeah, I gave this. They say I've got- given a yeo- yeoman's battle. Yeah, but That's tough, you know, and, and I've learned a lot. I have interviewed surgeons and all type, and, advocates and, and everybody in between, and I still, I, I do go get checked. Mm-hmm. and people ask me that all the time, "Well, how do you, how do you do it?" Over- there's a fear in going- ... but the bigger fear is not knowing. Exactly. And overcome that bigger fear by going.

And if, if you get the number, and it's not what you want?... now you can lay out a plan. Mm-hmm. But you just, and as you were talking about it tonight, I was like, "You don't feel it." Mm-hmm. Especially when you get older, you know that- Oh, it, it is what it is. It is what it is. You know, I mean, I tell folks, I'm, I'm 71 years old. I've, I've been- I've had a hell of a life. You know, my fear is not going to the doctor. Okay. My fear is something happening, and I, and I didn't know about it. Right. Or not going to the doctor and them diagnosing it by chance. Yeah.

Every morning I wake up, I don't want to battle. Mm-hmm. You know, because everything, I can fight. But if you ask to wake up- That's a big problem. That's a whole other story. That's a whole other story- ... than someone who's telling, telling about your battle. You know, but- Yeah, that's So what do you, what do you think about how do we get more, not only just more Black men to go get tested?

That's the first step, but how do we get them to that next stage, where they, they say not only are they getting tested, but they're talking to their friends? 'Cause And, and I'll give you an example. I- with some of my college friends, we do a golf trip every year, and we go on a golf trip, and we have a great time. We play a lot of golf, we hang out, we, we laugh, and but we don't talk about health- Sh ... as Black men. How do we cross that barrier to- with each other, to say, "You know what, brother? I'm not just concerned about you when we're having a good time, and we're playing golf and we're But I'm concerned about you and your physical wellbeing- ...

so you can stay here, so we can continue to meet every year?" It's a conversation that you're just gonna have to have. Yeah. We had that in football. Yeah. We had that conversation. We had meetings. In Atlanta, we're different from other parts of the country. We have the largest organization of retired football players right here. Mm-hmm. We have the most active numbers. We have the largest number of Black retired football players, and we fit those numbers. Mm-hmm. So these conversations ain't easy when you're sitting there and talk to a room of Black men- Mm-hmm ... and you say, "What is it?

One in every six?" One in six. Count. Yeah. One, two, three, four, five, six, you it. Yeah. It's easy. You know, so we, we do that. We try to partner with organizations. We educate our members, just like we have young guys here. I was one of the founding members of our chapter here, so we have new guys that retired.

We educate them. We get them involved in the community. You can't sit at home, and you have to educate yours. And we have to negotiate with the owners to make sure we have the healthcare, so as our guys can get it. Sh. You know, and because, like, every benefit I receive, from the NFL is negotiated by football players. Right. All right? But I have to advocate the younger guys to fight for us old guys. All right? So all of this education, you can't do anything without education. Right. And you have to take time to do it. I, I keep saying that I'm, I'm, I'm lucky, I'm fortunate.

I am. But I think about that person- ... who don't have my choices. Right. You know? Right. I think about that person that misses that six month, misses that year- ... misses that two years, misses that eight, you know? Yeah. And we're talking about healthcare. Yeah. Now that healthcare is in a whole different area- Yeah ... if they get a positive test. You know, we have to start doing it on the other end, where we educate, we teach folks. There's stigma in the Black community. We've tried the barbershops. We've tried the beauty shops. We actually have a meeting coming up with the retired players, where we bring in all the wives, all the spouses- Mm-hmm ...

all the signa- all the children that have called about their fathers. You know, "You need to know what the health conditions are of your father or of your husband." Yeah. So we involving the whole family in our meeting as far as the education aspect. There's no different than, Joseph Lowery having a march up Auburn Avenue- Yeah ...

or, or James Orange having a March on Washington. We've got to create some type of advocacy because 40-year-olds feel as though that they, they don't have to get checked. Right. But we had it at a meeting where one of our you- younger guys ended up with prostate cancer, and then he actually spoke about what the results of treatment of prostate cancer, you know, as far as how it, how it, how it involves sex, how it involves the, the, what the man looks at, what it involves as far as what the- what, what society may look as far as the football player. Right. And he said, "Cancer took this away from me." And he's in his 40s.

Yeah. You know, so these are the conversations that we have to have because cancer affects all of that. But at the same token, we have to have that same conversation when it comes to our spouse- ... that is dealing with breast cancer. Yes. Right? And they have to have surgery also. That conversation goes both ways, and that support within the Black community is, is I don't have a magic bullet. You know, I, I went to wor- I s- first thing I, I volunteered for, I, I was thinking about this the other day, missing and murdered kids that's here in Atlanta. I remember volunteering.

I worked, I, I worked with Muhammad Ali. He did a benefit boxing match to bring attention to all these Black kids that was missing, being found in the river. Yes. All right? I was there. I've You know, the people got me involved in, "You have a platform," but I went. You know, so I've always been involved in causes, you know, and if it involves our community, count me in.

You know, so, so yeah, I'm there. Well, well, amen to that. Yeah. So, just wanna thank you for, for the time, Brother Fields. We wanna thank, Zero Prostate Cancer, thank blackdoctor.org. And I, I wanna say- Yes, sir ... Zero Prostate Cancer, this is the first time I've worked with the organization, and I look forward to our organization working with them because I see so many opportunities. Zero Prostate Cancer, the name says it for itself, as far as the fact that you can go so many places. We're sitting in a beautiful, funky place here in metro Atlanta, but I can see the Tennis Association in Albany, Georgia- Yeah ...

where it's the same crowd. Yes. Same enthusiasm, same issues. Yes. Cancer is cancer. I don't care if you make a dollar or you make $100. Right. You know, and and I wanna take my hat off to what they're doing, and hopefully we can be more involved as far as collaboratives. That's there. Absolutely. Well, we're hoping to, to amplify any way we can, and we, again, we appreciate you and what you're doing, you lending your platform- Thank you ... to continue to get the word out. Thank you, thank you, thank you. So thank you so much for your encouragement. All right. I appreciate you.

Yes, sir.