John Mackey was diagnosed with dementia in 2001, when he was 59. He still lives at home in Baltimore, but needs full-time care from his wife or a health care worker, and often spends his days at the Keswick Adult Day Care center with Ralph Wenzel, another former NFL player.

For Sylvia Mackey, it’s like caring for a young child. She has even stopped taking her husband to the market, because he tends to stuff candy bars in his pocket and walk by the register. Sylvia catches him and makes him return them — or simply pays for them.

“They understand,” she said. “He’s still well-known and respected in the neighborhood and people know what he’s going through.”

But it’s hard.

Last January, Mackey was watching the Colts play the Patriots in the AFC championship game and saw Marvin Harrison, a fellow Syracuse alumnus, and the team’s current No. 88.

“He thought it was him, that they were showing a rerun of one of the games he played,” his wife said. “Then they showed a close-up. ’That’s not me,’ he said. ’That’s not my name on the jersey.’ When he saw No. 88 in a Colts uniform running, he was joyous about it. Then he got very upset. He simply couldn’t differentiate between the reality of today and more than 30 years ago when he was playing.”

The “88 Plan” is in its very early stages.

Upshaw said the union and the league, which administers the program under the Bert Bell pension plan, sent letters to 22 players when the program officially started late last month. But both the league and union concede it’s difficult to locate former players who might qualify for the plan. There are thousands of former NFL players, and the ones who need help the most might be the most difficult to find.

“It’s word of mouth,” Upshaw conceded. “We’ve heard about some guys who we think are in bad shape and we’ve sent them letters. But we have to hope there’s a family member with them, because if they’re in that bad shape they may not respond even to the letter. Or even know they’ve received it.”

Mackey and Wenzel, an offensive lineman for Pittsburgh and San Diego from 1966 until 1973, are the only former players to qualify so far. They played for the Chargers at the same time, but Sylvia Mackey says her husband, who made his reputation with the Colts, had no memory of playing in San Diego until he was shown a picture of himself in a Chargers uniform. Neither man remembers playing with the other.

Meanwhile, the league and union, through the pension plan administrators — three representing each side — are trying to come up with a way to find the other ex-players who qualify. Upshaw says it might come down to sending a letter to every ex-NFL player and/or their families to see who might be qualified.

Once eligible players are found, qualification would be simple: a baseline test to determine dementia or Alzheimer’s.

“It’s a financial drain no family can afford, especially families who have been suffering with this problem for years with players who didn’t come close to earning what players earn today. It’s Paul Tagliabue’s legacy and it’s a legacy they have to live up to,” Sylvia Mackey said.

“It’s not a big sacrifice. If it means one player or one owner had to have one less Mercedes to pay for it, that would do it.”

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