George Andrie was part of the legendary Cowboys Doomsday Defense.
He was a 5 time pro-bowler and Super Bowl champion.
But these days the once powerful defensive end sits quietly at home, rarely leaving the house and unable to care for himself.
"He requires help to live, he requires help for daily tasks, he has lost interest in hobbies, in life and he's been depressed,” said his daughter, Mary Brooks.
His family says he's been this way for years and has been diagnosed with dementia by 4 different doctors who believe it's related to the head blows he received while playing with the Cowboys from 1962- to 1972.
Experts say there is a correlation between CTE and Dementia.
Andrie's was part of a lawsuit filed by thousands of retired players against the NFL claiming the league knew that head blows could lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE, a dengenerative brain disease.
The NFL settled the suit nearly 5 years ago for nearly a billion dollars.
"I thought it was a victory when it was done,” said Brooks.
The players and their families expected they would get the money by now but they say the NFL and the company working with them is denying many of the dementia claims which make up a majority of the lawsuit.
They say if players complain that they suffer from things like depression or lack of sleep, the company handling claims for the NFL denies the claim saying that don’t have dementia.
Families say they keep changing the criteria a player has to meet in order to get any money.
Andrie has received two letters of denial from the league saying he is not sick enough.
“They said not only does your father not qualify for this level of dementia. He doesn't qualify for any neuro cognitive damage whatsoever."
Experts who have studied the brains of people with CTE say many did have dementia and their symptoms vary and get worse with time.
Players’ families say the NFL which is a multi-billion dollar corporation has paid less than 10 percent of the claims and put families and players through hell making them fill out mountains of paperwork and jump through hoops.
"You can't enjoy time with your loved ones that you have left because you are fighting a corporation. It's the right thing to do, you have to do it, you have a moral obligation to do it."
Andrie was eligible under the settlement for 158 thousand dollars. His family says they need that to care for his medical needs. They say this is not about the money but about justice.
"It's not greedy football players. It's a corporation who exposed their employees to something that would ultimately cause their death."
The NFL has hired a company to process all the claims and is not directly involved in the process and they have given money to former players like Steve Smith who has ALS and lives on a respirator.
The league says the dementia claims are moving slower because they want to weed out fraudulent claims.
But families fear the NFL and its partners will ultimately deny money to players with dementia and now feel they sacrificed their future well-being for the game.