by Mike Siani
Al was now under the thumb of the NFL and its commissioner, Pete Rozelle.
“Al never talked to us about his differences with Rozelle,” said the late John Matuszak. “He might have said something vague once or twice, like ‘this guy in New York is giving us a hard time.’ But he never mentioned Rozelle by name, and he never bad-mouthed him. But we all knew perfectly well how the league office felt about the Raiders. And we were all affected by the consequences.”
Upon returning to the front office, Oakland dominated—posting the most wins in the final three years of the AFL’s existence.
In 1969, John Madden became the team’s sixth head coach and, under him, the Raiders became one of the most successful franchises in the NFL, winning seven division titles during the 1970s.
“1967 was my first year (as an assistant coach) and it was George Blanda’s and Willie Brown’s first year as well. Gene Upshaw was our number-one draft choice. We were a really good team and we won the AFL that year and went to Super Bowl II,” said Madden.
Scotty Stirling, a Raiders executive from 1964 through 1967, had this to say about those Raiders teams. “I thought that was the beginning of a real dynasty for us. That that team was going to get better and better and we drafted well. I thought the Raiders were going to be in a lot of Super Bowls.”
Al Davis had already served as an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, and commissioner of the AFL. In 1972, Davis became the managing general partner in Oakland. Until his death, he was the embodiment of the Raiders. He thrived at being the boss, and always made his presence known.
According to former Raiders front-office exec Mike Lombardi, the organization chart flowed—Al, and then everybody below him. You knew he was there. You could smell him. He wore very distinctive cologne, so you knew he was in the building. He was not shy about what he wanted. Sometimes there was frustration in his expectations of what he wanted, but they were unrealistic at times.
Right from the start you knew that it wasn’t just the coaches who were looking at things. It was Al, himself.
George Atkinson, a Raiders safety from 1968 through 1977, talks about Al’s presence.
“During the time I played there, Al was on the practice field every Wednesday and Thursday, and his presence was felt.”
Daryle Lamonica, the Raiders quarterback from 1967 to 1974, remembers coming to “attention” when Davis walked on the football field.
“We could be sitting on our helmet or maybe not paying attention on the sidelines but as soon as Al Davis walked on to the football field, everyone would come to attention. Al had that ability, and I call that fear and respect. He carried that to every player who has ever played for him.”
Al Davis rewarded respect with loyalty. He coined the phrase, “Once a Raider, Always a Raider.”
“You look around this organization,” said George Atkinson, “and you will see a lot of guys who are still with this organization—who were here in the ’60s like myself and Willie Brown.”
Willie Brown, cornerback from 1967 through 1978, agreed with Atkinson.
“I think right now we have fifteen to twenty guys who played for him still in the organization.”
Al Davis explains his devotion to his team and his organization.
“In 1961, I got a call [at] about five in the morning. It was my brother telling me that my father had died. To this day that is the one thing that stands out in my life that I come back and focus on, because quite frankly I had never really gotten the chance to thank him for all the things he did for me and all the opportunities that he gave me. So I made a vivid memory of that but I also made a promise that I would not hold back to the people that I really do love and let them know while they are living about my respect and appreciation for them.”
Willie Brown expresses one way that Davis showed respect for his players and their families.
“When someone passed, he would tell me to go to the service and take this check to the family. This happened many, many, many times. That’s just the way he was. He would do things like that.”
Former linebacker Matt Millen was selected by the Raiders in the 1980 draft. Matt shares his first hand experience in dealing with the kindness of Al Davis.
“When my dad was eighty he was going to have bypass and how Al found out, I have no idea. He told me to get him on a plane because everything had been set up for him at the Mayo Clinic, and they were going to take care of him. I told him ‘Coach, he’s eighty. I can’t do that. He won’t even get into the car with me to go to the doctor.’ Al said, ‘I’m going to have that doctor fly into your place.’
“Every day after that surgery, he would call me to see how my dad was doing.”
“I will also say this,” Millen continued. “If, for some reason, he thought that you crossed the line, and you could have been there for thirty-five to forty years, but if you crossed the line on him, it was over.”
It’s no secret that Al Davis was known for his feuds. Davis had a major feud with Hall of Fame member Marcus Allen, but nine other Hall of Famers requested that Al introduce them for induction into Canton, making Al Davis, by far, the most frequent presenter at the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
When John Madden got the call from the Pro Football Hall of Fame that he had been selected as a member of the Class of 2006, the first person he thought of was Al. In his Hall of Fame speech, he touched on the kind of person Al Davis was. Below is an excerpt from that speech.
“Talking about loyalty and what a guy Al Davis was, I said if I had one phone call to make, it would be to Al Davis. I got voted into the Hall of Fame and I had a phone call to make for a presenter, and I called Al Davis.”
In 1969, the thirty-two-year-old Madden was named the coach of the Oakland Raiders. Al knew from the start that he had the right guy for the job.
“He is someone who helped me build this organization into the greatness that it was. We were like kids. We had our dreams. He had a big ego and I had a big ego but we were smart enough to know that we wanted the same thing.
“There was no one between Al and I,” said Madden, “so anything that I wanted I didn’t have to go to any general manager or anyone. There was just the two of us, and Al Davis never once turned down anything I wanted.”
Madden reached 100 wins third-fastest (behind only George Halas and Curly Lambeau) of any coach in NFL history, while leading Oakland to eight playoff berths in ten seasons. Under Madden, the Raiders played in some of the most famous and controversial games of all time: the Immaculate Reception (1972), Sea of Hands (1974), Ghost to the Post (1977), Holy Roller (1978), and Super Bowl XI.
Al Davis loved the underdog. He enjoyed creating opportunities of overlooked players—even at the expense of his own team . . .
In Week 3 of the 1974 season, the Raiders faced the Steelers in Pittsburgh. Al Davis tells the story of how Terry Bradshaw became the first string quarterback—a kindness that would haunt him forever.
“Pittsburgh started Joe Gilliam in the game and we beat them something like 17–0. After the game. Terry Bradshaw came into the Raiders locker room and said to me, ‘Can you get me out of here? Can you trade for me?’ I told him, ‘I love you but I have enough problems. I’ve got Stabler, I got Blanda, and I still have Lamonica and I can’t get you, but let me put in a good word for you.
“Chuck Noll had been a close friend, and one of the dumbest things I had ever done was to tell him, ‘Why the hell don’t you play Bradshaw and stop playing Gilliam? Bradshaw can win for you.’
“He put Bradshaw back in the lineup and they beat us in the championship game in ’74, they beat us in the championship game in ’75, and we had our hands full with the Steelers from then on because good me raised his hand and suggested that they ought to start Bradshaw.”
Unlike other franchises, Davis believed in giving players a fresh start.
“We may take a player in who doesn’t have good social habits or has been a failure somewhere else. But it’s predicated on brin
ging them into an environment that can inspire in them the will to do great—and they have done great.”
Ted Hendricks, linebacker for the Raiders from 1975–1983, recalls, “There were a lot of retreads with the Raiders and he would get great use out of them.
“Al Davis’s always had a plan,” said Willie Brown. “How can I use a guy like Billy Cannon? How can I use a guy like Willie Brown? How can I use a guy like John Matuszak? All down the line, he had a plan when he brought those guys in there. Even the bad guys that nobody else wanted ended up coming to the Raiders and becoming great ball players. You can attribute that to Al Davis and how he dealt with people.”
Al Davis once said, “When you have to lead men you don’t do unto others as you would have others do unto you. You do unto them, in a para-military situation, as they want to be done unto. You have to treat them the way they want to be treated.”
Davis was active in civil rights, refusing to allow the Raiders to play in any city where black and white players had to stay in separate living arrangements. He was the first NFL owner to hire a black coach (Art Shell) and a female chief executive (Amy Trask). He was also the second NFL owner to hire a Hispanic coach (Tom Flores).
Al Davis’s legacy of equity and fairness has spanned a lifetime where he opened a field of dreams for countless others. It first surfaced when he was a football player at Syracuse over half a century ago. There Davis showed his support for teammate Bernie Custis (1948–1950), a black quarterback in a white man’s game.
“As our relationship grew,” said Custis, “I came to know Al as someone who lived by a certain code, and this code was to judge every individual by the content of their character and their capabilities, and nothing else. I think that was the code that I detected at that time and had stayed with him throughout the years.”
In the 1960s and 1970s, minority players and white players were not always treated equally.
“In certain positions you saw no black players,” said George Atkinson. “Most offensive lines had white players. At the quarterback position, there were none.”
Guard Gene Upshaw came into the league in 1967.
“We used to say that we could have a convention of black offensive lineman in a phone booth. There just weren’t that many of us doing it.”
Al Davis took a different approach to drafting players that other clubs overlooked.
“We went into many of the predominant black schools to take a lot of their players. We called it ‘an untapped reservoir.’ We wanted to win—we wanted the best players. We weren’t interested in who they were or where they came from.”
Eldridge Dickey was the first black quarterback to be drafted in the first round in 1968 by the Raiders.
“Gosh. That was a huge step for Al Davis. There was so much against him for that. They had gotten tackles and receivers but here you are talking about a position that has orientated that ‘a black man cannot lead.’ I could see where he was seeing. I could see him see beyond complexion. Al was saying, ‘Let it go! You’re stifling the growth of the game!’”
By 1989, two thirds of the players in professional football were black, but there had yet to be a black head coach.
Former Steelers defensive back, Steelers assistant coach, and Tampa Bay and Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy said, “At that time, I just didn’t know if owners had looked at black coaches as people they could be comfortable with.
“Al Davis was a legacy of equity and fairness. The visionary efforts of Al Davis were not just in how the game was played but also who would play it.”
Brad Pye was a former AFL administrative assistant. He remembers Al Davis as a civil rights maverick.
“A lot of people think of Al Davis as a maverick. He’s also been a maverick in opening opportunities for minorities. He was a trailblazer for justice as far as I’m concerned, because he had no color barrier.”
Former Vikings head coach Dennis Green had this to say about Al Davis.
“Al opened the game up for the African American athlete.”
Consistency wasn’t that important to Al Davis. “I’ve always said it’s not important to be consistent. It’s important to be right.”
In 1989, Davis made Art Shell the first black NFL coach of the modern era.
“I want you to know one thing,” said Davis. “I’m not hiring you because you’re black. I’m hiring you because I feel you are the best possible candidate for this job at this time.”
When the press asked Shell how if felt to be the first minority coach, he responded with, “I wasn’t the first minority coach, Tom Flores was.”
Ten years earlier, Davis had hired Flores, who was already a part of the Raiders family. As a player he was the first quarterback of the Raiders; as a coach his roster included Jim Plunkett—a number one pick and Heisman Trophy winner who failed in both New England and San Francisco.
Eldridge Dickey felt that only the Raider organization could pump life into Jim Plunkett.
“He was a guy that I watched with New England getting beat to a pulp and all of a sudden he was Super Bowl MVP.”
Al Davis called the Super Bowl XV victory “the finest hour in the history of the Oakland Raiders organization.” He told the press, “Tom Flores is not just one of the great coaches in our league—he is one of the great coaches of all time. When you have great coaches you get great players and when you have a great organization you tell them just one thing, ‘Just Win.’”
The Raiders late announcer, Bill King, had this to say to the Raiders fans.
“The prince, Pete Rozelle, came calling. He had a silver slipper. He tried it on and the only man it fit was Al Davis.”
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Raider Rule #1: Cheating Is Encouraged. Rule #2: See Rule #1.
Davis’s plan was to ‘dominate.’ “I’m going to dominate if I can, other than maybe life or death, the things that I want. I’m going to dominate them.”
Linebacker Phil Villapiano describes the arm pads that were made exclusively for Raiders players.
“We had a guy named George Anderson who was our trainer.* George was an expert in pads—probably most of them illegal. He would take stuff that you make casts from and mold it for me. What I sensed I had was two casts so when I hit somebody like Boom! That was my first shot—right to the eye. I could take them down if I hit them just perfect.”
Coach Madden didn’t know if the pads were illegal or not.
“I’m not sure. Anything that you are wearing has to be checked by the umpire during the pregame warm-ups. Of course, you could not wear it in the pregame warm-up and then put it on for the game. I know that.”
“If they were to use the word devious, just by itself, it would be annoying for the moment, but when you throw it in there with, brilliant, genius, winner, devious, ruthless, cunning . . . no, I’ll take it.”
—Al Davis
David Harris, author of The League, said, “This was Al Davis’s character. Clearly this guy was a carnivore from the get-go.”
The Raiders lived to fight—especially Villapiano.
“I just liked to fight. I went to Bowling Green and if I threw a punch they would send me back to New Jersey. When I was with the Raiders and I threw a punch, that was good—as long as it was at the right guy.”
San Francisco 49ers head coach, Bill Walsh (1979–1988), saw the Raiders as a group of “misguided” youths.
“One thing they’ll do is take a swing at you. If you hit them good, they’ll take a swing. There are four or five guys who are demented on that team.”
The Raiders were a team of misfits with short fuses and held open season on supposed stars of opposing teams. In the 1975 AFC Conference Championship, George Atkinson knocked Pittsburgh wide receiver Lynn Swann out of the game with a concussion. In a regular season Steelers–Raiders game in 1976, Atkinson hit Swann with a forearm to the head, knocking him out of the opening game of the season and again causing another concussion.
Swann had this to say about Atkinson.
“Both blows were illegally delivered and delivered with malice.”
The media and Pittsburgh coach Chuck Noll called Oakland “the criminal element of the NFL.”
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Al Davis himself was not liked by the other owners, and his move to Los Angeles was not granted by the NFL.
“The thing that disturbed me most of all was the bad faith in fair dealing. For three years I waited to hear Commissioner Rozelle finally tell us the reason that he wanted to split up this territory amongst the owners. They wanted it for themselves. As far as good faith, there is no question in my mind that I have never got the same treatment that anyone else got in their respective cities from the very beginning.”
Tex Schramm was the Cowboys General Manager from 1960 to 1989, but he wasn’t exactly a fan of Davis.
“I feel very strongly that he is wrong and that he’s doing something treacherous to this league.”
Author David Harris described Davis as “never a popular figure,” because he was “an abrasive kind of guy.” And his insistence on dominating and winning everything tended to rub a lot of people the wrong way.
During game day warm-ups, Al would visit the players of the opposing team. Mike Garrett, Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers running back (1966–1973) remembers Al’s method of operation.
“During warm-ups before the game, Al would come around and walk around our team and say things like ‘How are you doing today?’ ‘You’re looking sharp.’ And you knew that he really didn’t mean it. He was coming over to get an edge, and I thought that was pretty crappy.”
Mike Shanahan, former head coach of the Los Angeles Raiders from 1988–1989 and then head coach of the Denver Broncos and Washington Redskins, knew how to handle his former boss’s escapades.
“During pregame warm-ups, we’re on the 10-yard line and going out of the end zone and Al was at the 25-yard line out on the numbers with his hands folded watching our team. The players are complaining that they can’t run anything with him out there, and to tell him to get out of the way. I told our quarterback Elvis Grbac to throw a go route and if you happen to get the ball close to that guy in the white outfit over there you won’t bother me.