Al Davis was one of a kind. No other owner – not Mark Cuban, not George Steinbrenner, not Jerry Jones – nobody has embodied the franchise like Al Davis, who went from scout to position coach to head coach to AFL commissioner to “President of the General Partner” – for much of his career, his actual personal ownership stake in the Raiders was only about 15%, but he was the face of the franchise.
Teams, companies, organizations spend literally millions upon millions of dollars to craft the kind of brand and image that Al Davis achieved for the Raiders as a matter of course. And they were all true for him. Outlaw? Absolutely. Maverick? Naturally. Visionary? When he took the helm of the AFL, it was with a mandate to force a confrontation and take on the NFL where they stood. He testified on behalf of the USFL when they challenged the NFL in the early 80s. He moved his team to Los Angeles, into the teeth of Rams country, and won a Super Bowl into the bargain. First franchise to win the Super Bowl from a wild-card berth. For years and years, the winningest franchise on Monday Night Football.
And famously, a guy who called Art Shell into his office, rambled for 20 minutes, and then said “They’re going to talk about you being first. Ignore all that. You’re getting this job because you’re a Raider.” Which is how Art Shell found out he was the first black head coach in the modern NFL. Al also made Tom Flores the first Latino coach in the NFL, and hired a woman as his CEO. And by contrast, his was the last practice facility to still get by on old-school weights and barbells in an age of plyometrics and resistance training. His was the last team to eschew Cover-2 and West Coast offense for vertical passing and “the quarterback must go down and he must go down hard.”
In a league that is the most hidebound, the most conservative, the most conformist in all of sports, Al Davis was a permanent middle finger. A thorn in the side of three commissioners. A guy who was absolutely right about Lane Kiffin. An NFL icon in five decades and change.
Clear skies, Al. Thanks for the commitment to excellence.