Allen "Al" Davis, the man who is synonymous with the Oakland Raiders
franchise of the National Football League and its earlier American
Football League incarnation, was born on the Fourth of July, 1929 into
a Jewish family in Brockton, Massachusetts. Raised in Brooklyn and
educated at the borough's Erasmus High School, he played football at
Syracuse University, but was cut from the varsity team.
After graduating with a bachelor of arts degree in English from
Syracuse in 1950, he began his football career as a line coach at
Adelphi College from 1950 to 1951. He became head coach of the U.S.
Army team at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia from 1952 to 1953, then served as
line coach at The Citadel. In 1957, he moved on to the University of
Southern California, where he served as line coach for two years.
With the placing of an American Football League franchise in Los
Angeles, Davis was able to move into pro ball. He served as the
offensive end coach of the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers from 1960 to
1962, and then was named head coach and general manager of the AFL's
struggling Oakland Raiders at the age of 33. Davis took a team that was
9-33 in th first three years of its existence and whipped them into
shape in one season. In 1963, his first year as a pro head coach, he
was voted the AFL Coach of the Year after his Raiders went 10-4. His
success in his four season as head coach led to him being named AFL
Commissioner in April 1966.
His reign was short-lived. Although the AFL had always contended with
the NFL in the signing of college players and Canadian Football League
Players, Davis launched an aggressive campaign to recruit top NFL's top
players, thus driving up the salaries of football players in both
leagues. Due to the rising costs of salaries, AFL owners met with NFL
owners and agreed to a merger after the 1970 season. Davis opposed the
merger and quit as AFL Commissioner, returning to Oakland as managing
general partner of the Raiders. The glory days of Al Davis were about
to commence.
For a generation, the Oakland (and later Los Angeles) Raiders became
one of the top teams in pro football, winning 13 divisional
championships, one AFL title (1967), and three Super Bowls from 1967
through 1985. The Raiders in 1985 were one of the most famous, and
storied franchises in all American sports, up there with the Yankees,
Red Sox, Lakers, Celtics, and Canadiens.
Beginning in 1980, Al Davis played David against the Goliath that was
NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle (under whom the merger of the AFL and NFL was
effected). Davis wanted to move his Raiders to Los Angeles after the
city of Oakland refused to expand the Oakland Colesium, but his plans
were blocked by the League. Davis filed an anti-trust lawsuit against
the NFL, and his franchise became the Los Angeles Raiders for the 1982
NFL season after a federal district court ruled in Davis' favor. The
following season, Los Angeles Raiders won Superbowl XVIII in 1984. It
was the high-water mark of Al Davis' career.
The team has won only one conference championship in the last 22
seasons, the back-in-Oakland (having returned in 1995 after the city
agreed to expand the Colesium) losing Super Bowl XXXVII in 2002 to the
Buccaneers. Davis seemed to be consumed by lawsuits against the NFL and
municipalities.
Other than his three Super Bowl victories, the great Al Davis will be
remembered for being a pioneer in for providing opportunity to minority
players, coaches and executives when pro football was still dominated
by racist owners hostile to African Americans. Int he AFL, Davis
scouted and drafted African American players from the traditionally
black colleges ignored by the NFL. He was the first owner to hire a
Hispanic-American head coach (Tom Flores) and an African American head
coach (Art Shell). His selection of Amy Trask to be CEO of the Raiders
made him the first (and lamentably, so-far the only) NFL owner to put a
woman in charge of an NFL team.
Al Davis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Team and
League Administrator in 1992.
