Pro Football Historian (PFH) is a blog page written by Flint Given. Pro Football Historian or PFH is a page to inform people on prior NFL events that people might not know about. Learning about teams from the 1920s or even the first few NFL World Championships in the 1930s fascinates me. It's these kinds of events that I want to discuss in this blog. Hopefully you are interested and will continue to check up on my blogs.
James David Lofton is an American former professional football player and coach. He played in the National Football League (NFL) as a wide receiver for the Green Bay Packers (1978–1986), Los Angeles Raiders (1987–1988), the Buffalo Bills (1989–1992), Los Angeles Rams (1993) and Philadelphia Eagles (1993). He was also the NCAA champion in the long jump in 1978 while attending Stanford University.
Widely regarded as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, Lofton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. After his playing career ended, he became a wide receivers coach for the San Diego Chargers and Oakland Raiders.
Lofton was drafted in the first round (sixth overall) of the 1978 NFL draft by the Green Bay Packers. He was named to the NFL Pro Bowl eight times (seven with the Packers, one with the Bills). He was also named to four All-Pro teams. He also played in three Super Bowls during his career with the Bills.Lofton was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003.
In his 16 NFL seasons, Lofton caught 764 passes for 14,004 yards and 75 touchdowns. He averaged 20 yards per catch or more in five seasons, leading the league in 1983 and 1984 with an average of 22.4 and 22 yards respectively. He also rushed 32 times for 246 yards and one touchdown.
Lofton is the first NFL player to record 14,000 yards receiving and was the second (one game after Drew Hill) to score a touchdown in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. During his nine seasons in Green Bay, Lofton played in seven Pro Bowls and left as the team's all-time leading receiver with 9,656 yards (since broken by Donald Driver). On April 13, 1987, he was traded for two draft picks to the Raiders in the wake of his charge for second degree sexual assault. A month later, he was found not guilty by Brown County Circuit Court jury. Two mediocre seasons (a combined 69 catches in 28 games) with the Raiders followed before he was signed as a free agent by Buffalo in 1989. He was to sign a two-year deal with Oakland in 1993 but instead joined the Los Angeles Rams, where he played just one game before finishing the season with Philadelphia.
On the retirement of Steve Largent, Lofton became the NFL's active leader in receiving yards at the start of 1990, through to his retirement in 1993. In 1991, Lofton became the oldest player to record 1,000 receiving yards in a season (since broken by Jerry Rice). On October 21, of that same year, Lofton became the oldest player to record 200 yards receiving as well as 200 yards from scrimmage in a game (35 years, 108 days). He is also the 2nd oldest player to have 200+ all-purpose yards in a game behind Mel Gray, (35 years, 204 days). He was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame in 1999.
Lofton became the wide receiver coach for the San Diego Chargers in 2002 and continued that role until he was fired on January 22, 2008. Early in his coaching career, Lofton watched Robert Woods in a high school track meet, he noted that he would be an incredible NFL prospect. In 2005 at the NFL draft, Lofton played catch with Desean Jackson, noting he was going to be an excellent deep ball threat. Lofton was later announced as a candidate to become head coach for Oakland Raiders in 2007 but the job would later go to Lane Kiffin. In 2008, the Raiders hired him as their wide receivers coach. On January 13, 2009, Lofton was let go by the Oakland Raiders and replaced by Sanjay Lal.
Lofton served as a color analyst and sideline reporter for NFL coverage on Westwood One radio from 1999 to 2001. In 2009, he re-joined the network to team with Dave Sims and later Kevin Kugler on Sunday Night Football broadcasts. He moved to a television position on the NFL on CBS in 2017, replacing the departing Solomon Wilcots. He has been the game analyst paired with Andrew Catalon since then. In 2023, Lofton was considered by many to be in the running for a promotion to higher tiers of the announcing ranks on CBS.
Lofton and his wife Beverly have three children including David who also played college football at Stanford. Lofton's cousin, Kevin Bass, was a Major League Baseball player.
In October 1984, a dancer at the Marquee Club in Milwaukee accused James Lofton and his Packers teammate Eddie Lee Ivery of sexual assault. Lofton and Ivery asserted that the acts were consensual. Neither player ended up being charged in the incident due to a lack of evidence. Two years later, Lofton was charged with second-degree sexual assault following an incident in the stairwell of a Green Bay nightclub. He was found not guilty of that charge.
Marcus LeMarr Allen is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League for 16 seasons, primarily with the Los Angeles Raiders. Considered one of the greatest goal line and short-yard runners in NFL history, he was selected 10th overall by the Raiders in the 1982 NFL draft, following a successful college football career with the USC Trojans. He was a member of the Raiders for 11 seasons and spent his last five seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs.
During his professional career, Allen ran for 12,243 yards and caught 587 passes for 5,412 yards. He also scored 145 touchdowns, including a then-league-record 123 rushing touchdowns, and was elected to six Pro Bowls. While with the Raiders, he helped the team win Super Bowl XVIII. He was the first NFL player to gain more than 10,000 rushing yards and 5,000 receiving yards during his career. Allen has the distinction of being the only player to have won the Heisman Trophy, named Unanimous All-American, won an AFCA National Championship Trophy, the Super Bowl, and be named NFL MVP and Super Bowl MVP. He was inducted to the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000, the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003, and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2021.
Allen was drafted as the 10th overall pick in the 1982 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Raiders. Allen was pleased that he didn't have to travel as the team had just relocated from Oakland. Allen has recalled that shortly before being drafted the Raiders asked him his weight (he answered 200 or 212) and then drafted him soon after. Though his rookie season was shortened by a league strike, Allen rushed for 697 yards and led the Raiders to the best record in the AFC at 8–1. He was voted the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year. The Raiders lost to the New York Jets in the AFC Divisional Playoffs.
The next season, Allen broke the 1,000-yard mark for the first time, an accomplishment he would repeat the two following years. During the 1985 season, he rushed for 1,759 yards and scored 11 touchdowns on 380 carries, leading the Raiders to a 12–4 record and the AFC West Division Championship. In addition, Allen was named the NFL MVP.
In Super Bowl XVIII on January 22, 1984, Allen ran for 191 yards, caught two passes for 18 yards, and scored two touchdowns in the Raiders' 38–9 victory over the Washington Redskins. Included in his stats was a 74-yard touchdown run, a feat that remained the longest run in Super Bowl history until Willie Parker's 75-yard run in Super Bowl XL. Allen's 191 rushing yards were also a Super Bowl record, which stood until Timmy Smith of the Redskins topped it with 204 yards in Super Bowl XXII. Upon winning the game, Allen joined a small group of players to win both the Heisman Trophy and Super Bowl MVP (Roger Staubach, Jim Plunkett, and later Desmond Howard). In total, Allen rushed 58 times for 466 yards and four touchdowns during the playoffs. He also added 118 yards and one touchdown on 14 receptions.
Allen ended the 1985 season on a strong note, finishing the year as the NFL rushing leader with 9 consecutive 100-yard games.
From 1987 through 1990, Allen shared the backfield with Bo Jackson. Initially, Allen was commended for his gracious nature and team spirit for sharing the spotlight during the prime of his career. In later seasons with the Raiders, Allen had a stormy relationship with owner Al Davis stemming from a contract dispute; Davis referred to Allen as a "cancer to the team." He also missed most of the 1989 season with a knee injury. Allen was relegated to back-up duty in his final three seasons with the Raiders and, at one time, fell to fourth on the depth chart. Allen's strained relationship with Davis reached an all-time low in December 1992. During halftime of the Raiders-Dolphins game on Monday Night Football, a taped interview between Al Michaels and Allen was broadcast in which Allen said that Davis "told me he was going to get me", adding, "I think he [Davis] tried to ruin the latter part of my career, tried to devalue me. He's trying to stop me from going to the Hall of Fame. They don't want me to play."
Allen eventually left Los Angeles and joined the Kansas City Chiefs in 1993. Although he only rushed for 764 yards that year, he scored 12 touchdowns, leading the AFC, as he and Joe Montana led the Chiefs to the AFC Championship Game. Allen scored touchdowns in all three Chiefs playoff games that year, and was named the NFL Comeback Player of the Year by the Pro Football Writers Association. With the retirement of Eric Dickerson in 1993, Allen became the active leader in career rushing yards, a position he maintained until being passed by Barry Sanders in Game 1 of 1997. Allen went on to play for the Chiefs for four more seasons, leading the team in rushing every year but his last.
Allen retired after the 1997 season. In 1999, he was ranked 72nd on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Allen was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2003. Allen was also inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame in 2007.
In 1999, Allen was also inducted into the San Diego Hall of Champions Breitbard Hall of Fame.
In 2008, Allen joined as a spokesman for the sports website OPENSports.com, the brainchild of Mike Levy, founder and former CEO of CBS Sportsline.com. Allen wrote a blog and occasionally answered member questions for the company during this time.
In 1986, Allen met Kathryn Eickstaedt and the two later got engaged. They married in 1993 at O.J. Simpson's Rockingham estate, since Allen was friends with Simpson. Allen played the role of Rick Lambert in the sitcom 1st & Ten with Simpson in the mid-80's. Allen and Eickstaedt's engagement was mentioned in Faye Resnick's book, Nicole Brown Simpson: The Private Diary of a Life Interrupted, which was published during Simpson's murder trial. Resnick claimed Nicole Brown Simpson was having an affair with Allen, and Eickstaedt was aware of Allen's womanizing ways, and if she knew of the affair, she would have to call off the wedding. Sports agent Mike Gilbert (who had represented both Allen and Simpson) and actress Robin Greer both also claimed in O.J.: Made in America that Simpson and Allen had had a romantic relationship. Allen and Eickstaedt were summoned to testify in the trial but fought the subpoena as they wanted to stay out of it. The couple divorced in 2001.
Allen is the older brother of Canadian Football Hall of Fame quarterback Damon Allen.
David John Casper nicknamed "the Ghost", is an American former professional football player who was a tight end in the National Football League, primarily with the Oakland Raiders. Casper has been inducted into both the College Football Hall of Fame (2012) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame (2002).
Casper was selected in the second round of the 1974 NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders. Casper only caught a total of nine passes his first two seasons, but was a top-ten receiver in their championship season in 1976, in which he had 53 catches for 691 yards and 10 touchdowns.
One of Casper's most memorable games as a Raider came in a 1977 Divisional Playoff game against the Baltimore Colts. Casper made an over-the-head catch of a soft pass lofted by Ken Stabler on "The Ghost to the Post." The 42-yard reception set up a game-tying field goal that forced overtime and the Raiders went on to a 37–31 victory with Casper's 10-yard touchdown reception in the second overtime period. He finished the game with four receptions for 70 yards and three touchdowns.
Casper was also involved in another famous NFL contest in 1978 on September 10, between the Raiders and San Diego Chargers. The Raiders trailed the Chargers 20–14 with just ten seconds left in the game when Oakland quarterback Ken Stabler, about to be sacked, dropped the football. He flicked it toward the goal line in an effort to save the game and Raiders running back Pete Banaszak recovered the ball at the San Diego 12-yard line but dropped the ball again, and it rolled further forward. Casper kicked the ball at the San Diego 5-yard line and finally recovered it in the end zone to tie the game. The extra point attempt was good and Oakland won the game by a point, 21–20. Stabler, Banaszak, and Casper all admitted afterwards that they had deliberately fumbled or batted the ball towards the end zone.The Chargers protested on the grounds that Stabler's fumble was actually a forward pass, and therefore should have been ruled incomplete when it hit the ground. As a result of the play, the NFL changed its rules to make it illegal for the teammate of a ball carrier to advance the ball if the ball carrier fumbles on fourth down or in the last two minutes of the game.
Casper caught the first touchdown of Super Bowl XI, a 32–14 Raiders victory over the Minnesota Vikings. As a Raider, Casper was selected to four straight Pro Bowls (1976–1979).
Along with his three touchdown catches in the "Ghost to the Post" game, Casper caught two more TD's in the 1977 AFC Championship Game. His five TD's in a postseason is an NFL record for tight ends that still stands today.
Midway through the 1980 season Casper was traded to the Houston Oilers for their first and second-round draft picks. He was reunited with his former Raider quarterback, Ken Stabler, when he was traded to the Oilers. He finished the 1980 season with 56 receptions and was named to his fifth Pro Bowl. However, the trade caused him to miss out on a second Super Bowl ring, as the Raiders went on to win the Super Bowl that year, beating Houston in the playoffs on the way there. After the 3rd week of the 1983 season, Casper and quarterback Archie Manning were traded to the Minnesota Vikings. In 1984, he returned to the Raiders (who won another Super Bowl the year before) for his final NFL season.
Casper finished his pro career with 378 receptions, 5,216 yards and 52 touchdowns. In 2002, he was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was the 13th Raider to be inducted.
Ronald Mandel Lott is an American former professional football player. He was in the National Football League for 14 seasons from 1981 to 1994.
Lott played college football for the University of Southern California (USC), and was honored as a consensus All-American. A first-round pick in the 1981 NFL draft, he played for the San Francisco 49ers, Los Angeles Raiders, New York Jets, and Kansas City Chiefs of the NFL. Lott was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the International Sports Hall of Fame in 2023, and is widely considered to be one of the best of all time at the safety position in NFL history.
Lott was selected in the first round (8th overall) of the 1981 NFL draft by the San Francisco 49ers. The level of skill demonstrated by the 6-foot, 203-pound standout was instantly recognized, and from the very beginning of training camp he had the job as the 49ers' starting left cornerback. In his rookie season in 1981, he recorded seven interceptions, helped the 49ers to win Super Bowl XVI, and also became only the second rookie in NFL history to return three interceptions for touchdowns. His outstanding play resulted in his finishing second for rookie of the year honors, behind New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor.
Lott switched to the safety position in 1985. He had the tip of his left pinky finger amputated after the 1985 season when it was crushed while tackling running back Timmy Newsome, and a bone graft surgery would not have allowed him to start the 1986 season. While Lott told doctors to amputate the tip of his pinky, years later, he regretted having the procedure done saying he should have just had an operation to fix his finger. An injury sidelined him for the season's last two games in 1986, but he still led the league with a career-best 10 interceptions, while recording 77 tackles, three forced fumbles, and two quarterback sacks. In his 10 years with the 49ers, Lott helped them win eight division titles and four Super Bowls: XVI (1981 season), XIX (1984), XXIII (1988), and XXIV (1989). He is one of five players that were on all four 1980s 49ers Super Bowl wins. The other four are quarterback Joe Montana, linebacker Keena Turner, cornerback Eric Wright, and wide receiver Mike Wilson.
After his career with San Francisco, Lott signed as a free agent in 1991 with the Los Angeles Raiders. In 1991, he led the league in interceptions (8) for a second time.
Lott signed in 1993 with the New York Jets.
After not making the Kansas City Chiefs in 1995, he returned to the 49ers in 1995, but the injuries he had suffered over the previous four seasons continued to plague him, and he announced his retirement before the season began. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, his first year of eligibility, and was also named to the NFL's 75th Anniversary Team in 1994 and the 100th Anniversary Team in 2019.
In his 14 NFL seasons, Lott recorded 8.5 sacks and 63 interceptions, which he returned for 730 yards and five touchdowns. He recovered 17 fumbles, returned them for 43 yards, and gained 113 yards on kickoff returns. Lott also played in 20 postseason games, recording nine interceptions, 89 tackles, one forced fumble, one fumble recovery, and two touchdowns. He was named All-Pro eight times, All-NFC six times, and All-AFC once. Lott had an uncanny awareness of how a play was developing, which allowed him to break up passes and earn a reputation as one of the hardest and most efficient open-field tacklers in the history of the league.
Lott turned to broadcasting following his retirement, serving as an analyst on Fox NFL Sunday in 1996 and 1997, and working on the network's game coverage in 1998.
Lott was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His father served a career in the United States Air Force, retiring as a Senior master sergeant. He now lives in Cupertino, California, with his wife, Karen, and his children, Hailey, Isaiah, and Chloe. USA Today praised him as "one of the most successful athletes at making the transition to business." Along with former teammates Harris Barton and Joe Montana, Lott was a managing partner and a founder of HRJ Capital. Lott owns Toyota, Mercedes-Benz and Hyundai car dealerships. He advises professional athletes who are making a transition to the business world. Lott is also the father of former Tampa Bay Buccaneers linebacker Ryan Nece.
In 1991, Lott, along with Jill Lieber, wrote an autobiography, Total Impact. Lott inspired the Lott IMPACT Trophy, which is given annually by the Pacific Club IMPACT Foundation to college football's Defensive IMPACT Player of the Year. The trophy was first awarded in 2004. Lott was the guest of honor at a CYO fundraiser at Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park, CA in May 2012 where he discussed the importance of helping the community. Lott credits the late Coach Ben Parks as a central figure in the development of his vigorous philanthropic work. On February 17, 2015, he was appointed to the Board of Directors of GSV Capital Corporation, now known as SuRo Capital Corp., a publicly traded investment fund.
Howard Matthew Moses Long is an American former football defensive end who played in the National Football League for 13 seasons. He spent his entire career with the Oakland and Los Angeles Raiders franchise, who selected him in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft. Long received eight Pro Bowl and three first-team All-Pro selections while helping the team win Super Bowl XVIII. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.
After retiring, Long pursued a career in acting and broadcasting and serves as a studio analyst for Fox Sports' NFL coverage.
Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, Long was raised in Charlestown, Boston, primarily by his uncles and maternal grandmother.
He attended Milford High School in Milford, Worcester County, Massachusetts, and is a member of the Milford Hall of Fame. Long was an all-around athlete, playing football (lettered three years and was named to the Scholastic Coach All-America team as a senior, although he had never played football until age 15), basketball (lettered three years as a forward), and track (lettered three years, competing in the shot put, discus, and javelin). Long also set state records in the shot put and discus.
Selected in the second round of the 1981 NFL draft by the Oakland Raiders, Long played 13 seasons for the club, wearing the number 75. On the Raiders defensive line, Long earned eight Pro Bowl selections.
He had high aspirations early in his career. He told Football Digest in 1986 that he wanted "Financial security, and I want to be President. That's my goal. And I'd like to win a few more Super Bowls." Along the way, he was also named first-team All-Pro three times (in 1983, '84, and '85) and second-team All-Pro twice (in 1986 and 1989). He was selected by John Madden to the All-Madden teams in 1984 and 1985 and was named to the 10th Anniversary All-Madden team in 1994.
Long was voted the NFL Alumni Defensive Lineman of the Year and the NFLPA AFC Defensive Lineman of the Year in 1985. He capped off a stellar 1985 season earning the George Halas Trophy for having been voted the NEA's co-NFL Defensive Player of the Year (along with Andre Tippett). He was also named the Seagrams' Seven Crown NFL Defensive Player of the year. The following year, Long was voted the Miller Lite NFL Defensive Lineman of the Year. Both those awards were taken by polls of NFL players. In 1986, Long was voted to his fourth consecutive Pro Bowl and was key in helping the Raiders record 63 sacks and being the number one defense in the AFC. From 1983 to 1986 the Raiders defense recorded 249 sacks, which tied with the Chicago Bears for tops in the NFL over that span.
Long collected 91.5 sacks during his career (7.5 are not official, as sacks were not an official statistic during his rookie year). His career high was in 1983 with 13 sacks, including a career-high five against the Washington Redskins on October 2, 1983. He also intercepted two passes and recovered 10 fumbles during his 13-year career. At the time of his retirement, he was the last player still with the team who had been a Raider before the franchise moved to Los Angeles. He won the Super Bowl XVIII title as the left defensive end with the Raiders (1983 season), beating the Washington Redskins, as he outplayed the opposing offensive tackle, George Starke; the vaunted Washington running game led by John Riggins had only 90 yards in 32 rush attempts.
Long's signature defensive move was the "rip," which employed a quick, uppercut-like motion designed to break an opposing blocker's grip.
Pro Football Weekly (PFW) named Long as one of the ends on its All-time 3–4 defensive front, along with Lee Roy Selmon, Curley Culp, Lawrence Taylor, Andre Tippett, Randy Gradishar, and Harry Carson. PFW based its "Ultimate 3–4" team on the vote of over 40 former NFL players, coaches, and scouts.
After his retirement from the NFL following the 1993 season, Long pursued an acting career, focused mainly on action films—including Firestorm, a 1998 feature in which he starred. He also appeared as a co-star in the suspense movie Broken Arrow, alongside star John Travolta. He played a minor role in the movie 3000 Miles to Graceland alongside Kevin Costner, Kurt Russell and Courteney Cox. In That Thing You Do!, Long appears as Mr. White's (Tom Hanks) "partner" Lloyd in the extended cut of the movie, released on DVD in 2007. Long's part was entirely cut from the theatrical release.
Long also made numerous cameo appearances on TV shows and commercials. Long was a spokesman for Radio Shack, making commercials with actress Teri Hatcher. He has also been featured in many other national commercials and advertising campaigns including those of Coors Light, Nike, Campbell's Chunky Soup, Hanes, Frito Lay, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell, Nabisco, Kraft, the Bud Bowl campaign, Honda, and currently for Chevrolet.
After his retirement, Long began as a studio analyst for the Fox Network's NFL coverage, where he often plays the "straight man" to the comic antics of co-host Terry Bradshaw, as well as writing a column for Foxsports.com. In addition, he hosts an annual award show on Fox, Howie Long's Tough Guys, which honors the NFL players whom he deems the toughest and gives "the toughest" a Chevrolet truck. Long won a Sports Emmy Award in 1996 as "Outstanding Sports Personality/Analyst".
Long is also the author of Football for Dummies, a book to help average fans understand the basics of professional football; it is part of the For Dummies series by Wiley Publishing. He is an alumnus of, and volunteers his time for, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. He was named the 2000 Walter Camp Man of the Year by the Walter Camp Foundation.
After his football career, Long became known for his use of a popular stock sound effect in the movie Broken Arrow. During his death scene, the sound effect is used, which became known as the Howie scream.
Long met his future wife Diane Addonizio during his freshman year at Villanova; they married in 1982, and they have three sons. The eldest, Chris, is a retired defensive end, who played for the St. Louis Rams, New England Patriots, and Philadelphia Eagles, winning two Super Bowls in his own right. The middle son, Kyle, is a guard who played for the Chicago Bears, and played one season for the Kansas City Chiefs after signing with them in March 2021. His youngest, Howie Jr., works in player personnel for the Raiders. Long is a Roman Catholic.
Eric Demetric Dickerson is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League for 11 seasons. Dickerson played college football for the Mustangs of Southern Methodist University and was recognized as an All-American. He was selected second overall in the 1983 NFL draft by the Los Angeles Rams, and later played for the Indianapolis Colts, Los Angeles Raiders, and Atlanta Falcons. During his NFL career, he rushed for over 13,000 yards. He holds the NFL's single-season rushing record with 2,105 yards, set in 1984. Dickerson was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1999 and, in 2019, was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. He wore prescription goggles throughout his career due to myopia.
Before the 1983 NFL draft, the Houston Oilers said they would draft Dickerson second if they did not make a trade. Dickerson’s family opposed him playing for the Oilers, although Dickerson himself was merely cool about doing so, while, like John Elway Dickerson would have flatly refused to play for the Baltimore Colts had they drafted him. A trade with the Oilers saw the Los Angeles Rams acquire the second pick, which they used to draft Dickerson. Although he considered going to the Los Angeles Express in the United States Football League, Dickerson ultimately decided to play for the Rams. An immediate success, he established rookie records for most rushing attempts (390), most rushing yards gained (1,808) and most touchdowns rushing (18), including another two receiving touchdowns. His efforts earned him All-Pro, Pro Bowl, Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year honors.
In his second season, Dickerson continued his onslaught on the NFL record book becoming a member of the 2,000-yard club. Twelve times in 1984 he gained more than 100 yards rushing, breaking the record of 100-yard games in a season held by O. J. Simpson. His 2,105 total yards rushing beat Simpson's 1973 NFL season record of 2,003 yards (Dickerson having reached 2,007 yards after 15 games), but since the NFL expanded the regular season from 14 to 16 games in 1978, Dickerson had the benefit of playing in two additional games. No one has since rushed for more yards in a single NFL season. Dickerson's 5.6 yards per carry led the Rams to a playoff berth in 1984.
Although he rushed for 1,234 yards in 1985 while missing the first two games due to a contract dispute, Dickerson missed the Pro Bowl for the first time in his young NFL career. He did go on to rush for a playoff record 248 yards against the Dallas Cowboys in post-season play.
The 1985 season marked the beginning of ongoing contract disputes between Dickerson and the Rams. In 1987, after playing just three games for the Rams during the strike-shortened 1987 season, Dickerson was traded to the Indianapolis Colts in one of the NFL's biggest trades ever at that time. In a three-team deal, the Colts traded linebacker Cornelius Bennett, whom they drafted but were unable to sign to a contract, to the Buffalo Bills for their first-round pick in 1988, first- and second-round picks in 1989, and running back Greg Bell. The Colts in turn traded Bell and the three draft choices from Buffalo plus their own first- and second-round picks in 1988, their second-round pick in 1989, and running back Owen Gill to the Rams for Dickerson. With the picks the Rams took running back Gaston Green, wide receiver Aaron Cox, linebacker Fred Strickland, running back Cleveland Gary, linebacker Frank Stams, and defensive back Darryl Henley. The trade reunited Dickerson with Ron Meyer, who had left SMU after Dickerson's junior season to take the head coaching position in New England and who was hired by the Colts in 1986 following Rod Dowhower's firing.
Although he played in just nine games with the Colts that year, he still managed to gain 1,011 yards to finish the season with 1,288. Also, he spearheaded a late season Colts run that helped the team to their first winning season (and first playoff berth) in 10 years.
In 1988, Dickerson, with 1,659 yards rushing, became the first Colt to lead the league in rushing since Alan Ameche in 1955. This would mark the apogee of Dickerson's career with the Colts (although he would gain 1,311 yards rushing in 1989). Also, 1989 was the year that he passed the 10,000-yard mark, becoming the fastest player ever to do so (91 games), accomplishing the feat faster than greats like Jim Brown (98 games), Barry Sanders (103 games), Emmitt Smith (106 games), and LaDainian Tomlinson (106 games). By 1989, he had set a new NFL record with seven straight seasons of more than 1,000 yards rushing, and led the league for four of those seasons. With the retirement of Tony Dorsett at the end of 1988, he became the leader among active players in career rushing yards, a position he occupied until his own retirement in 1993.
However, injuries, further contract disputes, and suspensions clouded his final two seasons with the Colts. Dickerson, at 29, was the highest-paid running back in the NFL, receiving an annual reported salary of $1.4 million. Following prolonged contract disputes, the fed-up Colts placed him on the inactive list before the start of the 1990 season where he stayed for 7 weeks and lost more than $600,000 in salary. In his sixth game back from suspension, he rushed for 143 yards against the Bengals on 22 carries, this effort lifted him past Jim Brown to third place on the NFL career rushing list behind Walter Payton and Tony Dorsett. He was again suspended in November 1991, and amidst injuries and age, managed to run for only 536 yards that season. The Colts finished the year bottoming out with a 1–15 record.
Dickerson has described the trade to Indianapolis as the worst moment of his career, and stated that he disliked his time with the Colts.
On April 26, 1992, Dickerson was traded by the Colts to the Los Angeles Raiders for their fourth- and eighth-round picks in the 1992 draft. There were occasional flashes of greatness—107 yards against the Broncos, 103 against the Chargers, where he recorded his 63rd and 64th career 100-yard games—but those would be his last. Dickerson also scored on a 40-yard touchdown run, reminiscent of his prime, in front of a nationally televised Monday Night audience in a game against Kansas City. That year, he led the team in rushing attempts and yards. However, he suffered from splitting carries with Marcus Allen by having the latter finish the second half.
The following season, Dickerson was traded to the Atlanta Falcons on July 7, 1993, for a sixth-round draft pick. He played in a backup role, making his final national televised appearance during the Monday Night Football game on September 27, 1993, when the Falcons hosted the Pittsburgh Steelers in a losing effort. The Falcons traded Dickerson and third-year cornerback Bruce Pickens to the Green Bay Packers for running back John Stephens on October 13, 1993.
The trade came a week after Dickerson said he had been told that the Falcons were waiving him because Coach Jerry Glanville wanted to use younger players. The next day, Falcons officials said that there had been a misunderstanding and that Dickerson had not been placed on waivers. Dickerson retired as the second leading rusher of all time after failing a physical with the Packers.
On August 29, 2017, Dickerson signed a one-day contract to officially retire as a member of the Los Angeles Rams.
Michael James Haynes is an American former professional football player who was a cornerback in the National Football League for the New England Patriots and the Los Angeles Raiders. Regarded as one of the greatest cornerbacks of all time, he used his speed, physicality, quickness and range to become both an elite defensive back and an outstanding punt returner. Haynes was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1997. He was also named to the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994, as well the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019 for his accomplishments during his 14-year career.
Voted NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year in 1976, Haynes would go to be a nine-time Pro Bowler and two-time first-team All-Pro throughout his career, in addition to six selections as a second-team All-Pro (including five consecutive from 1976 to 1980). He was also named to the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.
Haynes was selected in the first round in the 1976 NFL draft by the New England Patriots. He enjoyed a sensational rookie year with the Patriots with eight interceptions, three fumble recoveries, and an AFC-leading 608 yards on 45 punt returns. That year, Haynes gave the Patriots their first-ever touchdowns on punt returns with 89-yard and 62-yard returns. He earned a Pro Bowl invitation as a rookie, the first of nine Pro Bowl bids. He also won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year honors. The 1976 Patriots had an 11–3 record and clinched a playoff berth for the first time in 13 years, losing to Oakland in the first round. In 1978, Haynes recorded 6 interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown against the Baltimore Colts. The Patriots won their division but lost to Houston in the playoffs.
Haynes recorded 28 interceptions and 1,159 yards on 111 returns, a 10.4-yard average during his seven years with the Patriots. He started his career with 58 consecutive starts before being sidelined with a rib injury late in 1979.
Haynes was inducted into the Patriots Hall of Fame in 1994, and his number 40 was retired as well. He was named to the Patriots' All-1970s Team, the 35th Anniversary Team named in 1994, as well as the 50th Anniversary Team named in 2009. He makes sporadic appearances involving the team to this day.
Haynes played out his option with the Patriots in 1982, and in November 1983, his contract was awarded to the Los Angeles Raiders in a settlement that gave the Patriots a No. 1 draft choice in 1984 and a No. 2 pick in 1985. After playing the last five regular season games, he started in the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII victory, notching one interception, two pass breakups and one tackle. His partner in the Raiders' secondary was Lester Hayes, and the tandem was quickly recognized as one of the best cornerback duos in league history. Washington Redskins general manager Bobby Beathard later said that Haynes tipped the balance heavily in the Raiders' favor. The Raiders and Redskins had played in the regular season when Haynes was still a Patriot, and his addition gave the Raiders the luxury of having two shutdown corners.
In seven seasons with the Raiders, Haynes returned only one punt but he added 18 interceptions to give him a career total of 46 which were returned for 688 yards and two touchdowns, including a team-record 97-yard return against Miami in 1984. Haynes finished that season with a league-leading 220 interception return yards. He also had 12 career fumble recoveries. Haynes was an All-Pro choice in 1977, 1978, 1982, 1984 and 1985 and an All-AFC pick eight times. On special teams, he totaled 112 punt returns for 1,168 yards and two scores.
In 1997, he was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was ranked number 93 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. He is ranked number 49 on the NFL Network Top 100 Greatest Players.
Allen Davis was an American football coach and executive. He was the principal owner and general manager (officially titled managing general partner) of the National Football League Oakland Raiders for 39 years, from 1972 until his death in 2011. Prior to becoming principal owner of the Raiders, he served as the team's head coach from 1963 to 1965 and part owner from 1966 to 1971, assuming both positions while the Raiders were part of the American Football League (AFL). He served as AFL commissioner in 1966.
Known for his motto "Just win, baby", the Raiders became one of the NFL's most successful and popular teams under Davis' management. The franchise enjoyed their greatest successes during the 1970s and 1980s where they were perennial playoff contenders and won three Super Bowl titles. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.
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 hotels. He was the first NFL owner in the modern era to hire a black head coach (Art Shell), the first to hire a female chief executive (Amy Trask), and the first NFL owner to hire a Latino head coach (Tom Flores). He remains the only executive in NFL history to be an assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner, and owner.
In job hunting, he would introduce himself as "Davis from Syracuse", likely intentionally to conflate with George Davis, star halfback for the school's football team. Turned down at Hofstra University and by Bill Altenberg, athletic director at Adelphi University (both on Long Island), he approached Adelphi's president. What went on between the two men is not known; his biographer Mark Ribowsky suggests Davis used a combination of "bluff and con," but a half hour after Altenberg dismissed Davis from his office, he received a call from the president that he had a new freshman football coach.
In 1952, with his student deferral ended upon receipt of his master's degree, Davis was inducted into the United States Army. He quickly secured a place attached to a public relations unit near Syracuse, and set about obtaining a place on one of the coaching staff for the military's football teams. General Stanley Scott of Fort Belvoir, Virginia, obtained Davis's services in 1953 as football coach for his post's football squad. At the time, military football was taken very seriously; the teams were well-stocked with drafted college stars, and often scrimmaged National Football League teams. Davis coached Fort Belvoir, just south of Washington, D.C., to a record of eight wins, two losses, and one tie (8–2–1), missing a chance to play in the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego because of a final-game loss to the nearby Quantico Marine Base. As a private first class, he was often coaching players of a higher rank, including officers.[19] Near the end of 1952, he was called to testify before a congressional committee investigating whether athletes were being coddled in the military. Although most of Davis's team was sent to Korea, he remained at Fort Belvoir until his discharge in 1954.[20][21] While coaching in the army, Davis sold scouting information about his players to NFL teams.[22] One NFL executive who contacted Davis was Pete Rozelle of the Los Angeles Rams, but as Rozelle had been allocated no money, Davis gave him no information.
During games, Davis was stationed in the press box, calling plays which were generally run by Sauer without modification. The Citadel unexpectedly began the season by winning five of its first six games, although it lost the next three to end the season 5–4. Davis received much credit for his role in The Citadel's success, although losing Sauer's regard through too-aggressive self-promotion. The 1956 season was less successful, as the team finished 3–5–1. Sauer resigned at the end of the season; Davis unsuccessfully sought the head coaching position and then resigned; Ribowsky records that there were allegations of payments and other benefits to players in violation of NCAA rules; he also states that Davis pressured professors to change grades to keep student-athletes eligible to play football. By the time he left The Citadel, Davis had already arranged his next job, at the University of Southern California (USC) in Los Angeles.
Davis was an effective recruiter as a USC assistant coach, bringing one prospect, Angelo Coia to the Los Angeles Coliseum at night, and as the lights were slowly turned off, asked the student to imagine himself playing there before 100,000 people. Coia played for USC and later worked for the Raider front office. When Davis arrived, USC was on NCAA probation for allowing alumni to surreptitiously give money to players, and had not been permitted to play in a bowl game after the 1956 season; these sanctions hampered Davis's first two seasons at USC, 1957 and 1958, during which the team posted a combined 5-14-1 record. The head coach, Don Clark, came to rely heavily on Davis. Clark and Davis hoped that 1959 would bring a conference championship and the chance to play in the Rose Bowl, but in April 1959 USC was sanctioned by the NCAA again, this time for inducing recruits signed by other schools into breaking their letters of intent. Not allowed to play on television, USC won its first eight games before losing to UCLA and Notre Dame. Despite the defeats, the team was Pacific Coast Conference champions, but because of the sanctions could not play in the Rose Bowl. Clark resigned after the season; although Davis put in for the position, it went to another assistant, John McKay, who did not keep Davis on his staff.
Davis had met Los Angeles Rams coach Sid Gillman in Atlantic City at a coaching clinic; the NFL coach had been impressed that Davis had sat in the front row, taken copious notes, and had asked many questions afterwards. Gillman was fired after the 1959 season, but was quickly hired by the Los Angeles Chargers of the startup American Football League (AFL) for their debut 1960 season. He hired Davis as backfield coach on a coaching staff which included future hall of famer Chuck Noll as well as future AFL head coach and NFL general manager Jack Faulkner. Gillman later stated that he hired Davis for his success both as a coach and as a recruiter, and because "Al had that knack of telling people what they wanted to hear. He was very persuasive."
The AFL's rules were crafted to encourage wide-open, high-scoring football. In later years, much to Gillman's anger, Davis hinted that he had designed the Chargers' offense, or at least deserved partial credit. The team initially proved successful, winning the AFL Western Division in 1960 and 1961, although losing each time in the AFL Championship Game to the Houston Oilers. Due to financial losses sustained by drawing small crowds to the huge Los Angeles Coliseum, the team moved to San Diego in 1961. In 1962, however, the team won only four of fourteen games.
One player whom Davis recommended to the Chargers, and then secured, was wide receiver Lance Alworth of Arkansas, who was a first-round selection of NFL San Francisco 49ers in the 1962 NFL Draft. Unwilling to give the 49ers a chance to sign him, Davis raced onto the field at the conclusion of Alworth's final college game and signed him to a contract under the goalpost as 49ers head coach Red Hickey watched helplessly from the stands. Davis later stated, "I knew it wasn't safe to let Alworth go to the dressing room." In 1978, Davis was selected by Alworth to introduce him at his induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
Early in the 1962 season, Davis spoke with Oakland Raiders owner F. Wayne Valley about their head coaching job. However, Davis was not then interested. After the team's disastrous 1962 season, in which it lost its first 13 games before defeating a Boston Patriots team demoralized from having just been eliminated from playoff contention, Valley sought to replace head coach Red Conkright.
A number of names were rumored to be in contention for the Raiders head coaching job, from Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi to Lou Agase, former coach of the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts. On January 1, 1963, Davis met with Valley and the other Raiders general partner, Ed McGah. According to witnesses present at the negotiations, Davis did not have a high opinion of Valley and McGah, indicating during their absence that they did not know the right questions to ask. They offered him a one-year contract as head coach. He declined, insisting on a multi-year deal as both head coach and general manager, with complete control over football operations, to which they eventually agreed and settled on a three-year stint at an annual salary of $20,000. According to Davis biographer Ira Simmons, the date that Davis came to Oakland, January 18, 1963, "was probably one of the three or four most important dates in AFL history. Maybe NFL history too." Valley later stated, "we needed someone who wanted to win so badly, he would do anything. Everywhere I went, people told me what a son of a bitch Al Davis was, so I figured he must be doing something right."
The Raiders team had been a late addition to the original AFL in 1960; the franchise had been awarded when the owners of the AFL Minnesota team had been induced to join the NFL instead. While it inherited the departed Minnesota team's draft picks, it had little else. The franchise, originally nicknamed the Señors (changed to Raiders after columnists raised objections) was not established until the other AFL teams had had the opportunity to sign players and coaches, a handicap which contributed to it being the only team to post a losing record in each of the AFL's first three seasons. The University of California refused to let it play at Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, and no other facility in the East Bay was suitable even for temporary use, forcing it to play its first two seasons at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park, both located across the bay in San Francisco.
Valley and his group purchased the Raiders in 1961. Valley and his partners used the threat of leaving to induce city officials to construct Frank Youell Field, a temporary facility in downtown Oakland next to the Nimitz Freeway which held about 15,000 people, the use of which was shared with high schools. Planning for a larger stadium — what became the Oakland Coliseum — began, but there was no guarantee that it would ever be built.
Davis immediately began to try to build the Raiders into a championship team, both on the field and in the front office. Many Raiders players and front-office employees were dismissed. Since their first season, the Raiders had used hand-me-down black and gold uniforms from the University of the Pacific in Stockton. Davis had been impressed by the black uniforms of the football players at West Point, which he felt made them look larger. Soon after he arrived, the Raiders adopted their now-iconic silver and black motif. The Raiders' offices were on an open mezzanine overlooking a downtown Oakland hotel lobby; Davis got Valley to move them to more private facilities. With no agreement between the AFL and NFL, drafted players often went to the higher bidder. Davis could not hope to outbid the NFL and drafted players with remaining college eligibility, hoping to sign them once they finished their careers. Thus, his hopes of success for 1963 rested on what trades he could make, and in signing players cut by other teams.
Davis's methods of acquiring these players caused other teams' executives to regard him with respect and caution. He acquired All-AFL guard Bob Mischak from the New York Jets for Dan Ficca without telling Jets coach/general manager Weeb Ewbank that Ficca would not be released from his military service until after the season began. Wide receiver Art Powell had played out his contract with New York and become a free agent, and had apparently been signed by the Buffalo Bills. Davis learned that the Powell contract had been made before the season ended, and thus constituted tampering. He signed Powell himself, and the Bills did not contest it.
Gillman's Chargers teams had used high-powered offenses. Davis sought to increase their power. From the opening of training camp, he sought to motivate his players, using techniques he had learned in the military. From the start, players saw phrases like "commitment to excellence" and, on schedules next to the time of games, "We go to war!" In the season opener, at Houston's Jeppesen Stadium against the Oilers, the two-touchdown underdog Raiders won, 24–13, then came home to defeat the Bills 35–17. A home loss to the Patriots was next, followed by an East Coast road trip on which the Raiders lost all three games. To growing excitement in Oakland, the Raiders did not lose the rest of the season, finishing 10–4, a game behind the division champion Chargers, whom the Raiders defeated twice. Davis was voted AFL Coach of the Year. The 1963 Oakland Raiders were the only pro football team to improve its record by nine victories under the 14-game schedule.
Although the team slipped to 5–7–2 in 1964, it rebounded to an 8–5–1 record in 1965.
By the end of its sixth season in 1965, the American Football League had overcome its initial status of bare-bones survivor to become a significant rival to the NFL. With a television contract with NBC and major stadiums constructed or being built, the AFL could afford to compete on equal terms for players with the NFL. Not all AFL owners sought a merger — Jets owner Sonny Werblin, for example, felt that with brand-new Shea Stadium and the young star Joe Namath at quarterback, his team could compete on equal terms with the crosstown NFL Giants, then playing at Yankee Stadium in the South Bronx. However, most AFL owners wanted to be a part of the older, better-established NFL, whose owners feared continued escalation of player salaries.
While the AFL owners liked the league's first commissioner, Joe Foss, they had little confidence in his abilities at a time for struggle between the two leagues, and Foss resigned on April 7, 1966. Davis, 36, was voted in as commissioner the following day, and took the job with Valley's agreement, hired as a fighter who would win the war with the NFL. The owners, led by Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt, felt that Davis could put pressure on the NFL and force a favorable settlement. His biographer, Glenn Dickey, notes that Davis was deceived by the owners, "He thought he had been hired to win the war with the NFL. In fact, the owners only wanted to force a peace. They were quietly negotiating a merger while Davis was fighting a war."
According to sportswriter Ken Rappoport in his history of the AFL, "Davis had a plan, and, considering the football genius the man would become, no one should have been surprised that it would work—brilliantly." Davis's target in the war was the NFL's quarterbacks, arranging for AFL teams to sign star players, such as Roman Gabriel of the Rams, who would be free agents after 1966 although that season had not yet begun. Gabriel, with his AFL contract to begin in 1967, received an immediate $100,000 bonus. The signing of 49ers quarterback John Brodie was announced by Davis and the AFL. These transactions increased the financial pressure on the NFL's weaker franchises, which faced the prospect of losing their best players in a year, or greatly increasing their labor costs. A merger agreement was announced on June 8 and Davis was greatly displeased with the agreement on two fronts. It required the Jets and Raiders to pay indemnities to the Giants and 49ers for establishing teams within their exclusive territories, and it also put him out of a job: the merger agreement immediately abolished the post of AFL commissioner. Pete Rozelle would continue in his post as NFL commissioner under the merger agreement. Davis had hoped to be named commissioner if any merger was reached; the result increased what already had become a dislike of Rozelle.
Davis resigned as commissioner on July 25, 1966. AFL owners wanted Davis to continue serving as AFL President. AFL owners had explicitly agreed that the office of AFL President would be subservient to that of the NFL Commissioner, and Davis flatly refused to consider serving as a subordinate to Rozelle. Eventually, Milt Woodard (who was assistant commissioner under Foss) agreed to serve as President of the AFL.
After resigning as AFL commissioner, Davis formed a holding company, A.D. Football, Inc. and returned to his old club as one of three general partners, along with Wayne Valley and Ed McGah. He owned a 10% stake in the team, and was also named head of football operations. From this day onward, Davis was operating head of the franchise; Valley and McGah largely left the Raiders in Davis' hands.
On the field, the team Davis had assembled and coached steadily improved. With John Rauch (Davis's hand-picked successor) as head coach, the Raiders won the 1967 AFL Championship, defeating the Houston Oilers 40–7. The win earned the team a trip to Super Bowl II, where they were beaten 33–14 by Vince Lombardi's Green Bay Packers. The following two years, the Raiders again won Western Division titles, only to lose the AFL Championship to the eventual Super Bowl winners—the New York Jets (1968) and Kansas City Chiefs (1969).
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 six division titles during the 1970s. In 1970, the AFL-NFL merger took place and the Raiders joined the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the newly merged NFL. The first post-merger season saw the Raiders win the AFC West with an 8–4–2 record and go all the way to the conference championship, where they lost to the Colts. Despite another 8–4–2 season in 1971, the Raiders failed to win the division or achieve a playoff berth.
In 1972, while managing general partner Valley was attending the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Davis drafted a revised partnership agreement that made him the new managing general partner, with near-absolute control over team operations. McGah signed the agreement. Since two of the team's three general partners had voted in favor of the agreement, it was binding under California partnership law at the time. Valley sued to overturn the agreement once he returned to the country but was unsuccessful. Valley sold his interest in 1976 and from that point none of the other partners played any role in the team's operations, despite the fact that Davis did not acquire a majority interest in the Raiders until 2005, when he bought the shares held by McGah's family (McGah died in 1983). At the time of his death, Davis owned about 67% of the team.
In addition to serving as owner, Davis effectively served as his own general manager until his death — longer than any football operations chief in the league at the time. When he died, he was one of three NFL owners who had the title or powers of general manager, the others being Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys and Mike Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals. Davis was long recognized as one of the most hands-on owners in professional sports and reportedly had more authority over day-to-day operations than any other owner in the league.
Davis was known throughout the league as a maverick and dressed the part. By the time he had taken complete control of the Raiders, he had assumed his classic image—slicked-back hair in a 1950s-style ducktail, dark sunglasses, tracksuits and Brooklyn-tinged speech ("the Raiduhs").
With Davis in control, the Raiders became one of the most successful teams in all of professional sports. From 1967 to 1985, the team won 13 division championships, one AFL championship (1967), three Super Bowls (XI, XV and XVIII) and made 15 playoff appearances. Although the Raiders later fell on harder times, going 37–91 from 2003 to 2010, they are one of only five teams to play in the Super Bowl in four different decades[timeframe?], the others being the Pittsburgh Steelers, New England Patriots, New York Giants and Denver Broncos.
In 1992, Davis was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a Team and League Administrator and was presented by John Madden. Davis was chosen by a record nine Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees to present them at the Canton, Ohio ceremony: Lance Alworth, Jim Otto, George Blanda, Willie Brown, Gene Upshaw, Fred Biletnikoff, Art Shell, Ted Hendricks and Madden.
In 2007, Davis sold a minority stake in the Raiders for $150 million and said that he would not retire until he won two more Super Bowls or died.
Davis' generosity was legendary when it came to helping former players in need, although he routinely did so without fanfare. His philosophy was: once a Raider, always a Raider.
Davis was long considered one of the most controversial owners in the NFL and was involved in multiple lawsuits involving Los Angeles, Oakland, Irwindale and the National Football League. In 1980, he attempted to move the Raiders to Los Angeles but was blocked by a court injunction. In response, Davis filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NFL and his team won the Super Bowl. In June 1982 a federal district court ruled in Davis' favor and the team relocated to Los Angeles for the 1982 NFL season. When the upstart United States Football League filed its antitrust suit in 1986, Davis was the only NFL owner who sided with the USFL.
In 1995, after being unable to secure a new stadium in the Los Angeles area and when a proposed move to Sacramento that involved Davis taking ownership of the Sacramento Kings fell apart, Davis moved the team back to Oakland then sued the NFL, claiming the league sabotaged the team's effort to build a stadium at Hollywood Park in Inglewood by not doing enough to help the team move from the antiquated Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum to a new stadium complete with luxury suites. The NFL won a verdict in 2001, but Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Richard Hubbell ordered a new trial amid accusations that one juror was biased against the team and Davis and that another juror committed misconduct. A state appeals court later overturned that decision. The case was thrown out in 2007 when the Supreme Court of California unanimously ruled that the verdict against the Raiders stood. This was the last of several lawsuits the Raiders had outstanding against the league and its stadium landlords.
In the mid-1990s, Davis sued the NFL on behalf of the Raiders, claiming the Raiders had exclusive rights to the Los Angeles market, even though the Raiders were in Oakland. Davis and the Raiders lost the lawsuit.
In 2007, NFL Films chose the feud between Davis and the NFL/Pete Rozelle as their number 1 greatest feud in NFL history on the NFL Network's Top Ten Feuds, citing almost a half-century of animosity between Davis and the league. Some believe that the root of Davis' animosity towards the NFL and his former co-owners in the AFL was the surreptitious way they pushed the AFL-NFL merger behind his back.
The feud was most recently chronicled in Al Davis vs. the NFL, a documentary on the feud between Davis and Rozelle first broadcast by ESPN on February 4, 2021, as part of its 30 for 30 series. The film's narrative structure uses reconstructions of Davis and Rozelle to "tell" its story, using deepfake technology and extensive content from the NFL Films archives.
Davis introduced the Raiders' signature colors silver and black in 1963 in a unilateral move as head coach and general manager. In 1966 as AFL Commissioner, Davis initiated a bidding war with the NFL over players. But it was his return to Oakland in 1967 that allowed him to reach his true calling. That season Davis made a number of roster moves, including landing Buffalo Bills quarterback Daryle Lamonica, a backup for starter Jack Kemp on two AFL champion Bills teams. Another move at first thought to be desperate was the signing of former Houston Oilers quarterback George Blanda, who was already 39 but was still a very solid placekicker, and had played on the first AFL champion teams with Houston, as well as for the Chicago Bears and Baltimore Colts before that. Davis identified Blanda as a mentor for Lamonica as well as a solid special teams man despite his advanced age. That year, he also drafted guard Gene Upshaw, who would become the cornerstone of the Oakland offensive line well into the 1980s. Lamonica propelled the Raiders to a 13–1 won-lost record in the 1967–68 season, and they coasted to the league championship with a 40–7 victory over Houston, although they were defeated easily by the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II. Oakland under Davis would go on to win the two remaining AFL Western Division titles before the 1970 AFL–NFL merger.
During the first years of the new league format Oakland was a dominant franchise, winning the AFC West Division every year except 1971, and was kept out of the Super Bowls between 1970 and 1975 only by phenomenal Baltimore Colts, Miami Dolphins and Pittsburgh Steelers teams. Indeed, during the nine-year span from 1967 through 1975, the Raiders were eliminated by the team that won the Super Bowl on seven occasions (Green Bay in Super Bowl II at the end of the 1967 season, Super Bowl III champion New York in the 1968 AFL Championship Game, Super Bowl IV champion Kansas City in the 1969 AFL Championship Game, Super Bowl V champion Baltimore in the 1970 AFC Championship, Super Bowl VIII champion Miami in the 1973 AFC Championship Game, and Super Bowl IX and X champion Pittsburgh in the 1974 and 1975 AFC Championship Games). Finally, in 1976, the Raiders won their first title in Super Bowl XI under Davis's homegrown head coach John Madden. From 1970 to 1981 Oakland was able to reach the AFC Championship Game seven out of eleven years, and won two Super Bowls. They also captured additional division titles in that span.
Marcus Allen, the most valuable player in the Raiders' Super Bowl XVIII victory, was ordered benched by Davis for two years following a contract dispute. Davis only commented, "He was a cancer on the team." Allen said that Davis "told me he was going to get me." He added that "I think he's tried to ruin the later part of my career. He's trying to stop me from going to the Hall of Fame. They don't want me to play." Davis called Allen's charges "fraudulent", and then-Raiders coach Art Shell said only he decided who plays. The Raiders released Allen in 1992, and he played the last five years of his 16-year, Hall of Fame career with the Kansas City Chiefs.
On February 18, 2002, Davis dealt his head coach Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for Tampa Bay's 2002 and 2003 first-round draft picks, 2002 and 2004 second-round draft picks, and $8 million in cash. His replacement, Bill Callahan, led Oakland to an 11–5 record and their third consecutive division championship. The Raiders reached Super Bowl XXXVII, where they faced Gruden, who led Tampa Bay to its first Super Bowl berth. The Buccaneers won in a 48–21 blowout, in a matchup that was termed the "Gruden Bowl". Seventeen years later, Gruden returned to the Raiders as head coach in 2018 after seven years with the Buccaneers and nine years with ESPN, although he resigned in 2021 as a result of emails leaked of Gruden making misogynistic, homophobic, and racist comments.
Although it was not apparent at the time, the Raiders' loss in the Super Bowl would be Davis' last hurrah. The Raiders would start to struggle and suffer six consecutive losing seasons from 2003 to 2009, the longest drought in franchise history. This included double-digit loss record seasons in seven consecutive years from 2003 to 2009. The team cycled through multiple head coaches. Their 2007 first overall draft pick, quarterback JaMarcus Russell, was called "the biggest draft flop in NFL history" by FoxSports.com. Davis was largely blamed, and his motto of "Just win, baby!" was mocked by many. Russell was released by the Raiders in May 2010 and never played another down in the NFL.
The 2011 Raiders' record was 2–2 at Davis' death. The day after his death, the Raiders defeated the Houston Texans 25–20 on a final play interception by safety Michael Huff in the end zone. The Raiders finished the season with a record of 8–8 and missed the playoffs, after starting the season 7–4.
Davis breached several civil rights and diversity barriers during his career with the Raiders. In 1963, the Raiders were scheduled to play a preseason game in Mobile, Alabama. In protest of Alabama's segregation laws, Davis refused to allow the game to be played there and demanded the game be moved to Oakland. He also refused to allow the players to travel to cities to play games where the black and white players would have to stay in separate hotels.
Davis was the first NFL owner to hire an African American head coach, Art Shell, and a female chief executive, Amy Trask. He also hired Tom Flores, the first Latino head coach in the league.
Davis died, aged 82, in his suite at the Hilton Hotel Oakland Airport at 2:45 a.m. PDT on October 8, 2011, in Oakland, California. Nine days later, a private service and funeral was held for Davis, who was interred at Chapel of the Chimes. In the days following the funeral, The Associated Press obtained information pertaining to Davis' death. The death certificate, issued by Alameda County, disclosed Davis had died from "an abnormal heart rhythm, congestive heart failure and a heart muscle disease". Davis had previously undergone heart surgery in 1996. Davis was also afflicted with Merkel-cell carcinoma, a rare skin cancer, and had undergone throat surgery in the days preceding his death.
There was an outpouring of support and grief in the wake of Davis' death. John Madden, who had remained close to Davis since their first meeting in 1966, lamented, "You don't replace a guy like that. No way. No damn way. You look at the things he's done that no one ever did before, being a scout, assistant coach, head coach, general manager, commissioner and owner." The Sunday following his death, the Oakland Raiders adorned their helmets with a sticker which read "Al" in Davis' memory. A league-wide moment of silence was also observed. Despite the widespread remembrance of his accomplishments, Davis' position as a controversial figure lives on as part of his legacy. Sportswriter Rick Reilly was particularly adamant that the questionable personnel decisions Davis made later in his career and his arrogant, brash personality should not be forgotten amidst sportswriters' praise of him as an innovative owner.
Davis was survived by his wife, Carol, and their only child, Mark, a graduate of California State University, Chico. Mark assumed his father's old title of managing general partner of the Raiders and with his mother owns the majority of the team. Both Mark and Carol represent the Raiders in owners' meetings. Carol suffered a serious heart attack in 1979 and was hospitalized for three weeks but was able to make a complete recovery.
Al Davis' mother Rose had lived to age 103. She died in 2001, having outlived her husband Lou by 40 years.
Theodore Paul Hendricks, nicknamed "the Mad Stork", is a Guatemalan-born former professional American football linebacker who played for 15 seasons with the Baltimore Colts, the Green Bay Packers, and the Oakland / Los Angeles Raiders in the National Football League. He was a member of four Super Bowl-winning teams, and was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990 after being elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1987. He is the first Guatemalan-born player in the NFL. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes.
Hendricks began his pro football career as a second-round pick of the Baltimore Colts in the 1969 AFL-NFL Draft. He was initially listed as a defensive end, which is why he had the unusual number (for a linebacker) of 83. After coach Don Shula converted him to linebacker, he entered the starting lineup in the sixth game of his rookie 1969 season, the beginning of 69 consecutive starts with the Colts.[8] He made 32 tackles and 2 sacks on the quarterback and knocked down 2 passes and blocked a field goal (the first of 25 blocked kicks in his career).
He played a key role in the Colts' 1970 Super Bowl V-winning season. He was the starting strong-side linebacker and recorded 67 tackles and 1-1/2 sacks while intercepting a pass. He also recorded 2 blocked kicks and knocked down 5 passes. He and fellow linebackers Mike Curtis and Ray May anchored a unit that was one of the NFL's best in defending against the run; which was 102.8 yards per game – 6th in the NFL, and allowing only 2 rushing touchdowns all season (tied with the Los Angeles Rams for first in the NFL). They allowed only 234 points, 7th in the NFL.
He was chosen to the first of four All-Pro selections in 1971. He had 63 tackles and picked off 5 passes while batting away 7 passes. He also recorded 5 sacks and blocked 2 more kicks. The Colts defense was ranked #1 in the NFL in fewest rushing yards allowed and lowest rushing attempt. The Colts made the playoffs but did not advance to the Super Bowl, losing to the Miami Dolphins.
In 1972 Hendricks recorded 99 tackles, 6 sacks, knocked down 7 passes, intercepted two passes and blocked 2 field goals. The following season Hendricks made 86 tackles and 4 sacks (bringing his Colt total to 18-1/2) and picked off 3 passes (making his Colt total 11) for 33 yards, while batting away 7 passes for the third consecutive season and blocking a punt. He was second-team All-Pro in both 1972 and 1973. He played the last of five seasons with the Colts without signing a contract.
One week after signing to begin play in 1975 with the World Football League's Jacksonville Sharks, Hendricks was traded along with a 1975 second-round pick (28th overall–traded to Los Angeles Rams for John Hadl) from the Colts to the Green Bay Packers for Tom MacLeod and a 1975 eighth-round selection (192nd overall–Northwestern State running back Mario Cage) on August 13, 1974.
He was assigned jersey no. 56. Hendricks was then in the second straight option year of his NFL contract, and had one of his best seasons: five interceptions, seven blocked kicks (3 field goals, 3 punts and 1 extra point) and a safety, two sacks, 75 tackles, and two knocked down passes while again earning consensus All-Pro honors for the second time.
With the World Football League bankrupt, owner Al Davis of the Raiders sent two first round draft choices to the Packers for the rights to Hendricks, signing him as a limited free agent.
After the trade, Hendricks went on to nine seasons with the Raiders before retiring after the 1983 season. In his first year on the Raider team, coach John Madden used him sparingly, partly as a result of a feud Madden had with Al Davis. However, Madden eventually had him starting by the end of the 1975 season. Hendricks recorded only 27 tackles and 3 passes batted and 2 interceptions. He was used in the Raiders nickel defense and recorded 5 sacks in that role. He also recorded 4 sacks in a playoff win against the Cincinnati Bengals. Injuries limited the number of defensive lineman Madden had available so he used Hendricks as a stand-up defensive end, the position Hendricks played in college. At season's end the Raiders defense was among the NFL's top units, despite injuries to a few key defensive linemen. The Raiders led the NFL in interceptions and they ranked 2nd in the NFL in sacks, 7th in fewest points allowed, and were 3rd in total defense.
The next year Hendricks became a full-time player with the Raiders, and the Raiders switched to a 3–4 defense early in the season. Hendricks played the weakside linebacker, since All-Pro Phil Villapiano played Hendricks' strong-side; he made 57 tackles, 6 sacks, knocked down 5 passes while picking off one and blocking 2 punts. The Raiders defense was 6th in the NFL in sacks but did not finish in the top ten in points allowed or total defense. The Raiders won Super Bowl XI, the first in franchise history, and the first of three Super Bowl titles in seven seasons. Hendricks was second-team All-Pro for the first of three consecutive years.
In 1977, Hendricks moved back to the strong-side linebacker position due to Villapiano's injury and made 56 tackles, 2 sacks and knocked down 4 passes. The Raider defense was 7th in the NFL against the run and tied for 3rd in allowing the fewest rushing touchdowns. They also tied for third in the NFL with 26 interceptions.
In the 1978 season Hendricks recorded a stellar season with 78 tackles, 6 sacks, 3 interceptions, 8 passes defensed and 2 fumble recoveries. The defense tied for 4th in most interceptions in the NFL and scored 4 defensive touchdowns which tied them for 2nd most in the NFL. They were tied for 10th in fewest points allowed as well.
A vote among Raider coaches showed that all of them had voted to release Hendricks at season's end. However, owner Al Davis insisted on keeping Hendricks. Hendricks ended up making 76 tackles with a career-high 8-1/2 sacks, 3 interceptions (bringing his career total to 26) while batting 16 passes and blocking 3 kicks. The defense rebounded to #5 against the run in the NFL, #1 in intercepting passes, and were 3rd in sacking opponents quarterbacks, and 11th in the NFL in total defense and 10th in fewest points allowed. In 1980 he was a consensus first-team All-Pro for the first time since 1974 and he helped the Raiders to their win in Super Bowl XV while going to another Pro Bowl.
Hendricks was All-Pro and All-AFC in the strike-shortened 1982 season as Hendricks made 28 tackles and seven sacks in just nine games while he deflected 2 passes. The Raiders were 8–1 but were stunned in a playoff loss to the New York Jets. The Raider defense was as good as there was in the NFL for the 1982 season. They were 2nd in fewest rushing yards allowed and 2nd in sacking the opposing quarterback.
In his final campaign, 1983, Hendricks played less than at any point since 1975 but still made his eighth Pro Bowl and was second team All-AFC while recording 41 tackles, two sacks and deflecting four passes. He also blocked the 25th kick of his career and was a part of the Raiders Super Bowl XVIII victory. The defense was 4th in the NFL against the run, again tied for 2nd in sacking the quarterback, and fifth in total defense and 13th in allowing the fewest points allowed while being eighth in allowing the fewest touchdowns from scrimmage.
Hendricks was a member of four Super Bowl-winning teams (three with the Raiders and one with the Colts) and was a Pro Bowl selection eight times, at least once with each of his three NFL teams.
Hendricks played in 215 consecutive regular-season games. He also participated in eight Pro Bowl games, seven AFC championships, and four Super Bowls (V with the Colts, XI, XV and XVIII with the Raiders). Hendricks was named All-Pro as a Colt in 1971, as a Packer in 1974, and twice as a Raider in 1980 and 1982. He also earned second-team All-Pro honors five other times (1972, '73, '76, '77, '78). He also earned All-conference honors in 1971, '72, '74, '76, '80, '81 and '82, while being named 2nd-team All-AFC in 1973, '78 and '83.
Hendricks was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1990, his second year of eligibility. In 1999, he was ranked number 64 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players.
He currently works on behalf of ex-players as part of the Hall of Fame Players Group. His Ted Hendricks Foundation supports health, education and research programs. The Annual Ted Hendricks Defensive End of the Year Award is presented to the most outstanding collegiate player each year. He has been named as one of the members of the NFL's all time 75th anniversary team in 1994. During the commemoration of the 100th Anniversary of the NFL, Ted Hendricks was named 82nd in "Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players" of all time.
He has been awarded the Order of the Quetzal, the highest award for civilians, by his native Guatemala.
Ted Hendricks Stadium in Hialeah, Florida is named in his honor.
