Pt. 3
“It's like there's some bond between everybody,” Raiders safety Eddie Anderson told reporters in 1991. “It's like you have to be in the family to know what's going on - kind of like the Mafia, the bad boys. Al's the Godfather.”
Davis' ability to form kinships with players, particularly blacks, in ways other football executives couldn't, dating back to the '50s, did not sit well with the established professional football pecking order of yore.
In fact, The New York Times' Bill Wallace once called Davis “the man the NFL management fears most when it comes to signing impressionable and needy collegians.”
Born July 4, 1929 in Brockton, Mass., Davis would move with his family at an early age to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he would go on to attend Erasmus Hall High School. After graduating, Davis attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio for a semester before enrolling at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y.
A few months later, though, he transferred to Syracuse University, where he played football for the freshmen team but never for varsity. Davis graduated in August 1950 with a bachelor of the arts degree in English.
His first coaching job came at Adelphi College in Garden City, N.Y., where he would instruct both line units from 1950-'51, and meet his eventual wife, Carol.
“If Al Davis had decided that he wanted to become President of this country, he could have done it; he's that brilliant,” Edward Stanczyk, Adelphi College's athletic director, would later tell The New York Times.
Davis then went into the army as a private, and was assigned to be the head football coach at Fort Belvoir, Va. from 1952-'53. Upon being discharged from the army, at age 24, he took a job as an unpaid scout for the NFL's Baltimore Colts in 1954, when he married Carol.
From 1955-'56, Davis served as a line coach and chief recruiter at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., where Carol Davis gave birth to a son, Mark Clark Davis.
Al Davis first moved to California in 1957, when he embarked on a three-year stint as USC's backfield and defensive line coach. Entering the NFL in 1960, he joined the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers as a backfield and offensive end coach.
In his latter years, the litigious Davis sued the NFL: for an alleged breach of contract on a Los Angeles stadium proposal; for allegedly misappropriating funds; to stop the Carolina Panthers from allegedly using his team's color design, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from allegedly infringing on the Raiders' team logo; and to absolve revenue sharing, among other pursuits.
“While most of our owners spend their time in the off-season building their businesses and cementing relationships with their communities, Mr. Davis spends his off-season in the courtroom,” NFL spokesman Joe Browne told reporters in 2003.
In 2006, according to Forbes, the Raiders' worth was 22-percent below the league average of almost $900 million; in the nine years that Forbes had calculated team valuations, the Raiders' cumulative operating income was 42-percent below the NFL average of $200 million.
Recent years have seen Davis came under increased criticism from fans and the media for perceived meddling in his coaches' affairs, emphasizing that obsolete styles of play be applied to the present day and impatiently affecting his team's progress, creating an environment of general instability breeding a perpetual culture of losing.
From 1997 to 2007, the Raiders changed head coaches six times. After losing the Super Bowl in 2003, they amassed a 15-49 record over the next four years. Both are the worst such stretches in the NFL during those spans.
The latter failures, though, don't figure to substantially tarnish Davis' historical standing, nor the understanding of his contributions to the game, among his most ardent supporters and followers, one of whom - the late, legendary San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh, got his start in the NFL in 1966 as a Raider assistant.
Davis' death comes less than four months on the heels of his close friend's.
“He set a standard of excellence that I appreciated and emulated over a period of time,” Walsh told the San Francisco Chronicle during an appearance at a Raiders game in 2002.
“As I say, after a while you just run out of tears,” Davis told reporters after the 2006 passing of another friend, Hunt. “Life goes on ... I'm getting so many people leaving me, it's tough.”
Davis is survived by his wife, Carol Davis, and son, Mark Davis.
A vigil will be held at noon Saturday at McAfee Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland.
The location and time of a private funeral service were undisclosed.
Reference List
Books
Davis, J. (2008). Rozelle: Czar of the NFL. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Flores, T., & Fulks, M. (2003). Tales from the Oakland Raiders.
United States: Sports Publishing L.L.C.
MacCambridge, M. (2004). America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football
Captured a Nation. New York: Random House.
Simmons, I. (1990). Black Knight: Al Davis and his Raiders.
Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.
Smith, R. (2003). Pro Football's Heroes of the Hall. St. Louis, MO: The Sporting News.
Articles from Lexis-Nexis
Al Davis tackles pro football. 13 December 1981. The New York Times.
Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Araton, H. (2001). Al Davis: A Shameless, Selfish Rebel. 12 April 2001.
The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Attner, P. (1981). Black-clad Raiders are like his boss; Davis and his team controversial
winners; man in black has golden touch with Raiders. 22 January 1981. The
Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
The city of Oakland went into mourning when it learned that its beloved Raiders will
probably be headed for Los Angeles. (1982). 8 May 1982. United Press
International. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Georgatos, D. (1995). After a 13-year road trip, Al Davis says the Raiders are just
coming home, baby! 23 June 1995. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 10,
2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Gloster, R. (1996). Chiefs-Raiders Rivalry Features Allen-Davis Feud. 9 December 1996.
The Associated Press. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Hasen, J. (1989). Shanahan fired by Raiders. 3 October 1989. United Press International.
Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Kravets, D. (2003). Litigous Raiders spent $33.5 million on legal fees in 1997-2001.
23 April 2003. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from
Lexis-Nexis database.
Oakland fans cheer their Raiders as jilted L.A. fans blast Al Davis. 24 June 1995.
St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Peterson, A. (1997). Allen has Oakland Swan Song. 8 September 1997. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Peterson, G. (2006). Davis may be just fine, but his Raiders team isn't. 17 December
2006. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved October 11, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis
database.
Schefter, A. (1997). Shanahan takes Davis to school. 19 November 1997.
The Denver Post. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Schultz, J. (1991). Raiders players liken mystique to brotherhood. 22 September 1991.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis
database.
Shapiro, L. (1997). This hit by the Raiders on Michaels was unsportsmanlike conduct. 12
December 1997. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis
-Nexis database.
Other online articles
Burke, M. (2006). A New Test For an Old Raider. 18 September 2006. Forbes.Com. Retrieved October 11, 2007, from http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0918/112.html
Kroichick, R. (1997). Chiefs offer Allen refuge that Raiders never did. 3 December 1997. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/12/03/SP11081.DTL
Lynch, K. (2002). Walsh credits Davis for providing blueprint. 31 October 2002. San Francisco Chronicle. Retreieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/31/SP201445.DTL
Plaschke, B. (2003). Shades of Gray: At 73, Al Davis, the silver- and black-hearted visionary, is still a mass of contradictions. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2003/writing/over250/over250.columns.third
-4.html
Puma, M. (2005). Just do it, baby. 10 October 2005. ESPN Classic. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Davis_Al.html
Other sources
Sabol, S. (Executive Producer). (2004). The Complete History of the Oakland Raiders [Motion picture]. United States: NFL Productions LLC.
“It's like there's some bond between everybody,” Raiders safety Eddie Anderson told reporters in 1991. “It's like you have to be in the family to know what's going on - kind of like the Mafia, the bad boys. Al's the Godfather.”
Davis' ability to form kinships with players, particularly blacks, in ways other football executives couldn't, dating back to the '50s, did not sit well with the established professional football pecking order of yore.
In fact, The New York Times' Bill Wallace once called Davis “the man the NFL management fears most when it comes to signing impressionable and needy collegians.”
Born July 4, 1929 in Brockton, Mass., Davis would move with his family at an early age to Brooklyn, N.Y., where he would go on to attend Erasmus Hall High School. After graduating, Davis attended Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio for a semester before enrolling at Hartwick College in Oneonta, N.Y.
A few months later, though, he transferred to Syracuse University, where he played football for the freshmen team but never for varsity. Davis graduated in August 1950 with a bachelor of the arts degree in English.
His first coaching job came at Adelphi College in Garden City, N.Y., where he would instruct both line units from 1950-'51, and meet his eventual wife, Carol.
“If Al Davis had decided that he wanted to become President of this country, he could have done it; he's that brilliant,” Edward Stanczyk, Adelphi College's athletic director, would later tell The New York Times.
Davis then went into the army as a private, and was assigned to be the head football coach at Fort Belvoir, Va. from 1952-'53. Upon being discharged from the army, at age 24, he took a job as an unpaid scout for the NFL's Baltimore Colts in 1954, when he married Carol.
From 1955-'56, Davis served as a line coach and chief recruiter at The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., where Carol Davis gave birth to a son, Mark Clark Davis.
Al Davis first moved to California in 1957, when he embarked on a three-year stint as USC's backfield and defensive line coach. Entering the NFL in 1960, he joined the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers as a backfield and offensive end coach.
In his latter years, the litigious Davis sued the NFL: for an alleged breach of contract on a Los Angeles stadium proposal; for allegedly misappropriating funds; to stop the Carolina Panthers from allegedly using his team's color design, and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from allegedly infringing on the Raiders' team logo; and to absolve revenue sharing, among other pursuits.
“While most of our owners spend their time in the off-season building their businesses and cementing relationships with their communities, Mr. Davis spends his off-season in the courtroom,” NFL spokesman Joe Browne told reporters in 2003.
In 2006, according to Forbes, the Raiders' worth was 22-percent below the league average of almost $900 million; in the nine years that Forbes had calculated team valuations, the Raiders' cumulative operating income was 42-percent below the NFL average of $200 million.
Recent years have seen Davis came under increased criticism from fans and the media for perceived meddling in his coaches' affairs, emphasizing that obsolete styles of play be applied to the present day and impatiently affecting his team's progress, creating an environment of general instability breeding a perpetual culture of losing.
From 1997 to 2007, the Raiders changed head coaches six times. After losing the Super Bowl in 2003, they amassed a 15-49 record over the next four years. Both are the worst such stretches in the NFL during those spans.
The latter failures, though, don't figure to substantially tarnish Davis' historical standing, nor the understanding of his contributions to the game, among his most ardent supporters and followers, one of whom - the late, legendary San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh, got his start in the NFL in 1966 as a Raider assistant.
Davis' death comes less than four months on the heels of his close friend's.
“He set a standard of excellence that I appreciated and emulated over a period of time,” Walsh told the San Francisco Chronicle during an appearance at a Raiders game in 2002.
“As I say, after a while you just run out of tears,” Davis told reporters after the 2006 passing of another friend, Hunt. “Life goes on ... I'm getting so many people leaving me, it's tough.”
Davis is survived by his wife, Carol Davis, and son, Mark Davis.
A vigil will be held at noon Saturday at McAfee Coliseum, 7000 Coliseum Way, Oakland.
The location and time of a private funeral service were undisclosed.
Reference List
Books
Davis, J. (2008). Rozelle: Czar of the NFL. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Flores, T., & Fulks, M. (2003). Tales from the Oakland Raiders.
United States: Sports Publishing L.L.C.
MacCambridge, M. (2004). America's Game: The Epic Story of How Pro Football
Captured a Nation. New York: Random House.
Simmons, I. (1990). Black Knight: Al Davis and his Raiders.
Rocklin, CA: Prima Publishing.
Smith, R. (2003). Pro Football's Heroes of the Hall. St. Louis, MO: The Sporting News.
Articles from Lexis-Nexis
Al Davis tackles pro football. 13 December 1981. The New York Times.
Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Araton, H. (2001). Al Davis: A Shameless, Selfish Rebel. 12 April 2001.
The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Attner, P. (1981). Black-clad Raiders are like his boss; Davis and his team controversial
winners; man in black has golden touch with Raiders. 22 January 1981. The
Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
The city of Oakland went into mourning when it learned that its beloved Raiders will
probably be headed for Los Angeles. (1982). 8 May 1982. United Press
International. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Georgatos, D. (1995). After a 13-year road trip, Al Davis says the Raiders are just
coming home, baby! 23 June 1995. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 10,
2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Gloster, R. (1996). Chiefs-Raiders Rivalry Features Allen-Davis Feud. 9 December 1996.
The Associated Press. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Hasen, J. (1989). Shanahan fired by Raiders. 3 October 1989. United Press International.
Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Kravets, D. (2003). Litigous Raiders spent $33.5 million on legal fees in 1997-2001.
23 April 2003. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from
Lexis-Nexis database.
Oakland fans cheer their Raiders as jilted L.A. fans blast Al Davis. 24 June 1995.
St. Petersburg Times. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Peterson, A. (1997). Allen has Oakland Swan Song. 8 September 1997. The Associated Press. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Peterson, G. (2006). Davis may be just fine, but his Raiders team isn't. 17 December
2006. Contra Costa Times. Retrieved October 11, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis
database.
Schefter, A. (1997). Shanahan takes Davis to school. 19 November 1997.
The Denver Post. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis database.
Schultz, J. (1991). Raiders players liken mystique to brotherhood. 22 September 1991.
The Atlanta Journal Constitution. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from Lexis-Nexis
database.
Shapiro, L. (1997). This hit by the Raiders on Michaels was unsportsmanlike conduct. 12
December 1997. The Washington Post. Retrieved October 9, 2007, from Lexis
-Nexis database.
Other online articles
Burke, M. (2006). A New Test For an Old Raider. 18 September 2006. Forbes.Com. Retrieved October 11, 2007, from http://members.forbes.com/forbes/2006/0918/112.html
Kroichick, R. (1997). Chiefs offer Allen refuge that Raiders never did. 3 December 1997. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1997/12/03/SP11081.DTL
Lynch, K. (2002). Walsh credits Davis for providing blueprint. 31 October 2002. San Francisco Chronicle. Retreieved October 10, 2007, from http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2002/10/31/SP201445.DTL
Plaschke, B. (2003). Shades of Gray: At 73, Al Davis, the silver- and black-hearted visionary, is still a mass of contradictions. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from http://apse.dallasnews.com/contest/2003/writing/over250/over250.columns.third
-4.html
Puma, M. (2005). Just do it, baby. 10 October 2005. ESPN Classic. Retrieved October 8, 2007, from http://espn.go.com/classic/biography/s/Davis_Al.html
Other sources
Sabol, S. (Executive Producer). (2004). The Complete History of the Oakland Raiders [Motion picture]. United States: NFL Productions LLC.
