Angry Pope
All Raider
- Joined
- Feb 2, 2006
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Here is some history on our beloved Raiders including the ownership history...find your own interest in it.....
The Oakland Raiders became a charter member of the American Football League after the city of Oakland was awarded a franchise on January 30, 1960. The Raiders were the new league's eighth franchise, replacing the Minnesota representatives, who forfeited their AFL franchise upon receiving an expansion franchise (which was then named the Minnesota Vikings) in the established National Football League.At the time, Oakland seemed an unlikely venue for a professional football franchise. The city had not asked for a team, there was no ownership group formed, there was no stadium in Oakland suitable for pro football (the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco) and there was already a successful NFL franchise across San Francisco Bay in the San Francisco 49ers. However, the AFL owners selected Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to forfeit his franchise unless a second team were placed on the West Coast. Hilton also refused to endorse a bid from the city of Atlanta.Upon receiving the franchise, Oakland civic leaders found a number of businesspeople willing to invest in the new team.
A limited partnership was formed to own the team, which included general partners Harvey Binns, Don Blessing, Charles Harney, Ed McGah, Robert Osborne, and Wayne Valley, headed by managing general partner Chet Soda, a local real estate devloper, as well as numerous limited partners. A "name the team" contest was held by a local newspaper, and the winner was the Oakland Señors (After a few weeks of being the butt of local jokes, the owners changed the team's name to "Raiders," which had finished third in the contest). The original team colors were black, gold and white. The now-familar team emblem of a pirate (or "raider") wearing a football hemet was created, reportedly a rendition of actor Randolph Scott. When the University of California refused to let the Raiders play home games at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, they chose Kezar Stadium in San Francisco as their home field.
The team's first regular season home game was played on September 11, 1960, a 37-22 loss to the Houston Oilers. The Raiders finished their first campaign with a 6-8 record, and lost $500,000. Soda dropped out as a partner of the franchiseOn January 17, 1961, Ed McGah, Wayne Valley and Robert Osborne bought out their partners in the ownership of the Raiders. That year the Raiders moved to Candlestick Park and finished 2-12. Total attendance for the season was about 50,000. Valley threatened to move the Raiders elsewhere unless a stadium was built in Oakland. In 1962 the Raiders moved into 18,000-seat Frank Youell Field (later expanded to 22,000 seats), their first home in Oakland. It was a temporary home for the team while the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was being built. The Raiders finished 1-13 in 1962, losing their first 13 games before winning the season finale, and attendance remained low. After the 1962 season, Valley hired Al Davis, a former assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers, as head coach and general manager.
At 33, Davis was the youngest person in professional football history to hold the positions. Davis changed the team colors to silver and black, primarily because those colors stood out in an era when most people watched football games on black-and-white television sets. Under Davis the Raiders improved to 10-4, and he was named the AFL's Coach of the Year.
In 1966, Davis left the Raiders and became Commissioner of the AFL. Four years later, the club captured the 1967 AFL Championship. With John Rauch 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.In 1969, John Madden became the team's sixth head coach, and during the 1970s his Raiders' became one of the most successful franchises in the NFL.
In 1970, the AFL-NFL merger took place and the Raiders joined the West Division of the American Football Conference in the newly merged National Football League. The merger left Davis embittered. He envisioned a professional football landscape not unlike that of Major League Baseball, with two independent leagues sharing a common draft and playing a championship game at the end of the season. He felt betrayed by the AFL owners, who jumped at the chance to extinguish the newer league so they could receive NFL franchises. He resented the fact that a "football man," like himself, was subject to the whim of owners whose expertise was far outside the realm of the game. Davis' goal, therefore, was to become an owner himself.
With the merger, the position of AFL Commissioner was no longer needed, and Davis entered into discussions with Valley about returning to the Raiders. Davis returned as part owner of the team, and as the team's third general partner; the partner in charge of football operations.In 1972, with Valley out of the country for several weeks attending the Olympic Games in Munich, Davis' attorneys drafted a revised partnership agreement that gave Davis total control over all of the Raiders' operations. McGah signed the agreement. Under partnership law, by a 2-1 vote of the general partners, the new agreement was thus ratified. Valley was furious when he discovered this, and immediately filed suit to have the new agreement overturned. The courts sided with Davis and McGah. As a result, Valley sold his interest in the team, and Davis---though owning but a small portion of the team---was firmly in charge.
Madden left the Raiders (and coaching) in 1979 to pursue a career as a television football commentator. Madden's replacement, former Raiders quarterback Tom Flores, guided the team to a win in Super Bowl XV.In 1982, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles, California to play their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Los Angeles Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII the following year. In 1987, the Raiders drafted dual-sport athlete Bo Jackson after he originally decided to not play professional football in 1986 (when drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round). Davis's perceived infatuation with Jackson caused a major rift between Davis and star running back Marcus Allen, who eventually left to play for the Kansas City Chiefs.
cont'd....
The Oakland Raiders became a charter member of the American Football League after the city of Oakland was awarded a franchise on January 30, 1960. The Raiders were the new league's eighth franchise, replacing the Minnesota representatives, who forfeited their AFL franchise upon receiving an expansion franchise (which was then named the Minnesota Vikings) in the established National Football League.At the time, Oakland seemed an unlikely venue for a professional football franchise. The city had not asked for a team, there was no ownership group formed, there was no stadium in Oakland suitable for pro football (the closest stadiums were in Berkeley and San Francisco) and there was already a successful NFL franchise across San Francisco Bay in the San Francisco 49ers. However, the AFL owners selected Oakland after Los Angeles Chargers owner Barron Hilton threatened to forfeit his franchise unless a second team were placed on the West Coast. Hilton also refused to endorse a bid from the city of Atlanta.Upon receiving the franchise, Oakland civic leaders found a number of businesspeople willing to invest in the new team.
A limited partnership was formed to own the team, which included general partners Harvey Binns, Don Blessing, Charles Harney, Ed McGah, Robert Osborne, and Wayne Valley, headed by managing general partner Chet Soda, a local real estate devloper, as well as numerous limited partners. A "name the team" contest was held by a local newspaper, and the winner was the Oakland Señors (After a few weeks of being the butt of local jokes, the owners changed the team's name to "Raiders," which had finished third in the contest). The original team colors were black, gold and white. The now-familar team emblem of a pirate (or "raider") wearing a football hemet was created, reportedly a rendition of actor Randolph Scott. When the University of California refused to let the Raiders play home games at California Memorial Stadium in Berkeley, they chose Kezar Stadium in San Francisco as their home field.
The team's first regular season home game was played on September 11, 1960, a 37-22 loss to the Houston Oilers. The Raiders finished their first campaign with a 6-8 record, and lost $500,000. Soda dropped out as a partner of the franchiseOn January 17, 1961, Ed McGah, Wayne Valley and Robert Osborne bought out their partners in the ownership of the Raiders. That year the Raiders moved to Candlestick Park and finished 2-12. Total attendance for the season was about 50,000. Valley threatened to move the Raiders elsewhere unless a stadium was built in Oakland. In 1962 the Raiders moved into 18,000-seat Frank Youell Field (later expanded to 22,000 seats), their first home in Oakland. It was a temporary home for the team while the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum was being built. The Raiders finished 1-13 in 1962, losing their first 13 games before winning the season finale, and attendance remained low. After the 1962 season, Valley hired Al Davis, a former assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers, as head coach and general manager.
At 33, Davis was the youngest person in professional football history to hold the positions. Davis changed the team colors to silver and black, primarily because those colors stood out in an era when most people watched football games on black-and-white television sets. Under Davis the Raiders improved to 10-4, and he was named the AFL's Coach of the Year.
In 1966, Davis left the Raiders and became Commissioner of the AFL. Four years later, the club captured the 1967 AFL Championship. With John Rauch 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.In 1969, John Madden became the team's sixth head coach, and during the 1970s his Raiders' became one of the most successful franchises in the NFL.
In 1970, the AFL-NFL merger took place and the Raiders joined the West Division of the American Football Conference in the newly merged National Football League. The merger left Davis embittered. He envisioned a professional football landscape not unlike that of Major League Baseball, with two independent leagues sharing a common draft and playing a championship game at the end of the season. He felt betrayed by the AFL owners, who jumped at the chance to extinguish the newer league so they could receive NFL franchises. He resented the fact that a "football man," like himself, was subject to the whim of owners whose expertise was far outside the realm of the game. Davis' goal, therefore, was to become an owner himself.
With the merger, the position of AFL Commissioner was no longer needed, and Davis entered into discussions with Valley about returning to the Raiders. Davis returned as part owner of the team, and as the team's third general partner; the partner in charge of football operations.In 1972, with Valley out of the country for several weeks attending the Olympic Games in Munich, Davis' attorneys drafted a revised partnership agreement that gave Davis total control over all of the Raiders' operations. McGah signed the agreement. Under partnership law, by a 2-1 vote of the general partners, the new agreement was thus ratified. Valley was furious when he discovered this, and immediately filed suit to have the new agreement overturned. The courts sided with Davis and McGah. As a result, Valley sold his interest in the team, and Davis---though owning but a small portion of the team---was firmly in charge.
Madden left the Raiders (and coaching) in 1979 to pursue a career as a television football commentator. Madden's replacement, former Raiders quarterback Tom Flores, guided the team to a win in Super Bowl XV.In 1982, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles, California to play their home games at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The Los Angeles Raiders won Super Bowl XVIII the following year. In 1987, the Raiders drafted dual-sport athlete Bo Jackson after he originally decided to not play professional football in 1986 (when drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the first round). Davis's perceived infatuation with Jackson caused a major rift between Davis and star running back Marcus Allen, who eventually left to play for the Kansas City Chiefs.
cont'd....
