Raiders Went From Double-O to Double-D at Center

The greatest offensive line of all-time didn't miss a beat when Dave Dalby replaced Jim Otto for the Raiders.

Legendary center Jim Otto started the first 210 games the Oakland Raiders played from their inception in 1960 through 1974, and when he retired Dave Dalby stepped in and the greatest offensive line in NFL history didn’t miss a beat.

The Raiders simply went from Double-O to Double-D.

With Otto, the Silver and Black could line up four future Hall of Famers in a row, also including guard Gene Upshaw, tackle Art Shell, and tight end Dave Casper.

Dalby was vastly underrated and was selected to the Pro Bowl only in 1977, but he played in the same era as Hall of Fame center Mike Webster of the Pittsburgh Steelers, who was selected to the All-Pro team seven times.

That’s the same thing other outstanding centers had to deal with when Otto was playing, as he was the only All-American Football League center in the history of the league from 1960-69, and was selected All-Pro and played in the Pro Bowl the first three years after the AFL-NFL merger from 1970-72.

The 6-3, 250-pound Dalby was selected by the Raiders in the fourth round (No. 100 overall) of the 1972 NFL Draft out of UCLA and is a member of the Bruins’ Hall of Fame and a member of their All-Century Team.

After being Otto’s understudy for three seasons, Dalby stepped into the starting role when Otto retired and did a great imitation of “The Original Raider” and didn’t miss a start for the next 14 seasons, starting 123 of 135 games from 1975-85.

“Dave Dalby was the understudy to Jim Otto, so he learned everything from Otto, he was a lot like Otto,” said Hall of Fame Coach John Madden said, who coached the Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI. “When we got him, he was an undersized center at UCLA, and Jim Otto was getting pretty beat up and he was our snapper. But his shoulders were getting beat up, and the stingers and all that stuff, and I realized that we gotta get another snapper. And then (Dalby) grew from a snapper into a real center and became a great NFL center.”

So, for their first 26 seasons, the Raiders had only two starting centers, and Don Mosebar continued that tradition, playing in 146 of 149 games between 1985-94 after learning from Dalby, making All-Pro and the Pro Bowl three times each.

While Dalby didn’t have the individual awards, he was elected team captain in the final years of his career, started for the Raiders, and played key roles in Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII.

In Super Bowl XI, Dalby helped clear the way for Clarence Davis to rush for 136 yards and Mark van Eeghen to add 73, while quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler passed for 180 yards and a touchdown to Casper in a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.

In Super Bowl XV, Dalby again was a stalwart as Van Eeghen rushed for 75 yards while Plunkett passed for 261 yards and three touchdowns to earn Most Valuable Player honors in a 27-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.

And Dalby once more was right in the middle of things as Plunkett passed for 172 yards and a touchdown, while Marcus Allen rushed for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder, to earn the MVP award as the Raiders crushed the Washington Redskins, 38-9.

While Dalby would have appreciated any individual notoriety, he was satisfied to have those three Super Bowl rings.

“Dave was such a great leader, such a great Raider,” said Raiders Hall of Fame Coach Tom Flores, who coached those last two Super Bowl teams. “Dave gave 14 years of his life (to the Raiders), helped win three Super Bowls, only the second center in the history of the franchise. … Dave was just a class guy.”

Dalby tragically was killed in 2002 at the age of 51, when his van hit a tree.

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