Al Davis: An American Success Story

Al Davis is one of the most ICONIC Americans, not just in the Las Vegas Raiders or National Football League, but in the history of the United States of America.

The Las Vegas Raiders recently celebrated what would have been the 94th birthday of Managing General Partner Al Davis, who built the Silver and Black into one of the greatest franchises in sports history.

Under Davis, who passed away in 2011, the Raiders won three Super Bowls, the 1967 American Football League Championship Game before losing to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II, and played in nine other championship games.

Davis was the 1963 AFL Coach of the Year, NFL Executive of the Year in 1976 and 2002, and AFL Commissioner for several months in 1966 when he helped lead to the AFL’s merger with the National Football League, and he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1992.

However, much of this story is about the earlier years that led Davis to all of that success.

Davis was born in Brockton, Mass., on July 4, 1929, but grew up on the streets of Brooklyn, N.Y., where he figured out early that, unlike his friends, he wasn’t an excellent football player and hoped to coach instead.

“I wasn’t there, so I don’t know this for sure, but I’ve been told that when they played four-on-four football in the streets of Brooklyn, Al was always trying to coach the other guys,” said the late Scotty Stirling, who was the first Raiders beat writer for the Oakland Tribune and later served as public relations director and general manager under Davis with the Raiders. “That’s what he did his whole life.

“When Al came back to the Raiders from being AFL Commissioner in 1966, he would come out onto the field after practice and work with some of the players individually on technique and other things. I think Coach John Rauch was intimidated a bit by this, and he eventually left to become head coach of the Buffalo Bills.

“So Al brought John Madden in as coach and Madden had no problem with him working with players after practice. Of course, Al and John had a great relationship.”

Davis was not much of an athlete, but when he went to Syracuse University, he attended football practice virtually daily to learn as much as he could. He was there so often that Coach Ben Schwartzwalder kicked Davis out of practice because he thought he was spying.

In addition, Davis was also enthralled by legendary Army Coach Earl “Red” Blaik and attended practices at West Point. Here, Davis fell in love with the term “Black Knights of the Hudson” and decided that its colors would be Silver and Black when he had a team.

After graduating from Syracuse in 1950, Davis got his first coaching position line coach at Adelphi College in Garden City, N.Y., before he was drafted into the U.S. Army and became head coach at Ft. Belvoir in Virginia in 1953, leading the team to an 8-2-1 record. The following year, he got his first NFL job as a scout for the Baltimore Colts.

After being offensive line coach at The Citadel in 1955-56, Davis got his first really big job as offensive line coach at USC in 1957-59, which led to him being hired as an assistant to Coach Sid Gillman of the San Diego Chargers, where he coached the wide receivers from 1960-62.

There, owner Wayne Valley of the Raiders heard about Davis and figured he was the man to turn the Oakland franchise around after 6-8, 2-12, and 1-13 records in the first three seasons of the AFL.

“We needed someone who wanted to win so badly, he would do anything, and from what I understood, that was Davis,” said Valley, who hired him as a coach on Jan. 18, 1963. “Everywhere I went, people told me what a son of a bitch Al Davis was, so I figured he must be doing something right.

“Even though I knew it would eventually come down to me and Al for control of the Raiders, I figured with my business background I had the advantage there.”

Of course, Valley figured wrong, and for years Davis was virtually everything for the Raiders and made them a winner.

The Las Vegas Raiders open training camp for the entire team on July 25, 2023.

The Silver and Black open the preseason by hosting the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Aug. 13, at 4 p.m. EDT/1 p.m. PDT.

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