![]() Loyalty? Run Run's son Tom now is an executive with the Raiders under Al's son Mark. By the way, Run Run died while wearing a Raiders shirt and cleaning the team's locker room. Last December, I wrote a piece about George “Run Run” Jones, who was befriended by Davis and supported in one way or another until he died. His generosity extended beyond the playing field as well. Included are Pro Football Hall of Famer Jim Otto, former Broncos tight end/fullback Hewritt Dixon and scores of others. Yet no one was ever more kind or generous to Raiders who had fallen on hard times. He was the all-time maverick and was constantly at war with NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle. Rather, Davis hoped to drive it out of business by poaching all the top quarterbacks. He also served as the commissioner of the American Football League in 1966, at the height of both the rivalry between the AFL and NFL and a time when secret merger talks were taking place - something Davis wanted no part of.įitting with his personality, he did not want to merge with the senior circuit. After a lot of meandering around football, Davis served as the team's head coach from 1963 through 1965 and part owner from 1966 to 1971. When the threat of the Raiders leaving Oakland (the beginning of a theme for the franchise) forced the city to build a new “stadium” for the Raiders, they built Frank Youell Field, which seated only 22,000 and was shared by the pro football team and area high schools.īut what changed the Raiders, the Denver-Oakland rivalry and in many ways pro football itself, was the arrival of Al Davis to the franchise.Įxplaining Al Davis and his history is like peeling a head of lettuce - no matter how much you do, there is always more lettuce. There was no suitable place to play in Oakland, so they actually played their first two seasons entirely on the road, with home games at San Francisco's Kezar Stadium in 1960 and in Candlestick Park in 1961. The funny thing is, both teams started off as the dregs of the American Football League, with the Broncos playing in old Bears Stadium - and the Raiders were worse off. (The others are Pittsburgh, New England and the New York Giants.) In the modern era, common success has only increased bitterness by Bronco fans. This animosity stems largely from the fact that from 1963 through the 1976 season, Denver was only 2-24-2 against the Raiders - by far the worst 14-year stretch in Denver franchise history against one opponent.īut the Broncos and Raiders have this in common also: They are two of five teams to play in the Super Bowl in four different decades. Whenever the Denver Broncos face the Las Vegas (nee Oakland) Raiders, all kinds of images come to mind, usually involving some form of hatred for Broncos fans. It is reprinted with permission of the author.) By Jim Saccomano (Note: This article first appeared Wednesday on the website.
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