Say what you want about Al Davis.
“Just win, baby!” and a "Commitment to Excellence" was his mantra. His teams won three Super Bowl titles, in 1976, 1980 and 1983. He was a trendsetter, hiring the first black head coach of the modern era, Art Shell in 1988. He hired the first Latino coach, Tom Flores; and the first woman CEO.
That cannot be denied.
But I'll always remember Al Davis as a shrewd businessman who damn-near ruined the city of Oakland. In 1982, the Raiders moved to Los Angeles. She was a die-hard Raiders fan, and living a few blocks from the Coliseum, the move broke my grandmother's heart. She never lived to see them move back to Oakland in 1995.
Davis managed to manipulate municipalities for every tax dollar they shelled out. The city of Irwindale, California was shaken up by Davis for $10 million dollars when they couldn't come up with a plan to build a stadium for the Raiders. The NFL was engaged in a number of public feuds and lawsuits with Rozelle. Upon their return to Oakland, the city spent $220 million on stadium renovations, ruining a great baseball park and creating a new seating section known as "Mount Davis", which I consider an eyesore.
Despite the Raiders return to playoff prominence 1990s and early 2000s, Davis traded the rights of his head coach, Jon Gruden to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a number of draft picks. What followed was an endless carousel of coaches, six in all; who were hired and fired over the next 10 years. He was also responsible for some of the most disastrous series of drafts, including the 2007 first overall pick of LSU quarterback JaMarcus Russell, who may be the worst bust in league history.
With the death of Al Davis, there is finally hope for the "Raider Nation." Maybe now, the team can finally settle down with a competent owner who will steer the ship properly, with a city they can finally call home and a team that will start to jell, without a meddling owner, like Al Davis. Many analysts are calling Davis "one of a kind" and, "there will never be another one like him."
Let's hope not!!
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