Viewed by many as controversial and hard-headed, the long-time owner of the Oakland Raiders organization, Al Davis, passed away Saturday.
Many young fans were turned away from rooting for the storied local National Football League franchise because of Davis’ numerous courtroom dramas and questionable personnel moves.
Raised by a lifelong, diehard Raider fan, I never questioned rooting for them. Times have been rough in Oakland since the Raiders’ last Super Bowl appearance in 2002, but my family always reminded me of all the great accomplishments Al Davis made.
Because of the team’s recent futility, many people in my generation drew conclusions about Mr. Davis without realizing all of his pioneering and progressive contributions.
You cannot tell the story of the National Football League without Al Davis.
A few weeks ago, I learned just how uninformed young people are about the legacy of Al Davis. I gave an informative speech to my Speech 120 class here at DVC about what it means to pledge allegiance to the Raider Nation. I figured this would be the best topic for me since my senior superlative in high school, besides worst driver, was “Most Likely to Bleed Silver and Black.”
Prior to writing my speech, I handed out a detailed survey for my class to answer about the history of the Raiders and Al Davis. Despite having seven Raiders fans in the class, I did not receive one positive response about Al Davis.
I started my speech by asking everyone to put their prejudgments aside about Al Davis and went on to tell the story of passion, dedication, innovation and progression.
The Raider Nation, arguably the most passionate fan base in sports, did not happen by mistake. The passion of the fans is a direct reflection of the passion the owner had for the team. Times have been tough, but the fan base is still as strong as ever.
Al Davis was ahead of his time on issues of racial and gender equality. Al Davis was the first owner to hire a Latino head coach in Tom Flores and the first to hire an African American head coach in Art Shell. Mr. Davis was the first to recruit out of Historically Black Colleges in the 1960’s and refused to take his team on the road to Mobile, Ala., and New Orleans because of segregation in the area. The first and only woman chief executive officer, Amy Trask, was hired by Al Davis.
To add to the list of his accomplishments, as commissioner of the American Football League, Mr. Davis played a major role in merging the AFL and NFL, creating the National Football League as we know it today.
They did not realize how greatly Al Davis has shaped the NFL in a positive way. He was a scout in the NFL, an assistant coach, coach, commissioner and owner, making an impression every step of the way.
As rapper Ice Cube put it: “It’s a sad day for anybody wearing Silver & Black. He was the Frank Sinatra of football. He’s going to be missed.”
