I respect him... He brought us to 5 Super Bowls, in which we took 3. His final years did leave a bigger taste in my mouth, I will admit, he’s a great owner, but then he started to make me wish he’d pass power onto another Executive instead of keep it himself, or most importantly hire an experienced coach, which cost us in 2011, instead of hiring guys with 0 coaching expirence. But still, you can’t deny the Raiders success in the 60’s, 70’s, 80’s, and early 2000’s.
@@sawyertuide7636 The Raiders made some noise in every decade that Davis was involved with the franchise (they even showed some life in 2010-'11, and began the 1990's as a threat, although that threat wasn't sustained).
As a huge Broncos fan, I truly hate the Raiders. However, I have profound respect for much of what Al Davis did as well as what the Raiders organization accomplished under his command. Like George Steinbrenner, Al Davis did it HIS way. His way worked more often than not (especially between the 1960s and 1990 and briefly in the early 2000s). Eventually, for one reason or another, his teams no longer generated the same results as the Raiders had produced in the first 20 or 25 years of his reign. Regardless, he was one of the very very very most important figures in NFL/AFL history. I hold a high regard for much of what Al Davis did positive on behalf of professional football. I try to model much of what I do in coaching sports after what his organization did. Rest in peace Al Davis.
Luke - this is a fantastic comment - and I praise you for it. I am a huge 40+ year Raider fan - and as such I was brought up in the "hate the chiefs" time in the 1960's. But - so interesting - I feel the same way you expressed here about the great Hank Stram. The two of them added SO MUCH to pro football - one of the contributions being the incredible gold mine of talent in the predominantly black southern colleges - many of them Historically Black Colleges. These two men were offensive innovators - creators of some of the greatest defenses in NFL history - and men who are revered by those who worked for them. Also - the Steinbrenner reference - also dead on. And, I happy to be a Yankee hater - yet I have huge respect for "Mr. Steinbrenner:" and what he brought to pro sports.
And without Al Davis, the Broncos, Patriots, Oilers (now Titans), Jets, Raiders, Chargers wouldnt even exist. These were the original AFL team in which Al Davis help revive.
After 49 seasons as a Viking, I've filed for Divorce from the Minnesota Vikings! If I could go back in time, I so would've been a AFL guy, with the Raiders being my Team. I also would've followed Al Davis into any type battle. The Oakland Raiders were the "Hell Angels" of Pro Football, especially the NFL during his AFL days.
I have to respect a man like Al Davis. He was a businessman first and foremost. He was a complex man. He could be ruthless. He could be brutal. He could be sympathetic. He could show amazing compassion. He was a paradox in many ways but never a contradiction.
From Reno to Chino... The Bay to L.A... RAIDER NATION all Day... Weather in Oakland, Los Angeles or Las Vegas... Once a RAIDER, always a RAIDER... JUST WIN, BABY!
The Chargers name and logo was created originated in Los Angeles 1960 L.A. memorial Coliseum ⚡️🐴 🏈 The name originated from the USC football games then musician and team kicker Tommy Trojan played and helped inspire then owner Barron Hilton when Hilton attended the USC football games at the LA Coliseum every time Tommy would run out to the field to attempt the extra point kick the USC fans would yell out Tommy’s Charge! Chant he created as a musician “Da Da Da Da Trojan Warriors Charge!! So that’s we’re R.I.P Barron Hilton then owner got inspired for the name from that Da Da Da Charge! Chant The proof is in the Battle Horse charging into battle hence the battle horse inside the original Chargers 1960 shield logo very similar to a USC Trojan warrior Charging into battle with a Sword and shield. The lightning bolt came from Barron Hilton liking the Air Force college team logo. Till this day that Charge! Chant is heard at the games and through out other sporting events. Da Da Da Da Charge! The Los Angeles r the true original L.A. born team playing for the original birthplace and not too many teams can claim that fact! The Rams were born in Cleveland. The Raiders were born in Oakland. and that’s a fact those other teams can’t ever claim. And also the Chargers r also the true Southern California team they have never left Southern California unlike the Rams born Cleveland played in St.Loius and the Raiders born in Oakland and play in Las Vegas Nevada. Al Davis even copied the 1960 original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo when Al Davis left the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 1962 to become the Oakland Raiders manager he then added the original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo to the Oakland Raiders pirate logo on 1963 Coincidentally The Oakland Raiders pirate logo didn’t have the shield logo originally birth year of 1960-1962 until Al Davis joined the Raiders on 1963 then coincidentally added the shield to the pirate logo. Raiders Copy cat shield logo but the true original L.A. logo is the 1960 Los Angeles Chargers battle horse shield logo Da Da Da Da Charge!!! ⚡️🐴 🏈
Say what you want about Al Davis, without him the modern day NFL wouldn't exist. He helped change the game in more ways than one. I wish I could have met him at least once but I'm glad to know that I am part of Raider Nation, one of the best fandoms in all of football.
scouted for sid gillmans chargers early on went to small southern black schools and revolutionized scouting based on pure talent and not focused on the big (mostly white) powerhouse schools and their players
But Modell did it the right way by getting league approval before moving. Davis didn't follow league protocol. He just moved the raiders without league approval.
@@mannihernandez209 I get it you like Davis because he was a renegade and lone wolf type of guy. However the NFL is a business partnership made up of at least 32 different partners. A partnership does not work as well when one of its partners acts as if he is not part of the partnership team. Davis was a guy who was always looking for fights whether it was with the other owners(partners) or with the commissioner Pete Rozelle. Davis had a victim mentality. He was motivated by feeling victimized by the other owners. He often made decisions just to go against his fellow partners whether it was right or wrong. For example he sided against the USFL in its lawsuit with the NFL. He was damn lucky that his other partners in the NFL didn't vote him out of the league. He was not a team player and that is not the right mentality when in a business partnership.
An incredibly complex and brilliant individual. Coach, owner and AFL Commissioner. An IQ in the 180s. That brilliance, mixed with his paranoid mindset, contributed to his undoing. He went from a brilliantly successful owner, to owning a team that couldn't beat anyone. All that turmoil pulled him away from his primary focus. To run a football organization.
Smear piece on the gr8 Al Davis. First he never wante to be the nfl commisioner,he called it a paper pusher job.He would never work for anyone but himself. You can see the people who didnt like him talk crap,but anyone who played for him or coached for him loved him to death. He valued loyalty over everything else,marcus allen was disloyal to him by holding out,but he never benched guys that would cost his team a game. John Madden is one of the most crediable sports people i ever saw,and if he says those things about AL then thats good enough for me. As the famous saying goes "If you never made any enemys,then you never accomplished a thing". ESPN should be ashemed of themselvesfor making this crappy doc. They did get one thing right 1963-1985 most wins in pro sports. Tell me another owner who watches more film than a coach? I would take him as my leader over some pu**y like Modell anyday.
Also bench bo Jackson or play Allen when he got benched he was also a fumble machine that said a football life gives more praise but I think there's another ESPN doc that goes thru him as an assistant at USC n he recruited just like he picked raiders. The NFL is huge today n Al played a big role in it . rip
@@theblacktide9474 I don't think that Al Davis was that enamored with Allen to begin with (seems to me that he drafted him to help sell tickets after the teams move to L.A.). Plus Allen held out in 1989, and to Davis that was committing the unforgivable sin (Steve Beuerlein was banished to the bench for the same reason; from what I'm aware of Davis wasn't afraid to pay his players or team employees). I don't know, to me Allen was a bit overrated (and his 1986 season was ghastly, which led to the Raiders acquiring Bo Jackson, which was the beginning of the end for Davis & Allen).
AL Davis is the Raiders! He was HIGHLY combative and i believe that the lawsuit really pissed the owners/league off and after that they conspired to keep the Raiders down. By making them the most penalized team in the league and having huge/gamechanging calls go against them. The League/owners doesn't want to see the Raiders win the Super Bowl. But they fail to realize that the NFL is a better product when the Raiders are at/near the top. Modell is such a hypocrite! He chastizes Al for moving the Raiders then up and does the samething with the Browns to Baltimore! RIP AL! HOPEFULLY this year DA RAIDERS RETURN TO GREATNESS! #JUSTWINBABY #RNFL 😎
I think he didn't mind people thinking that sort of thing, and wasn't interested in correcting that type of perception, just as he enjoyed creating fear and paranoia in opponents (he did like what the Bad boy Detroit Pistons were about, and that totally makes sense:-).
Al Davis didn't admire Hitler for what he did, it was his strategies from a War Time perspective, & he applied that attack strategies out on the Football Field. "Within the first 5-10 plays of a Football game, the opposing 'MUST' go down, & he'll go down hard." I love that mind set about Al Davis.
Wonder what Al thought about that that wuupin they took from the Packers in that Superbowl,I mean I know the pack was fully loaded but I wonder what AL would say
The Chargers name and logo was created originated in Los Angeles 1960 L.A. memorial Coliseum ⚡️🐴 🏈 The name originated from the USC football games then musician and team kicker Tommy Trojan played and helped inspire then owner Barron Hilton when Hilton attended the USC football games at the LA Coliseum every time Tommy would run out to the field to attempt the extra point kick the USC fans would yell out Tommy’s Charge! Chant he created as a musician “Da Da Da Da Trojan Warriors Charge!! So that’s we’re Barron Hilton got inspired for the name from that Da Da Da Charge! Chant The proof is in the Battle Horse charging into battle hence the battle horse inside the original Chargers 1960 shield logo very similar to a USC Trojan warrior Charging into battle with a Sword and shield. The lightning bolt came from Barron Hilton liking the Air Force college team logo. Till this day that Charge! Chant is heard at the games and through out other sporting events. Da Da Da Da Charge! The Los Angeles r the true original L.A. born team playing for the original birthplace and not too many teams can claim that fact! The Rams were born in Cleveland. The Raiders were born in Oakland. and that a fact those other teams can’t ever claim. And Chargers r also the true Southern California team have never left Southern California unlike Rams born Cleveland,played in St.Loius and Raiders born in Oakland and play in Las Vegas Nevada. Al Davis even copied the 1960 original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo when Al Davis left the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 1962 to become the Oakland Raiders owner he then added the original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo to the Oakland Raiders pirate logo on 1963 Coincidentally The Oakland Raiders pirate logo didn’t have the shield logo 1960-1962 until Al Davis joined the Raiders on 1963 then added the shield to the pirate logo Copy cat shield logo but the true original is the 1960 Los Angeles Chargers battle horse shield logo. Da Da Da Da Charge!!! ⚡️🐴 🏈
Now look at how the NFL treated Art Modell after he moved the Browns to Baltimore and made them the Ravens. He did the same thing Al did and now the NFL keeps Modell out of the Hall of Fame.
Al Davis copied the 1960 original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo when Al Davis left the Los Angeles Chargers coaching staff in 1962 to become the Oakland Raiders manager in 1963 he then added the original Los Angeles Chargers shield logo to the Oakland Raiders pirate logo in 1963 Coincidentally The Oakland Raiders pirate logo didn’t have the shield logo 1960-1962 until Al Davis joined the Raiders in 1963 then added the shield to the Raiders pirate logo. Copy cat shield logo but the true original is the 1960 Los Angeles Chargers shield logo battle horse shield logo Da Da Da Da Charge!!! ⚡️🐴 🏈 The Los Angeles Chargers r the true original L.A. born team playing for the original birthplace and not too many teams can claim that fact. The Rams were born in Cleveland. The Raiders were born in Oakland. and that’s a fact those other teams can’t ever claim. And also the Chargers r also the true Southern California team have never left Southern California unlike Rams born Cleveland played in St.Loius and the Raiders born in Oakland and play in Las Vegas Nevada...
