Al Davis - Sports Century

hello I'm Chris Fowler and welcome to Sports century born on the fourth of July most of his life has been a rebellion against Authority and a struggle for independence Allen Davis thrives on chaos much of it his creation and boasts that he would rather be feared than respected as we'll see in the next half hour the man who specializes in jumpsuits and lawsuits was made the Raiders a refuge for renegades and the discarded remains obsessed with the one foe he has never beaten and never will he has the ability to control a lot of situations but he doesn't have the ability to control life or death it really really hurts him when somebody he's friendly with or somebody that he knows has a physical problem I lie there for five months I couldn't do this I couldn't believe a lie I think another sound he used to come up about nine o'clock all by himself he was stand by my bedside and Nile Davis would say Dell you're not gonna die he said you are a Raider and Raiders don't die as he's gotten the older he's become more absorbed with the subject of death he's a regular attendant at funerals of people who passed away you've come into his life whether they're friends or enemies he goes anyhow he went he went to Pete Rose Elle's feeling alone Pete Rozelle was his arch enemy for most of his adult career that's the only thing that I don't think I've licked in my life when I wasn't able to save some people who were dying in 1979 the shadow of death fell across Davis when his wife Carol lapsed into a coma after suffering a heart attack at that particular time no some doctors tell anthis she wouldn't come out of it he refused believe that he set up around the clock day in and day out talking into her here to keep her brain functioning on the 17th day of this coma she comes out of it a woman that was supposed to die or at the very most be a vegetable gained 97% of her faculties back in the course of that year largely just through it al Davis's will he believes that there's a way to beat death I mean he's actually had these conversations said we haven't dominated that death thing yet yet the AL day was a strange guy as we were loosen up on pregame and Rother exercising and stretching out he would walk and look at all the players hey stars big it was so weird he just was like one of these guys let you know that he's close enough to close enough to touch you the stuff he used to wear I mean it was kind of Elvis Presley type Liberace kind of stuff you know and we'd say stuff to him about that and never seen a bother you have this man who has very few close associations in the football world almost a maniacal attitude with respect to privacy Dowell Davis thinks everybody's out to get him he's paranoid about it he's in us-against-them kind of guy you go out to the Raiders training camp and they're very high fences with green wind screens they've got guards posted so that if anybody's trying to look over the screen they're gonna get shoot away I think he loves the image of being sort of a gangster type of guy dangerous unpredictable yet brilliant he's his work the theme ditch gun a man great he's one great hero in life is Adolf Hitler that give you some respective money in 1939 when Davis was 10 Hitler's blitzkrieg struck like lightning into the heart of Eastern Europe more than 40 years later in an interview with writer Gary Smith the Raiders owner recalled an impressionable boy's obsession with the Nazi armies tactical brilliance despite the dark implications to his own heritage you got this Jewish kid who's part of a culture is being wiped out systematically by Hitler but yet I was fascinated by what Hitler was doing just the boldness and the craziness of Hitler's reached for power was something that hid how Davison a real gut-level the specter of a jewish king admiring Hitler you have to ask yourself is how Dave was completely sane to even contemplate something like that when he says something really outrageous as he did in that Gary Smith article and saying he admired Hitler the people that loved him just laugh and say well that's al you know and the other side say the same thing that's al you know he's an evil person I think al Davis was always regarded by some people as a rebel simply because he didn't always adhere to the party line he was always very opinionated you knew that if al Davis made a move it was going to be controversial in some way it was going to be attention-getting for sure listen if you live your life worrying about what people think and what people say and who's good or who's bad you'll never take a step he hired the first Hispanic American NFL coach he hired the first african-american coach of the modern era and the person who we all believe will succeed him when he's gone is a woman he's about opportunity gave opportunity to me as a 32 year old head coach he's one that is open and he will set a table with 30 other owners National Football League teams and defy every one of them sue them you have to wonder what is in the man's mind that drives him not to think about retirement but think about more conquests he's thinking about what 30-year old owner he's going to show up as a fool because he's still smarter than the rest of football this is something out it was Al Davis dreamed of when he was a kid born in 1929 to rose and Lewis Davis Allen his older brother Jerry a raised in a comfortable Jewish home in Brooklyn everybody calls him a gutter fighter you know a kid who came from nothing he came from very high middle-class surroundings his father was a very successful garment manufacturer so he didn't really want for anything growing up the father cut no slack if they were running on the beach they even run his boys to their knees if they came home with a B it was pretty much scoring he had to have an A so he grew up in a house where you had to find a way to make it happen you had to win even as a young guy I had a dream that I would build the finest organization in professional sports Allen was wonderfully popular with girls he was good-looking he's charming and he's bright there's nothing as background to suggest that he was persecuted but he always acted that way he always acted as if people were against him and he was the underdog he had to prove himself constantly he did at 21 Davis was a line coach for a Delphi College at 33 he was head coach and general manager of the Raiders in the emerging AFL in 1963 three years later he was hired as the league's commissioner his plan was to wage a dirty war against his NFL counterpart the smooth diplomatic Pete Rozelle there was nothing nice about this it was a matter of survival how was the one cog that we use to go ahead intimidate the National Football League we got commitments from about six to eight of their great players several of them quarterbacks we said that we would hold one team totally hostage what Davis didn't know was that the secret peace talks between the leagues had been under way even before he started his talent raids in June of 1966 the war ended I had to go over and tell al that there was a merger and that the Commissioner of the combined leagues would be Pete Rozelle and he got no support from his own owners I think it was very bitter about that we won war and they know it and the peacemakers made the peace which was fine with me al davis is a man who would have been king he wanted to be the commissioner of all the footballs not just the ones the AFL was kicking around with his ambition still burning Davis returned to Oakland this time is managing general partner while he solidified his control by outmaneuvering one of his two partners and out living the other he occasionally skirmished with Roselle in 1980 three years after he cast the only vote against the commissioners new contract Davis committed an act of open rebellion al was going to move to Los Angeles without asking peace permission there was a touch of arrogance of Al and doing that which is Al hell style he's tough and Roselle resented the fact that Davis was shoving this down his throat and he decided to fight it we're fighting for a principle we see we don't think the antitrust laws were intended to let a team just get up and move after twelve eight years and sell out the National Football League acted in bad faith with no polling secret and sneaky Lawson's just a number and a myriad of things that were totally unfair and totally restrictive the league was unanimous in believing the Raiders should stay up and Oakland only a few clubs abstained on that I think it was unfortunate that God as personal as it was but that's the nature of court fights here you had a member of the league testifying fighting his partners and we'd never been associated with that type of a thing before when someone within your ranks sues you it just makes you look very inept and amateurish and that's hurt a fraternity of NFL owners the war began in the less than several years in the NFL lost and the Raiders they moved to Los Angeles I don't really have that much respect for people as they are especially when I thought his credibility was destroyed in this case drove my buddy Pete Rozelle out of the business again in litigation and testifying against him but Rose ELLs exit in 1989 was not the end of Davis's private war against the system he continued to be embroiled in several lawsuits with the NFL in the city of Oakland we have returned after 13 seasons of disappointing profits in Los Angeles seeking billions of dollars in the courts the Brooklyn boy became an island with all its bridges burned his fellow owners despised him at one point talked about trying to form a coalition to get him kicked out of the league there may only be one way to do it and that's al Davis's way I else seems to enjoy a fight my personal opinion is that it all makes doing business more difficult now believes that if he is disruptive that he could function in chaos better than someone else he had no business pursuing that litigation was a big learn such intensity to try to tear us down I'm angry I'm angry Armel dog is angry at how Davis who's his last friend he has in the NFL I firmly believe that L is at a stage where he likes that turmoil there's been losses going on for what the last 25 years I think he likes that I think he likes that confrontation you know if it isn't there he's gonna start it now Davis would give you this test if you only have one thing what would you pick power money love and if you didn't pick power you know you were fooled forever let's get power you get everything else he wanted to make every single decision that had anything to do with the Raiders that was his goal that's what he was that's what he wanted it that's what he kept it he knows everything and it's going on in his organization from what the equipment man is doing to what you know what what shoe laces Tim Braun wore at the point that Al would pull into the parking lot he's here he's here and never put a name with it but he's here there's an atmosphere in the Raider organization of Big Brother looking over you is the coach really in charge between 1963 and 1985 the Raiders won more games than any team in pro football 248 reaching for Super Bowls they triumphed three times then they hit a wall of mediocrity from 1986 to 1999 taking just one division title as Davis cycled through six head coaches Al Davis has never really given up being head coach of the Raiders so he's had problems with strong-willed coaches who wanted to do it their way not the Raider way he had Shanahan there Shan hadn't want to change things you're out you know that old expression it's his way or the highway it's that way there was a hint that maybe Jon Gruden was actually running things we learned quickly enough that he wasn't and maybe that was a reason Jon Gruden left he told me when he hired me the guy that has to answer to everything is you but also he was on your side and he was in your corner he did everything everything he could to help you win he studies as much family or film and the coach do al Davis was like every practice you know I showed up all the time was always around very involved but the word on the street was that you know al was the one calling the shots terrible moves and inability to admit mistakes constantly trying to reinvent himself with the same old tired tricks of the past while other people moved past him through his influence he decided to set a Hall of Fame player like Marcus Allen on the bench when we needed we had two very gifted receivers that al Davis were no unforeseen reason decided to set those two guys on the bench and so yeah I think that those were times that his overbearing influence definitely could have hurt the team despite occasional feuds with such players as Marcus Allen and Ken Stabler Davis retained the respect for most of his players I have nothing but good things to say about him because he was always straight up with me and he paid us well al was a guy where he felt like you could go to him and talk about your problems and a lot of people did now there are a lot of people hate him in the NFL because he's beating him in the courts and he's beating him on the field but he is extremely gracious and great to all his ex players then you wore that silver and black in our Davis book you were part of him and you were family I think every player whether he admits it or not towards the twilight of his career wants to go play for the Raiders I saw Al Davis do that with many players he took guys at the end of their career and gave them life will grow and be tough now fight with them and just keep sticking it to him just we'll fight the Raiders is a Prasanna team we walk with a different swagger than other teams we talk with a different swagger than other teams tell ties and jackets no no dress coats no hours no no rules hardly we got the reputation being a lot of bugs and ne'er-do-wells and ex-convicts maybe we always thought that they were against us it was us against the league it was us against everyone and we'll get in the foxhole come on okay guys let's get in the foxhole where the Raiders with the Raiders it meant that you were on the most feared team in the National Football League you would cheap shot you would try and intimidate an official you would try to stretch the rules you live in the gray area and you knew that you'd be rewarded for it I always sense that al had this way that he wanted to do it it really didn't matter what the rules were I was gonna do it his own way and that used to trouble me anything he had players who you know were charged with rape players who were picked up for drunk and driving carrying guns he's kind of outsiders rebels attitude fit in with those kind of players and they all became the outcasts you were gonna show the establishment who they were what they could be you want to give you a family a better life so render center makes it easy to get the things your family wants and needs I don't think Al Davis can say or do anything that affects his image because there are people who love them I think he walks on water there's the larger group of people and hate them and nothing is going to change the opinion of either one al Davis is totally different from the perception the picture you have of Al Davis and he doesn't try and stop this picture you know them how they over here a real loud they was complete opposite al doesn't want anybody to think he has a soft spot by design I believe we had an assistant coach in New England who had coached with the Raiders three or four years later he got cancer he died left behind a wife and some children they had no money I'll pay for the funeral l gave money to the family if you're a friend of his in you're loyal to him he'll be loyal to you no matter what happens say one thing you find out about him don't try to screw him man you make a mistake with them and you're gonna pay for it runs the gamut you hear stories about you know him being totally ruthless and then on the other end of the spectrum being so philanthropic it's beyond comprehension he's all those things at different times you know he can be petty be generous it's just a mass of contradictions in 2003 Davis reached his fifth Superbowl and lost to a coach he let go only a year earlier as the battle fires of his passionate March continued to flare Davis remained an elusive figure dressed in black or white his portrait blurs into a murky gray or perhaps silver depending on one's point of view is he going to be remembered for the great Super Bowl teams for the passion which he brought the game on the field was he gonna be remembered for the dispassionate way that he moved his franchise around off the field and sued people left and right and treated fans like they were third string quarterback he assembles competitive teams almost all the time and you have to give him credit for that a lot of people don't like to because they don't like him I think there's a ton of respect for our Davison asleep and they're always looking over their shoulder nobody wants to deal with them because they think he'll beat them I'll recognizes new ideas better than anyone that I know in the NFL as good a football man as any owner in the history of this league even cluding George Halas professionally he's been a big disappointment to me it's praising myself but I've done more than anyone else yeah I've lived my dream but I thought I would live my dream I thought I would but you gotta go get it you got to go fight for it you got a dominated following the 2000 season the Raiders sent promotional postcards to certain media members arrayed in gleaming splendor were the team's Super Bowl rings and trophies the only human being pictured was Al Davis mitts 23 of his favorite sayings and those shining spoils of victory he was where he prefers to be defiantly alone in the center of the silver and black universe that he created for sports century I'm Chris Fowler

Channel: Keith

Views: 50,083

Rating: 4.8712873 out of 5

Keywords: Al Davis

Id: 7EAVgYtvzxo

Length: 22min 37sec (1357 seconds)

Published: Wed Mar 16 2016