One of the things that made the AFL so great (and competitive) was certain members’ willingness to open the game, and their teams, to the black athlete. No coach or team owner was more influential in this area that Al Davis and his Oakland Raiders. I recently found this fantastic NFL Films clip that discusses [...]
December 4, 1960 – Los Angeles Chargers vs. Oakland Raiders
May 13, 2013 By 6 Comments
I picked up a neat old wire photo the other day. The photo is from the December 4, 1960, game between the Los Angeles Chargers and Oakland Raiders at Candlestick Park. The caption reads: “Oakland Raiders’ Bill Reynolds (HB-40) is smothered by Los Angeles Chargers’ Emil Karas (LB-56) after taking a pass from quarterback Tom [...]
Fire in the Iceman – A Book Review
April 30, 2013 By 7 Comments
It is not too often that I run across biographies of former AFL players, but I when I do, I always pick them to see what new bits of info I can find. Frankly, there are just not a lot of them out there. Beyond several versions of Joe Namath biographies, a few on Al [...]
A Hall of Fame Comparison – WAYNE HAWKINS
March 25, 2013 By 6 Comments
There is a feeling among AFL fans that the American Football League players are consistently overlooked for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In truth there are many players, the bulk of whose careers were spent in the AFL, that deserve serious consideration, if not outright induction. In an effort to spark some [...]
October 1, 1967 – Kansas City Chiefs at Oakland Raiders
March 20, 2013 By 2 Comments
When I first began studying Sid Gillman and the early Chargers, quality AFL information was difficult to find. I spent many long hours in library archives, sifting through microfilm, hoping to find bits and pieces that would prove important to my research. There has been an explosion of AFL resources in the years since - web sites, [...]
1968 Raiders at Bills Video
March 19, 2013 By 7 Comments
Here is a great highlight video of the Raiders at Bills game from 1968. Lots of late AFL stars in this one. Among my favorite pieces in this highlight film are: Paul Maguire tackling the Raiders George Atkinson on a punt return at roughly the 2-minute mark. Best tackle by a punter (er… linebacker) I’ve [...]
An Interview with Ben Davidson
February 7, 2013 By 4 Comments
The first time I actually met the Oakland Raiders ‘ Ben Davidson was in 1998, when I interviewed him for my master’s thesis, which I wrote about Sid Gillman. I met Ben at his home on Mt. Helix, and we spoke about the Chargers, Raiders, and how teams planned to defend against Gillman’s offenses. As always, [...]
Caught up in the Jetstream (Smith)
January 29, 2013 By 1 Comment
I was doing a bit of research on James “Jetstream” Smith recently, and stumbled upon this excellent recap of an Oakland Raiders vs. Dallas Texans game from 1960, by author, Bob Gretz. In the third quarter, Jetstream ran a kick-off return back 98 yards for a touchdown, which helped maintain a Raiders rally, and turn the game [...]
Pride, Poise and a 9 Game Turn Around – The 1963 Oakland Raiders
January 16, 2013 By 3 Comments
The Oakland Raiders went from the AFL’s basement to knocking on the penthouse door in just a single season. Dave Steidel discusses what brought about the drastic team turnaround… In what may be the greatest one year turn around in professional sports and indeed one of the best coaching efforts in history, Al Davis, in [...]
The Bump-and-Run Boys – Willie Brown and Kent McCloughan
January 2, 2013 By 24 Comments
Critics of the AFL often cited weak defenses as the source behind the league’s very potent offenses. Defensive schemes, they said, were weak, and secondaries, pathetic. They fail to give credit to a particularly potent defensive tactic that was put to great use by Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders. Dave Steidel takes a look at [...]
