(Image source: The Sacramento Bee)
BY BRAD GALBREATH
ANCHOR ANTHONY MARTINEZ
Just win, baby, that’s the slogan and philosophy Al Davis brought to football. The Hall of Fame NFL owner died Saturday. He was 82. Oakland’s KTVU explains how the long-time Raiders owner was different from other NFL owners.
“He’s a unique owner in that he was a football coach. He’s a football guy. He’s not a guy who made his fortune somewhere else and then decided to buy a football team. He came up through the ranks.”
That wasn’t a smooth process. ESPN’s Bill Williams says, the man who bled black and silver was known for sticking to his guns.
“Davis did it all his way. He didn’t always make friends in the NFL over the years, but he earned a lot of respect. Expect the tributes to fly in faster than a classic Raiders wide receiver.”
Davis not only built the culture of Raider Nation, but also had a hand in shaping the NFL today. Here’s ABC.
“He was instrumental in the merger of the AFL and the NFL. The commissioner of the AFL. His Raider teams played in 5 Super Bowls, they of course won three of them. Roger Goodell, NFL commissioner today, called him a true legend. Said his passion for football and his influence on the game was extraordinary.”
NBC Sports’ Gary Peterson says Al Davis was like Two-Face; there was the good...
“A visionary...an intensely loyal patriarch... a man who was colorblind before colorblind was cool.”
And the bad.
“He immersed himself in legal battles with the NFL when he moved the team to Los Angeles, and again when he moved it back to Oakland 13 years later. He feuded with the city of Oakland. The Raiders maintained CIA-worthy files of negative newspaper stories.”
Although Davis had been in poor health for the last few months, a writer for the Sacramento Bee tells Sacramento’s KCRA that Davis’ death is the second blow to the state of California this week.
“I’m a child of 1970s northern California, and I’m feeling my mortality this week, with not only Al Davis, but Steve Jobs. Two people who couldn’t be more different, but they were huge icons not only in a global sense, but they were based in northern California.”
So who will take Davis’ place? CBS Sports’ Clark Judge says, right now, it’s up in the air.
“The obvious successor is his son, Marc, but there has always been a feeling that he's not interested. There are strong personalities within the organization, with CEO Amy Trask the most noteworthy. What is clear is that, no matter the successor, there will be a void.”
Transcript by Newsy
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