I have always heard deaths come in threes. Once Apple CEO Steve Jobs passed away, I started watching for the other two. Saturday morning, news broke that Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis had passed away at age 82.
Jobs and Davis were larger than life in their fields. While Jobs changed the world through his must-have Apple products, and Davis pushed for social change and diversity. Long before it was popular in big-name sports and business to support civil rights, Davis did.
In 1963, the Raiders were scheduled to play a preseason game in Mobile, Ala. Because Alabama was segregated, Davis refused to play the game there and demanded it be moved back to Oakland.
This was not the first stand Davis took against segregation. In 1955, the American Football League All-Star game was scheduled for New Orleans, La. Davis refused to allow the game to be played there because of Louisiana's segregation policies, and he was instrumental in getting the game moved to Houston. Davis refused to force his players to stay in separate hotels, eat separate meals and so forth just because of their race.
When the NFL passed the Rooney Rule in 2003—it forced teams to interview minority candidates for head coaching and front-office jobs—many were appalled by the NFL's effort. Not Davis. He hired the first minority head coach in 1979 when he promoted Tom Flores to the position. Flores became the first Latino head coach and went on to win two Super Bowls with the Raiders.
Davis hired the first African American head coach, Art Shell, in 1986. While Shell didn't lead the Raiders to Super Bowl victories, Davis still pushed to hire more minorities across the NFL. Davis did not exclude women from hiring in the male-dominated football world, either. The Raiders hired Amy Trask in 1997, and she is still the only female CEO in the NFL.
During his time with the Raiders, Davis butted head with NFL commissioners, cities, coaches and players. The feuds were about business, but they overshadowed his hiring of minorities and the stands he took socially.
Many will remember the recent bad years in Oakland, but Davis should be remembered for so much more.
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