Raiderstation

happy birthday Big Al

Happy Birthday Al.

God bless you, Al…..wherever you are!!
Happy Birthday sir!

One of the top most controversial, successful, eccentric, innovative, and in the end frustrating owners in all of pro sports.

Without Al's tenacity and vision there is no team of the decades. The last nine years of his reign were rough but the first twenty saw the Raiders win three Super Bowls and become the winningest team in professional sports.

His virtues far exceeded his faults. Happy Birthday Mr Davis.

Just win baby.

And IIRC, Al was responsible for:

The first Hispanic head coach: Tom Flores
The first African-American head coach: Art Shell
The first female front office executive: Amy Trask.

Didn't have anything to do with DEI, Al did whatever he thought gave him the best chance to field a winner.

[quote=raider_kin post_id=1291066]And IIRC, Al was responsible for:

The first Hispanic head coach: Tom Flores
The first African-American head coach: Art Shell
The first female front office executive: Amy Trask.

Didn't have anything to do with DEI, Al did whatever he thought gave him the best chance to field a winner.[/quote]The first black NFL head coach was Fritz Pollard, 1921 for the Akron Pros. He was actually the co head coach while still playing on the team as well.

[quote=raider_kin post_id=1291066]And IIRC, Al was responsible for:

The first Hispanic head coach: Tom Flores
The first African-American head coach: Art Shell
The first female front office executive: Amy Trask.

Didn't have anything to do with DEI, Al did whatever he thought gave him the best chance to field a winner.[/quote]As a member of society, overlooking his football accomplishments, Al was a visionary. He did far more for the advancement of minorities in the league than anyone, including the man that the "Rooney Rule" is named after.

It's best summed up by remarks he made to Art Shell after he made him the first black NFL head coach in the modern era. He told Shell that it wasn't about his ethnicity, it was only about winning.

I enjoyed your remarks dude.

The Rooney Rule is not "named" for Dan Rooney because he is considered a champion of diversity. It is simply because Rooney chaired the league diversity committee when the rule was put in place.

The amount of red ass reactions to any perceived slight of Davis is staggering among Raiders fans.

Who has the redass???

[quote=Attyla post_id=1291077]The Rooney Rule is not "named" for Dan Rooney because he is considered a champion of diversity. It is simply because Rooney chaired the league diversity committee when the rule was put in place.

The amount of red ass reactions to any perceived slight of Davis is staggering among Raiders fans.[/quote] Who has the red ass???

Dunno, you got a mirror in your house, or apartment or hostel?

[quote=Attyla post_id=1291086]Dunno, you got a mirror in your house, or apartment or hostel?[/quote] I'll assume from your derogatory comment that You are the one with a case of the Red Ass lol...enjoy the rest of your day!

[quote=Attyla post_id=1291077]The Rooney Rule is not "named" for Dan Rooney because he is considered a champion of diversity. It is simply because Rooney chaired the league diversity committee when the rule was put in place.

The amount of red ass reactions to any perceived slight of Davis is staggering among Raiders fans.[/quote] You tend to make false assumptions. The point I was making is that Al deserves to be in that conversation more than he is.

Semantics.