We interrupt our previously scheduled bashing of Raiders principal owner Al Davis to give credit where it’s due. Tonight, Davis will be enshrined into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, an honor that was probably overdue.
Yes, Davis’ questionable talent evaluations and business decisions have set his franchise back and kept it in double-digit losses the past seven years. Yes, Big Al can be dismissive, vindictive and downright cruel. Yes, he tends to inflate his own contributions and explain away his mistakes.
Despite all that, he remains one of the most important figures in the history of Bay Area sports, and BASHOF has been incomplete without him.
Before Davis came to the Raiders in 1963, Oakland wasn’t really even on the sports map. Cal had won a basketball national championship up the road in Berkeley, but Oakland? A successful minor-league baseball team was about all it could claim.
Davis changed everything. He made the Raiders into one of the AFL’s best teams, and simultaneously took the lead in gaining entry into the mighty NFL. The Raiders’ presence in Oakland no doubt made it easier to attract the baseball A’s in 1968, and the NBA Warriors in 1971.
During the 1970s, Oakland suddenly became something of a pro-sports mecca, with five championships (six if you include 1980-81) in three sports. And Davis’ Raiders didn’t just win, they mimicked the tough town they represented and defined a new image of toughness on the field.
You couldn’t write the history of Bay Area sports without making Davis a central character.
Tonight, he will be honored at the Westin St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco, along with – please savor the eclecticism of this crew – Brian Boitano, Bert Campaneris, (former USF soccer coach) Stephen Negoesco and R.C. Owens. I wish Davis were there, so we could hear him telling Boitano, “You’ve got to dominate the ice.”
John Madden will introduce Davis, returning the favor from Madden’s 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame enshrinement, and apparently will accept the award on Davis’ behalf. Madden told Cam Inman of the Contra Costa Times that Davis is too focused on the owners’ meetings to attend the BASHOF event, though it isn’t clear whether Davis was making the trip to Orlando.
Congratulations to Davis for his achievement. Love him or hate him, we should all be able to agree on his importance.
