Al Davis

Al Davis (1929–2011) was an American football coach and executive who led the Raiders as head coach, general manager, and owner. He shaped the franchise through its Oakland and Los Angeles eras.

John Rauch: An American football coach who succeeded Davis as head coach of the Oakland Raiders in 1966. Davis chose Rauch to lead the team after leaving the head-coaching job.
American Football League: A professional American football league that competed with the NFL from 1960 until their merger in 1970. Davis became a leading figure in the league before the merger expanded the Raiders’ reach.
Oakland Raiders: The professional football franchise that played in Oakland for much of its history and is now based in Las Vegas. This was the team Davis built and controlled across multiple cities and eras.
National Football League: The highest professional American football league in the United States, formed from the 1970 merger of the NFL and AFL. Davis’s battles with league leadership tested the NFL’s control over teams and markets.
John Madden: An American football coach who led the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978 and won Super Bowl XI. Davis hired Madden, whose tenure brought the franchise its first Super Bowl victory.
AFL–NFL merger: The agreement that united the American Football League and National Football League into one professional league by 1970. The merger made the Raiders an NFL franchise and changed the scale of Davis’s influence.
Los Angeles Raiders: The Raiders franchise during its Los Angeles home years, from 1982 through 1994. Davis relocated the team here after a legal fight with the NFL.
Kansas City Chiefs: A professional football franchise founded as the Dallas Texans and based in Kansas City since 1963. The Chiefs were the Raiders’ chief AFL division rival and a recurring measure of their competitiveness.
John Robinson: An American football coach who led the Los Angeles Rams and USC Trojans. Davis hired Robinson as the Raiders’ head coach in 1982, their first season in Los Angeles.
Davis v. National Football League: A 1987 antitrust case in which a jury found the NFL liable for blocking the Raiders’ move to Los Angeles. The verdict validated Davis’s challenge to the league’s relocation restrictions.

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