Allen "Al" Davis was an American football executive and coach. He was the principal owner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders of the National Football League (NFL). As an assistant to Sid Gillman of the Los Angeles Chargers, he learned of the "vertical" passing game that Gillman had constructed, he perfected the scheme as a coach, to turn the struggling Raiders franchise around. As the commissioner of the American Football League, he opposed a merger between the NFL and AFL. He didn't last long as commissioner because of his brash actions. He was strict with his coaching staff and players and demanded just one thing of them: winning. He took players who were outcasts and deemed bad character types and made them feel at home in Oakland and they had no problems when Al told them to "Just Win, Baby."He was not shy about hiring minority coaches to lead his team. He gambled on a little-known 32-year-old linebackers coach John Madden and was vindicated as Madden made the Raiders a perennial powerhouse. A believer in equality, he was the first NFL owner to hire an African-American head coach and a female chief executive. He was a maverick and a rebel whose legacy will never be forgotten.
