The Oakland Raiders, a professional football franchise based in California, operates under the motto "Commitment to Excellence." Yet turmoil has been as much a hallmark of the team's history as high-quality play. Established in 1961 from the ruins of a Minneapolis franchise, the Raiders were one of the stalwart clubs of the now-defunct American Football League. Since 1963, they have been run by Al Davis, a maverick who instilled a pirate ethic in his "silver and black"-clad players as well as a high-powered passing offense that led the team to the Super Bowl in 1968. The Raiders won their first world championship under coach John Madden in 1977, then followed with another under Tom Flores in 1981. In 1982, in defiance of a National Football League lawsuit, Davis moved the club to Los Angeles, where it remained for 13 years. World champions again in 1984, the Raiders moved back to Oakland in 1995, where, at the end of the twentieth century, they continued to rank among the league's roughest, most penalized teams.

Further Reading:

Italia, Bob. The Oakland Raiders. Edina, Minnesota, Abdo & Daughters, 1995.

Ribowsky, Mark. Slick: The Silver and Black Life of Al Davis. New York, Macmillan, 1991.