Hudson Is Latest Center of Attention
by Tom LaMarre
For many teams, Rodney Hudson would be considered the best center in franchise history, but not with the Raiders.
The 6-2, 315-pound Hudson, who will anchor the Raiders’ front line for the sixth year, has been selected to the Pro Bowl in three of the last four seasons and was chosen second team All-Pro in 2019 after being a two-time All-American at Florida State.
The Raiders’ legacy at center started on the first day of the franchise, when a 6-2, 220-pounder named Jim Otto out of Miami (Fla.) stepped into the huddle and did not give up his spot for 210 consecutive games.
“His skills as a center were just perfect,” Raiders Hall of Fame Coach John Madden said. “He was one of those guys who never wanted to come out of practice. That’s the opposite of most starters, who will say, ‘Send in the second guy.’
“Jim was the Oakland Raiders center, and he wasn’t going to give up his spot.”
Otto, who is known as “The Original Raider,” almost didn’t wind up in Oakland because the eighth and final franchise in the American Football League when it started in 1960 was supposed to go to Minneapolis.
However, the National Football League had other idea and offered a franchise to the city that became the Minnesota Vikings.
With the eighth franchise in limbo for several months, the other seven teams in the new AFL raided the list of players that the prospective owners in Minneapolis had drafted, but somehow they missed the best football player on the list.
Otto, who pumped himself up to 260 pounds with almost fanatical work in the weight room, was the only All-AFL center in league history and played in 12 straight AFL All-Star Games or NFL Pro Bowls on his way to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
However, Otto paid the price, as he has had 74 surgeries, including 28 knee operations, and in 2007 he had his right leg amputated.
But several times, Otto has said it was all worth it and he would do it over again.
When Otto moved aside in 1975, Dave Dalby from UCLA stepped in at center and did the best imitation of Otto, staying there for over the next 11 seasons—including Raiders victories in Super Bowls XI, XV and XVIII.
“Dave Dalby was the center on our football team and we nicknamed him ‘the Pig,” Hall of Fame guard Gene Upshaw said affectionately of Dalby, who like Otto was not afraid to do the dirty work.
The 6-3, 250-pound Dalby, perhaps because he followed Otto, was a bit underrated and made the only Pro Bowl in 1977 as he was overshadowed by Mike Webster of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Incredibly, for 25 years the only starting centers the Raiders had were Otto and Dalby.
When Dalby stepped aside, Don Mosebar moved in at center with his 6-6, 305-pound frame in 1986 after being an All-American at USC, and made the Pro Bowl that season, in 1990 and 1991—when he also was selected All-Pro.
Mosebar’s career ended suddenly in 1996 when he sustained an injury that cost him his left eye.
The Raiders selected 6-3, 320-pound center Barret Robbins in the second round (No. 49 overall) of the 1996 NFL Draft out of TCU, and he kept things going, being selected All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl in 2002.
“I think he’s the best lineman in the NFL,” noted football writer Peter King said.
Unfortunately, he is best known for bolting the Raiders for Tijuana the week of Super Bowl XXXVII against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in San Diego when a trainer told him he might not play because of a knee injury.
Without perhaps their best player other than wide receiver Tim Brown, the Raiders never had a chance and were trounced, 48-21.
Robbins was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and apparently had drug problems, but when he was right, he fit in with the centers who came before him.
So does Hudson, and he’s not finished yet.
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