Raider Nation's Tom Flores Earned the Hall of Fame Part 3

We build a case for Raiders legendary player and coach, Thomas Raymond Flores, who is better known as Tom Flores, deserving a spot in the Hall of Fame.

The 83-year-old will be at home once again watching football's greatest be inducted into the HOF. Having been a finalist a year ago with ex-San Diego Chargers coach Don Coryell, Flores hoped this year was the year he would have his chance at the Golden Jacket and football's highest honor.

Flores witnessed Hall of Fame president David Baker tell both former Pittsburgh Steelers Coach Bill Cowher and former Dallas Cowboys and Miami Dolphins Coach Jimmy Johnson on their television shows that they were being selected into the 2020 Hall of Fame class.

These are two coaches who were not even finalists for the HOF a year ago.

Not to take away from their great success, both coaches deserve to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. But how is it that Flores gets skipped over once again of having a place to immortality?

The NFL presents the inductees with a ceremony followed by the HOF game, the start of the NFL preseason, scheduled to begin on Aug. 6 in Canton, Ohio, between the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers.

"He should have been in the HOF a long time ago. There's coaches that are in the HOF that haven't done what Tom has done," said former Raiders wide receiver and Pro Football Hall of Famer Fred Biletnikoff.

To put things into perspective, Flores claimed two Super Bowl victories as a head coach and earned the honor of Coach of the Year a decade before Jimmy Johnson.

Johnson managed to win back-to-back Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys and received the Coach of the Year award. Flores surpassed Cowher's success of winning one Super Bowl with the Pittsburgh Steelers and being recognized as Coach of the Year.

Yet, Flores still has more on his resume winning a Super Bowl as a player and another as an assistant, and has been very influential in promoting the NFL to Latinos across Latin-American countries.

He is often considered as the Jackie Robinson of pro football. Flores has helped open the door to many Latinos, players, and coaches across the National Football League. The impact he has had on and off the field is worthy of being considered into the HOF.

The Autumn Wind is a Raider

Is it notable that Flores, a Latino, was the first minority hired as a head coach and the first minority in professional football history to win a Super Bowl?

A year after being promoted to head coach by the great Al Davis in 1980, his Oakland Raiders made a remarkable run into the playoffs and became the first wild card team to win the Super Bowl.

Fast forward a few years later, the Oakland Raiders relocated to Los Angeles in 1982, and by 1983, Flores would win his second Super Bowl as a coach. The 1983 Super Bowl win marks the last Super Bowl win for a professional football team in L.A. and the last for the Raiders franchise.

Flores' famous speech echoes among Raider Nation, "We were the best team, we deserved to be world champions--I'm proud of y'all,"

During his tenure as head coach Flores had winning records against Coryell and the late Don Shula, the winningest coach in NFL history. He was 3-1 against Chuck Noll, 2-1 against Bill Walsh and Bill Parcells, 1-0 against Bud Grant, and 1-1 against Tom Landry.

Coryell and Parcells are the only ones not in the Hall of Fame.

Flores won 97 games as a head coach, ending his career with a .527 winning percentage. His 83 wins with the Raiders is the second-most in franchise history, behind his predecessor John Madden, who is in the HOF.

His post-season record looks even better at 8-3, a .727 winning percentage that sits second to Vince Lombardi, among coaches with 10 or more playoff games.

Many have been critical about the drop-off of success toward the end of his coaching years. Flores was 5-10 in his final season with the Raiders in 1987, and concluded his coaching career with the Seattle Seahawks, posting a 14-34 record in three seasons.

After leaving the Raiders in 1992, Flores would become the president and general manager and eventually head coach of the Seattle Seahawks, becoming the first Latino to become president and GM of an NFL team.

A team that was already abominable, to begin with, Flores did not manage to win during his three seasons in Seattle.

Hall of Fame voter Peter King tweeted out, "The entirety of his coaching career matters,"... "Six winnings season in 12 as a head coach. He was 14-34 when he left the Raiders and coached Seattle."

Critics holding Flores back from the HOF continue to hold him accountable for not having winning seasons with those teams toward the end of his coaching career.

Flores might have been the first of many things, but his resume as a head coach is comparable to others already in the HOF. His skin color and race did not help him win any games-- his coaching did. His tremendous success as the head coach of the Raiders should overlook his downfall in Seattle and solidify a spot in Canton

Flores was asked what he would do after his career as the Raiders broadcaster, and said: "Everybody's journey has to end at some point. Mine hopefully will end ... in Canton, maybe someday".

Music legend Carlos Santana would go on to say: "Give it to him while he's here."

A strong statement to make, as many Raider fans were excited yet heartbroken to see the family of the late Ken "The Snake" Stabler induct him into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Stabler was not around to look back and reflect on the career he had as a Raider.

Let's not allow history to repeat itself and create the same mistake of inducting them sooner than later and grant them the opportunity to relive those great moments that brought them to the HOF.

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