Few Understand How Critical 1-13 1962 truly was in Raiders History

You certainly wouldn’t know it at first glance, but 1962 played a huge role in the Oakland/Los Angeles/Las Vegas Raiders becoming one of the iconic franchises in the history of professional sports.

Tom Flores, a future Hall of Famer and the first Hispanic starting quarterback in pro football history who would later coach the Raiders to victories in Super Bowls XV and XVIII missed the season because he was battling tuberculosis, and the Raiders had the worst season in their history with a 1-13 record after going 2-12 in 1961.

There were rumors seemingly every month that the Raiders were going to move to Sacramento or Portland or Salt Lake City or any other number of cities, but during that year the City of Oakland and Alameda County approved $25 million in financing for the construction of the Oakland Coliseum.

Construction of the Coliseum was delayed two years by various legal issues and cost overruns, but ground finally was broken on the project in 1964 but it wouldn’t be ready for two more seasons.

The Raiders had played home games only at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park in San Francisco from their first two seasons in the American Football League in 1960, but for $400,000 the city and county threw together Frank Youell Field, which seated 22,000 but drew more when the Raiders were winning.

Frank Youell was a cozy little stadium on the campus of Laney College adjacent to the Nimitz Freeway with only bleacher seats for about 22,000 spectators that opened in 1962, but Oakland fans enjoyed having their team play in its home city.

Paul Maguire, tight end for the San Diego Chargers who later was an NFL color analyst on television, jokingly said the construction of Frank Youell Field was an “Early Erector Set.”

The stadium was named for Francis J. Youell (1883–1967), an Oakland undertaker and owner of the Chapel of the Oaks funeral home, an Oakland City Councilman, and a huge sports booster.

After the 1962 season, owners Wayne Valley, Ed McGah, and others made perhaps the biggest move in franchise history by hiring 33-year-old Al Davis, an assistant coach for the San Diego Chargers, as head coach and general manager.

“We needed someone who wanted to win so badly he would do anything,” Valley said. “Everywhere I went, people told me what a son of a bitch Al Davis was. So, I figured he must be doing something right. I hired him because everybody hated his guts.

“I knew it would come down to the two of us for eventual control of the Raiders, but he was only a football coach, so I figured I could out-maneuver him.”

That happened years later, but first Davis coached the Raiders to a 10-4 record in 1963, beating the AFC champion San Diego Chargers twice after losing to them six straight times in the first three seasons of the NFL.

In addition, Davis changed their uniforms from black and gold to the now-famous Silver and Black.

Davis coached the once-hapless Raiders to a 23-16-3 record in three seasons before becoming Commissioner of the AFL in 1966 during the pro football war with the National Football League and returned to the Raiders after the AFL-NFL merger.

A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, Davis became managing general partner of the Raiders and oversaw their victories in Super XI, XV, and XVIII.

Frank Youell Field, which allowed the Raiders to play in Oakland for the first time, is now a parking lot at Laney College, with only a plaque on a light pole explaining that it was once the home of the Silver and Black.

When the 0-13 Raiders beat the Boston Patriots, 20-0, in the final game of the 1962 season at Frank Youell Field to avoid going winless, Raiders radio play-by-play announcer Bob Blum chortled, “There will be dancing on Broadway tonight.”

That actually didn’t happen since Raider Nation was only a small cadre of fans at the time, but after Davis took over the next year and in later seasons, that happened often on Broadway.

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