Dalby Didn't Get Credit After Replacing Otto
Jim Otto, perhaps the best center in National Football League history, started and played in the first 210 games in the history of the Oakland Raiders before retiring grudgingly after 15 seasons in 1975.
So, when Otto, the face of the franchise, was gone, what did the Raiders do?
Well, the Raiders selected 6-foot-3, 250-pound center Dave Dalby in the fourth round (No. 100 overall) of the 1972 NFL Draft out of UCLA. After three years of backing up Otto, he stepped in and didn’t miss a start for the next 14 seasons.
Going by their nicknames, the Raiders went from "Double-O" to "Double-D" at center.
So, for their first 29 seasons, the Raiders had only two starting centers, and center Don Mosebar continued that tradition, playing in 146 of 149 games between 1985, after learning from Dalby, making All-Pro and the Pro Bowl three times each.
“Dalby stepped right in on the first day, and everything was the same on that great offensive line as it had been when Otto was there,” Raiders Hall of Fame Coach John Madden recalled several years ago. “That’s probably because Dalby learned for three seasons under Otto, who was still around after that as sort of an unofficial assistant coach. So, if there were any questions, Dalby could get the answers right away.
“I certainly wouldn’t say that Dalby was as good as Otto, but he was vastly underrated. While Otto was honored at the end of virtually every season, and rightfully so, Dalby received hardly any recognition, and that was just not right.
“When we got him, he was an undersized center at UCLA, and Otto was getting pretty beat up and he was our snapper. But his shoulders were getting beat up, and the stingers and all that stuff, and I realized that we’ve got to get another snapper. And then (Dalby) grew from a snapper into a real center and became a great NFL center.”
The 6-foot-3, 260-pound Otto was the only all-star center the American Football League had during its 10-year existence from 1960-69. He was selected to the All-Pro team twice after the AFL-NFL merger was completed in 1970, in addition to being named to the AFL-Time Team and the 100-Year All-NFL Team.
Dave Dalby was terrific for the Raiders, but following the greatest ever in Jim Otto cost him highly-earned respect.
© Manny Rubio | 1984 Jan 22
In contrast, Dalby was selected to play in the Pro Bowl only in 1977, but he started and made a difference for the Raiders in their victories in Super Bowls XI, XV, and XVIII.
In Super Bowl XI, Dalby helped clear the way for Clarence Davis to rush for 136 yards and Mark van Eeghen to add 73, while quarterback Kenny “Snake” Stabler passed for 180 yards and a touchdown to tight end Casper in a 32-14 victory over the Minnesota Vikings.
In Super Bowl XV, Dalby again was a stalwart as Van Eeghen rushed for 75 yards. In comparison, quarterback Jim Plunkett passed for 261 yards and three touchdowns to earn Most Valuable Player honors in a 27-10 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles.
In Super Bowl XVIII, Dalby once more was right in the middle of things as Plunkett passed for 172 yards and a touchdown, while Marcus Allen rushed for 191 yards and two touchdowns, including a 74-yarder, to earn the MVP award as the Raiders crushed the Washington Redskins, 38-9.
While Dalby would have appreciated any individual notoriety, he was satisfied to have those three Super Bowl rings.
“Dave was such a great leader, such a great Raider,” said Raiders Hall of Fame Coach Tom Flores, who coached the last two Super Bowl teams. “Dave gave 14 years of his life (to the Raiders), helped win three Super Bowls, only the second center in the franchise's history. … Dave was just a class guy.”
Dalby was tragically killed in 2002 at the age of 51 when his van hit a tree.
The NFL Draft will be held in Detroit, Mich., on April 25-27, 2024. The Las Vegas Raiders currently have the No. 13 overall pick.
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