Upshaw Vs. Thoms Was an Annual Replay at Raiders Training Camp
The Las Vegas Raiders are in the midst of training camp, and that brings back a flood of memories from many training camps past.
Even though what happened off the field when the Oakland Raiders held training camp at the El Rancho Tropicana Hotel back in the 1979s got more notice, the Silver and Black really went at it on the practice field.
Hall of Fame Coach John Madden worked them hard twice a day and one of the Raiders players back said: “Training camp really didn’t start until Gene Upshaw and Art Thoms got into a fight on the field during practice.”
The 6-5, 260-pound Upshaw, perhaps the best pulling guard in Pro Football History, was an eight-time All-Pro, a six-time Pro Bowl selection, a future member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and was selected to the NFL’s 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time teams.
Thoms, who also was listed at 6-5, 260, played for the Raiders from 1969-75 and was a starter for most of that time at right defensive tackle, but he missed the Silver and Black’s victory over the Minnesota Vikings because of an injury.
“Winning Super Bowl XI was great, but bittersweet for me,” Thoms said. “I had played for the team for seven years and we made it to the Super Bowl, but I was injured. I was on Injured Reserve for the big game. We won and I got a ring, but man I wanted to play.”
Despite being highly regarded by his teammates, Thoms never received much outside recognition.
That didn’t matter one bit when he and Upshaw went one-on-one in practice.
“Art was a very good player and highly underrated, as he didn’t get nearly the recognition he deserved,” recalled Upshaw, who was executive director of the NFL Players Association when he died of cancer in 2008 at the age of 63. “He was smart, quick off the ball, and had some good moves.
“We would go head-to-head all the time in practice, especially in seven-on-seven drills during training camp, and we had a lot of great battles. And, yes, we did end up rolling around on the ground several times, but there was no animosity there. When it was over, it was over.
“We were all friends on that team.”
Thoms, who is white, played alongside fellow defensive tackle and good friend Otis Sistrunk, who is black, and they called themselves “Salt and Pepper.”
And Thoms remembers vividly those battles with Upshaw.
“Gene and I used to get into it at least once every training camp because I just got frustrated that he was holding me so much and I just got tired of it,” Thoms recalled. “But it probably helped me, because when guys were holding me in games, I knew what to do to handle it.
“In fact, playing against Upshaw, Jim Otto, and Art Shell, three future Hall of Famers, virtually every day in practice, obviously made me become a better player. In training camp, we practiced for 21 straight days and full pads. Because of practicing against these great players, many times it was easier when we got into games.
“Training camp in Santa Rosa was amazing. We worked very hard, but had a lot of fun, too.”
Raiders personnel scout Ken Herock said the Raiders drafted Thoms with the 22nd overall pick of the 1969 NFL Draft out of Syracuse because he was the fastest defensive lineman in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Ala., that year.
However, to some people, the laid-back Thoms did not look like the outstanding football player that he was.
Said Steve Sabol of NFL Films: “Art Thoms looked like a 6-foot-5 Amish pimp.”
Thoms was a free spirit who fit right into the final years of the hippie era in the San Francisco Bay Area, with his shoulder-length hair, boots, full-length leather jackets, bell-bottom jeans, and crazy hats.
After playing one season with the Philadelphia Eagles, Thoms retired from the NFL and for years has been a businessman in Alameda next to Oakland. He has been with his wife, Darlene, for nearly 50 years and they have four children, three boys, and a daughter, in addition to nine grandchildren.
But those who were there in Santa Rosa, remember him mostly for the great battles he had with Upshaw.
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