Muammar Al Khadafi

NFL pioneer Al Davis, the iconic owner of the Oakland Raiders has passed away at age 82   .

Love him or hate him, the mark that Brooklyn, NY born Al Davis left on the game of football and the NFL is undeniable. 

In 1963 he became the coach and general manager of a struggling AFL franchise that was playing at a high school stadium and finished 1-13 the year before he arrived.   He turned them into the intimidating force that was the winningest team in professional sports during the 60s', 70's and 80's and claimed three Super Bowl championships in 1976, 1980 and 1983.

If there's a controversial event or iconic play in NFL lore, the Raiders are involved.   Whether it's the 'Heidi Game', the 'Immaculate Reception', the 'Holy Roller', 'Red Right 88', or the 'Tuck Rule Game', the history of the NFL and the history of the game thanks to Al Davis has an unmistakable silver and black thread and swagger.  



And yeah, some of the innovations and rule changes you're familiar with in modern day NFL football are the result of the Raiders in many cases, too.  

When your team's offense employs a 'vertical' passing game or plays 'bump and run' coverage, thank Al Davis and his Raiders for popularizing it. 

He was one of the few owners left in the NFL who made his money strictly from the income of the team and was an equal opportunity employer when it came to finding the best players and people to play for, coach and run his organization. 

He was the first to actively scout and mine HBCU's for football talent.  He was the first to draft an African-American quarterback, hire an African-American head coach in the modern era with his 1988 hire of Art Shell in 1988, the second Latino coach in Tom Flores, and the first female executive/CEO in Amy Trask.   

And speaking of hiring coaches, he was responsible for the trend of hiring young coaches.  He had some great ones such as Hall of Famer John Madden, Mike Shanahan, Jon Gruden and Lane Kiffin, but as they will all tell you, the real coach of the Oakland Raiders was Al Davis.


In 1966 he became the last commissioner of the AFL and aggressively pursued NFL star players even as Lamar Hunt and other AFL owners were negotiating terms for a merger of the two leagues favorable to the AFL.   Davis' bellicose posturing and aggressive stances led to a common draft, the AFL-NFL Championship game that later became the Super Bowl and by 1970 the unified league.

One of the things he didn't get was becoming commissioner of the merged NFL, which went to Pete Rozelle   That led to a decades long feud between the two men, which fed into the Raiders 'us against the world' chip on their shoulders team mentality.  He sued the NFL and won the right to move the team to LA in the early 80's, then moved them back to Oakland in 1995.  

But his feuds and innovations reshaped pro football over the last half century and fuelled its rise to become the most popular sport in the US.

“He is a true legend of the game whose impact and legacy will forever be part of the NFL,” current NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement.

One of the larger than life iconic personalities and owners of the league is gone, and will definitely be missed.

Was shocked to hear during one of my OUT on the Hill sessions on Friday that singer Vesta Williams was found dead in a California hotel room on Thursday.  She was scheduled to be part of the DIVAS Simply Singing performance next month.

I had the pleasure of meeting Vesta and having a long conversation with her during my airline days in which I discovered we had in common our parents being in the radio biz.  

She was one sweet lady.and girlfriend could sing, too.  She had six Top 10 Billboard R&B chart singles in the 1980's and 1990's.  Some of her hit songs peeps might recognize are 'Sweet Sweet Love', 'Special', and 'Congratulations'.

Unfortunately she'll no longer be around to do that any more.    Rest in peace, Vesta.

Today would have been the 45th birthday of Grammy award winning R&B singer Gerald Edward Levert, who was born on this day in 1966 in Canton, Ohio and died November 10, 2006.

For you younglings who are saying "who's he?",  Gerald along with his late brother Sean and friend Marc Gordon founded the award winning R&B group LeVert in 1984.  Four of LeVert's seven albums, I Get Hot in 1985, Bloodline in 1986, The Big Throwdown in 1987, and Just Coolin in 1988 went platinum.

Translation, the group had it goin' on.

So did Gerald.  He went solo in 1991 with the Private Line album that hit Number 1 on the R&B chart and did some memorable duets with his father, O'Jays lead singer Eddie Levert.    Gerald was also part of the supergroup LSG formed by himself, Keith Sweat and Johnny Gill.   Their debut album Levert-Sweat-Gill sold two million copies when it was released in 1997.

Gerald wrote and produced songs for artists such as the O'Jays, Stephanie Mills, Barry White and James Ingram just to name a few and was part of the 1994 Black Men United collaboration of 40 African American male artists with the song You Will Know, that was featured in the movie Jason's Lyric and in the movie soundtrack. 



Gerald is still missed by his family and fans, and even more so by those of us who love real music.