9
So I tied an onion to my belt, which was the style at the time
Link
gopsusports.com
Q: Al Davis died today and you were a pretty good friend of his. Can you say a few words about him?
A: Good ole' Brooklyn boy. I was telling some of the guys a story, when Al got the job at Oakland, Al was one of the great recruiters of all times. In fact, when Al went to Southern Cal, he beat me on that big kid from New Jersey and he got him to go to Citadel. And the guy who was the general who kicked the devil out of the poor Italians going up the Italian Peninsula. Al was a good guy. It was amazing, Al Davis, Al Lerner, who since has died, Sonny Werblin, Art Modell, Barbara Stanwyck, they all came from the same high school, Beverly Sills. So when Al got the job, he called me up, wanted me to be his offensive coordinator, I was an assistant coach. Just got married about a year ago. He was promising to triple my salary and give me a car. I didn't have a car. I made about 6,000 bucks. I thought about it, I said, 'I'm not going to Oakland.' Sue was happy, so he blamed it on Sue. So he called Sue up and said, 'You know you're holding up your husband's career.' So I called him up and said, 'Al look, leave Sue out of it, I just don't want to take the job.' He said, 'Why don't you want to take the job?' I thought I'd have a little fun with him, so I said, 'Al, you know what, you and I would have a tough time getting along.' He said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because I'm smarter than you and you'll never admit it.' But Al was a good guy, I'm sorry to see that. He's been sick a while. Last time I was out on the west coast, when (Tom) Flores was the coach. I called Flores up and wanted to talk a little football with him. Al heard I was coming up and took me out to a big fancy dinner. He was a tough guy, a lot of people in the NFL didn't like him because he was a little progressive. I'm sorry to see him go, I really am.
I thought this quote was priceless. Never rooted for Al Davis once in my life. Rest in peace, to a tough competitor.
