Oakland Raiders Research Paper

History of the Oakland Raiders

The Oakland Raiders are one of the oldest franchises in the National Football League or the NFL. The Raiders are a great representation of the ups and downs that teams in the NFL face. From the slow start the Raiders had to their reign as a very physical team; the Raiders have proven that they are in the NFL to win. Although the team has not been very good over the last few years, their fan base is still large and loyal to their team.

When the American Football League (AFL) was created in 1959, the Oakland Raiders were not part of the original teams. It was not until the team from Minneapolis went to the NFL did the AFL create a team in Oakland. The team became official in January 1960 (Oakland Raiders Team History, para.1). When the team first started they could not find a steady home field to play on. They were always bouncing between stadiums all across the bay area in San Francisco. For the first three years the Oakland Raiders put in a mediocre record of 9-33-0 (Oakland Raiders Team History, para.1).

In 1963 the Raiders would hire the most influential person to their team. They would end up hiring Al Davis as their new head coach as well as the General Manager of

The AFL would end up becoming the AFC and the Raiders stayed in the Western Division of the AFC. Over the course of the next six years, Madden would help mold the team into being the most feared and intimidating team in the NFL. Finally in 1977, the Raiders would etch their name into history by winning their first Super Bowl Championship (History, para.19). The following year Madden would leave the team as new coach Tom Flores would take over where John left off. The Raiders would again find themselves in another Super Bowl in 1981 against the Philadelphia Eagles and capture their second Super Bowl win (History, para.23). This would be the final year the Raiders played in Oakland until