watched helplessly from the stands. Davis later stated, "I knew it wasn't safe to let Alworth go to the dressing room." In 1978, Davis was selected by Alworth to introduce him at his induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. First stint with the Raiders Background and hiring Early in the 1962 season, Davis spoke with Oakland Raiders owner F. Wayne Valley about their head coaching job. However, Davis was not then interested. After the team's disastrous 1962 season, in which it lost its first 13 games before defeating a Boston Patriots team demoralized from having just been eliminated from playoff contention, Valley sought to replace head coach Red Conkright. A number of names were rumored to be in contention for the Raiders head coaching job, from Green Bay Packers coach Vince Lombardi to Lou Agase, former coach of the Canadian Football League Toronto Argonauts. On January 1, 1963, Davis met with Valley and the other Raiders general partner, Ed McGah. According to witnesses present at the negotiations, Davis did not have a high opinion of Valley and McGah, indicating during their absence that they did not know the right questions to ask. They offered him a one-year contract as head coach. He declined, insisting on a multi-year deal as both head coach and general manager, with complete control over football operations. They settled on three years at a salary of $20,000 per annum. According to Davis biographer Ira Simmons, the date that Davis came to Oakland, January 18, 1963, "was probably one of the three or four most important dates in AFL history. Maybe NFL history too." Valley later stated, "we needed someone who wanted to win so badly, he would do anything. Everywhere I went, people told me what a son of a bitch Al Davis was, so I figured he must be doing something right." The Raiders team had been a late addition to the original AFL in 1960; the franchise had been awarded when the owners of the AFL Minnesota team had been induced to join the NFL instead. While it inherited the departed Minnesota team's draft picks, it had little else. The franchise, originally nicknamed the Señors (changed to Raiders after columnists raised objections) was not established until the other AFL teams had had the opportunity to sign players and coaches, a handicap which contributed to it being the only team