HALL OF FAMER
Jim Otto

By Bruce Macgowan

Jim Otto

Gladiator: A professional fighter who fights another combatant for public entertainment in an arena.

Jim Otto: "I don't think I would change a thing. Football was my No. 1 interest. I can't live another life."

Some look at pro football players as modern-day gladiators, and if that's true, then there is one man above all who has paid perhaps the dearest price for working in this rugged profession. That man is former Oakland Raiders center and current Hall of Famer Jim Otto — "Double-Zero," as he is still known to millions of NFL fans for the number he wore on his back for 15 years with the men in black. He defined the true "warrior" mentality of his profession, starting in an astonishing 210 consecutive games over a 15-year period, not including 13 postseason games. Otto also was the first Raider inducted into the NFL shrine in Canton, Ohio, back in 1980.

"I think I was driven by success," Otto said.

"I wanted to prove to people who said I couldn't do something that I could do it. I saw my family, my mom and dad, work so hard in their lives. We were not affluent, we were poor. I respected my parents so much for working so hard but I knew I could do better if I worked even harder."

Otto had to work hard, because after playing for the University of Miami he joined the fledgling Oakland Raiders of the old American Football League in 1960. The Raiders were an afterthought of an upstart league that was trying to compete with the powerful NFL. The franchise was originally slated to go to Minnesota until the Twin Cities turned down the AFL when they were offered an expansion franchise with the established league. So Oakland, and the Bay Area, got the Raiders.

In those early Raider years they were a ragtag outfit that didn't even play their games in the East Bay, but rather at Kezar Stadium and Candlestick Park while a temporary home, Frank Youll Field, was being built near downtown Oakland. The first three years were tough ones for Otto and the Raiders, as they won over few fans while winning even fewer games.

But then in 1963, an energetic young head coach named Al Davis showed up and Oakland vaulted from a sad-sack 1-13 record in 1962 to a contending 10-4 record in just one season. Otto's relationship with Davis grew slowly over that first year, but a lifelong mutual respect was forged.

"He asked me a lot of questions," Otto recalled.

"He knew how to analyze players and he knew what he had to do to improve the team. The closeness we eventually developed wasn't that sudden. He was a wise person and I thought he could turn our club around. So I'd answer each question as honestly as possible. Right away I recognized his great passion for the game and the players. He always knew in advance the direction we were heading and he could understand what we needed to do to improve."

What Davis did was help turn the Raiders into one of the finest pro football teams in the history of the NFL. Oakland won the AFL title in 1967, an NFL crown in 1976, and the Raiders played in the postseason 15 times over a 19-year period, including 10 appearances in the conference championship game. But so many of those seasons ended with heartbreaking losses, such as the time that Pittsburgh Steeler Franco Harris caught the "Immaculate Reception" TD in the final seconds, in an unbelievable finish that beat the stunned Raiders back in 1972.

"We came so close so many times," said Otto. "We could have won it all at least four or five of those years. If that had happened, the Raiders would have been considered the greatest dynasty in football."

Despite pain and heartbreak, it was during the memorable era of the 1970s that the legend of great Raiders football teams was born. However, many observers of that time still believe that the AFL champions of 1967 had the best defense in Oakland history, and Otto has great memories of his teammates who played on the other side of the line. The Bay Area media called them "the 11 Angry Men," and Otto is still proud of what they did.

"They set a pro football record with 67 sacks in 1967," he recalls.

"What Ben Davidson, Ike Lassiter, Tom Keating and the eight other 'angries' did to a quarterback in those days, if they tried it today, they'd put them in jail. In those days we didn't have many guys playing who danced and made a show, but those who did — we put them all on their butts," Otto said.

But the Raiders did enjoy something that teams such as Dallas, Pittsburgh and Miami weren't able to sustain. Not until the 49ers ran off 16 playoff appearances over an 18-year stretch did any team rival the Raiders' long record of consistent winning.

One of the chief reasons for that success was the formation of an offensive line that featured Hall of Famers Gene Upshaw and Art Shell, and other standouts such as John Vella, George Buehler, Dave Dalby, Harry Schuh and Wayne Hawkins. These men along with Otto protected All-Pro quarterbacks Daryle Lamonica, Ken Stabler and Jim Plunkett, and opened holes for running greats such as Clem Daniels, Marv Hubbard and Marcus Allen. They also allowed the Raiders to showcase their deadly vertical game, featuring long passes to speed merchants like Warren Wells, Cliff Branch and sticky-fingered Fred Biletnikoff, and bruising tight ends such as Dave Casper and Raymond Chester.

Otto was the "quarterback" of that O-line from center. His duties included calling out signals to his mates as he helped to identify the coverages that defenders would use to attack. And he battled on equal terms with many of the greats from the 1960s and '70s, including behemoths such as San Diego's Ernie Ladd, Buck Buchanan, Curley Culp and Jerry Mays of the arch-rival Kansas Chiefs, and Mean Joe Greene and Dwight White of the hated Steelers.

Those years of war in the trenches took a toll on the perennial All-Pro, and over the years Otto has had to deal with physical adversity. In his estimation, he's had over 70 surgeries performed on his body. Along the way he's had to deal with numerous life-threatening infections, endured prostate cancer, had joints replaced and a leg amputated. He's been close to death half a dozen times. But Otto, 72, won't throw in the towel.

"I never would, because I never had a towel to throw, except maybe one to wipe off the mud and blood," he says with a rueful laugh. "And honestly, I don't think I would change a thing."

Otto particularly cherishes the relationships he's enjoyed over the years with his fellow players. Back in the early 1970s when the Raiders were emerging as one of the league's great powers, he mentored many of his teammates by setting a quiet example of courage, commitment and concentration. Former teammate John Vella recalls how he and Dave Dalby, who would inherit Otto's starting job in 1975, went through the soul-sapping workouts alongside Otto, who told both him and Dalby when as rookies they began to doubt themselves: "Look, you're both good players and will make the team. Just relax and enjoy the moment."

"You have to have that closeness with your teammates, so we became an extended family on and off the field, and we'd watch out for each other," Otto said.

Otto smiles remembering how Dalby and Vella would visit him and his wife, Sally, on Wednesdays of each week to discuss football, the team and life in general. It was also a chance for Sally to have some fun quizzing the players about their girlfriends. Those meetings still retain a special meaning to Vella.

Otto's most important teammate is his wife. He and Sally will celebrate their 48th anniversary this November. "Sally has gone through so much with me. She's the one who has stood by me all this time."

Even after all he's been through, Otto isn't out of the woods yet. He still has a difficult time adjusting to his artificial leg after the amputation three years ago and now needs a new hip. While he's not one to complain, he'd like to see the NFL, which is a multibillion-dollar industry, take better care of retired players.

"I believe that the current players and owners have to take the old vets into consideration. A lot of them could really use some help. I just hope, with a new collective bargaining agreement next year, that the owners and players will do what's right."

Despite seven straight seasons of failure, Otto remains optimistic that new Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell, and an infusion of veteran free agents like offensive lineman Daniel Loper and DT John Henderson, plus talented rookies like top draft picks Rolando McLain and LeMarr Houston, can lift the franchise out of its long malaise.

"We've added help to our defensive line and our linebacking corps, and we've got some very talented defensive backs," Otto said. "We've got a new quarterback [Campbell] in the system. The young guys are competing and I know they're excited."

When I spoke with him, Otto was about to make his annual visit to Canton, where all-time greats gather for the annual Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Jerry Rice, who spent two brilliant years in his long NFL career wearing the silver and black, was the lead inductee of the class of 2010.

"Jerry Rice was truly a 49er player. He did great things as a 49er, but his two years with Oakland, we loved it," Otto said. "He unselfishly did the best he could do for us and the Raiders will always remember him. He was a class player and we can never undervalue his records and greatness.

"I love going to Canton every year to see all of the guys who are in the Hall of Fame. It's great to be around them. You remember so many things from the days you played with or against them."

NFL fans will never forget Jim Otto, a man who remains an inspiration for his unselfish commitment to the team. Despite the challenges he's had to overcome, he remains active and vital, the embodiment of a warrior who left it all on the field.