The Sports Xchange

(Editor’s note: When Ken “Snake” Stabler was quarterback of the Oakland Raiders in the 1970s, Regnery Company of Chicago approached him about writing his first book, “Winning Offensive Football.” To write it, Stabler chose Tom LaMarre, the Raiders beat reporter for the Oakland Tribune. Last year, Stabler wanted to write his last book, a retrospective about his life and career. He again called LaMarre, now the golf writer for The Sports Xchange. Stabler and LaMarre drew up a rough outline of chapters, but the book is not completed. Stabler died of cancer on Wednesday, but some of the material is included in this story.)

Kenny Stabler was a coach’s dream and nightmare at the same time.

The Snake played for legendary coaches — Denzel Hollis at Foley High in Alabama, Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama, John Madden with the Oakland Raiders and Bum Phillips with the Houston Oilers and the New Orleans Saints.

And, of course, there was his unique relationship with owner Al Davis of the Raiders.

“I was really fortunate to play for great, not good, but great coaches,” Stabler told The Sports Xchange just a few weeks before he died Wednesday from complications of colon cancer. “I have to admit that I gave them more aggravation off the field than they deserved.

“But they all had a way of getting the best out of me on the field. And every time I went out there, I gave them everything I had.”

Hollis had to rein in the young Snake after Stabler had his share of scrapes at Foley High, and Bryant kicked Stabler off the team at Alabama one spring because he was missing class on a regular basis. Stabler had to earn the starting job from fifth string in the fall, but he did.

As a rookie, Stabler left the Raiders and went home to Alabama because he was having marital problems. Davis dispatched a team employee to bring him back.

In his early years with the Raiders, Stabler chafed at playing behind veterans Daryle Lamonica and George Blanda, who became a treasured mentor, and often went into Davis’ office and asked to be traded.

“Go stand on your head,” was Davis’ answer every time.

Stabler and some of his pals were fined by Madden for being out after curfew the night before a 1970 game in St. Louis against the Cardinals, but the next day, Stabler completed 15 consecutive passes at one point and led the Raiders to victory at Busch Stadium.

Even though Stabler didn’t fit the mold of the bomber Davis liked for his vertical passing game, Madden convinced his boss that Stabler was the guy who could take the Raiders to their elusive first Super Bowl victory.

Stabler wasn’t even sure that he fit in with the Raiders’ offense.

“Sometimes, I’d like to be like Bob Griese (of the Miami Dolphins) and hand off to Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Mercury Morris 40-something times a game,” Stabler observed.

“Griese goes back to pass about 12 to 15 times a game, completes 10 or 12 and throws a couple of touchdown passes to Paul Warfield because he can sit back there like he’s in a rocking chair.

“But I like the way we play, too, wide open and winging it.”

Stabler did get to play the way Griese did in one memorable game and led the Raiders to arguably the greatest victory in their history.

Oakland was a young team on the rise when it lost to the Green Bay Packers, 33-14, in Vince Lombardi’s final game with the Pack in Super Bowl II at the end of the 1967 season.

The experts were saying the Raiders would be back again and again in the coming years.

However, despite posting the best record in football over the next decade, the Raiders always found a way to lose in the playoffs.

Oakland won the AFL/AFC West title nine of 10 years, but six times they lost one step away from the Super Bowl. Instead the AFC was represented in those Super Bowls by the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Colts, the Dolphins and the Pittsburgh Steelers twice.

Every team that beat them went on to win the Super Bowl.

“We developed the tag of a team that couldn’t win the big one,” Stabler said. “And, I guess we couldn’t. But we knew we were good enough and that one year we were going to get to the Super Bowl — and win.

“We had that tag around our necks and had to get rid of it.”

In 1976, the Raiders went 13-1 during the regular season, losing only to the New England Patriots early in the season, 48-17.

In the first round of the playoffs, Stabler drove the Raiders to two touchdowns in the final minutes for a 24-21 victory over the Patriots, running in the winning touchdown himself behind the great pulling guard Gene Upshaw.

Oakland finally got past the Steelers 24-7 in the AFC Championship Game and headed for the Super Bowl in the Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, Calif.

On Jan. 9, 1977, Stabler got his Griese-like game, mostly handing off to running backs Clarence Davis and Marv Hubbard as the Raiders rushed for 266 yards while steamrolling Minnesota Vikings 32-14 in Super Bowl XI.

Stabler completed 12 of 19 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown to tight end Dave Casper, and when Madden was frustrated for having to settle for a field goal early in the game, Snake told his coach: “Don’t worry, John. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

Unfortunately, there wasn’t that much left for Stabler in Oakland after that. His career seemed to make a dramatic U-turn in the AFC Championship game on Jan. 1, 1978 at Mile High Stadium. This time the historic play went against Stabler and the Raiders.

In the third quarter, Denver running back Rob Lytle fumbled on a first down carry from the Raiders’ 2-yard line and Oakland’s Mike McCoy recovered the ball on a bam, bam play. Line judge Ed Marion incorrectly ruled the play was dead before Lytle lost the ball. Lytle later revealed he was knocked unconscious and, in a live interview with Dick Schaap, admitted it looked like a fumble, adding, “Well, you win some and you lose some. … If there had been instant replay, it’s their ball.”

Instead, the Broncos kept the ball, Jon Keyworth scored on 1-yard run and, despite two Stabler-to-Casper touchdowns in the fourth quarter, Denver won a trip to the Super Bowl with a 20-17 victory.

After that, it was never the same for Stabler, Madden, Davis and that storied Oakland Raider team.

During a nighmare season in 1978, he threw only 16 touchdown passes and 30 interceptions and followed in 1979 with 26 touchdowns and 22 interceptions.

As tension built between Stabler and Davis, Madden retired after the 1979 season, citing health issues. Those close to Madden know that he sensed Davis would get rid of Stabler and Madden did not relish the idea of coaching a Raider team without Stabler as the quarterback.

The rift between Stabler and Davis widened before the 1979 season and when the quarterback was asked if he wanted to bury the hatchet, he said, “Yeah, between his shoulder blades.”

As another disappointing season played out, those same Stories that endeared Stabler to fans, teammates and even opponents took dark turn and were fueled by remarks on and off the record by Davis.

Stabler was aware of the stories and, with Madden gone and relationship with Davis that was shaky at best, knew his days were numbered. Suddenly those great stories about Snake’ life on and off the field turned nasty.

“The more games we lost and the more interceptions I threw, the older I got, the drunker I got and the fatter I got,” Stabler said of things that were being said and written about him in the Bay Area.

After the 1979 season, Davis traded Stabler to the Oilers, and the most storied era in Raider history was officially over. Still, Stabler is a folk hero in Oakland and perhaps the most popular Raider ever.

–Tom LaMarre is the current golf writer for The Sports Xchange and covered the Oakland Raiders for the Oakland Tribune throughout the 1970s.