Before Allegiant, there was ‘old’ Cashman Field

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series on the history of the Raiders.

The Raiders are coming to Las Vegas this year.

Actually, they are coming for a second time.

The first time was temporary. On Aug. 24, 1964, the Oakland Raiders played the Houston Oilers in an American Football League preseason game at old Cashman Field downtown.

“I remember that the showgirls wore sweaters that night, and we won the game,” Al Davis said during a meet-and-greet in his box at Oakland Coliseum a few seasons before his 2011 death.

Oakland won 34-20. Let it be said the former Raiders’ owner and coach never forgot a “W.”

Five other things about the Raiders’ first game in Las Vegas:

1. Tickets were a bit cheaper than they are now. They were priced from $3.50 to $10. Old Cashman Field, situated roughly at the same location as the slightly newer one where the Lights FC soccer team plays, was reconfigured to hold 15,000 spectators but only about 8,500 turned out.

2. The Raiders were led by running back Clem Daniels, who scored on a 68-yard run. Quarterback Cotton Davidson scored on a 21-yard run, and defensive back Tommy Morrow returned an intercepted pass 32 yards for another score. The Oilers were quarterbacked by George Blanda, who later in his 26-year pro football career would become a star for the Raiders.

3. Davis was the Raiders’ coach in 1964. “Slingin’ Sammy” Baugh coached the Oilers. They were two of five Pro Football Hall of Famers on the field that night. The others were Blanda, Raiders center Jim Otto and Raiders executive Ron Wolf.

4. Then-Las Vegas mayor Oran Gragson proclaimed Aug. 24, 1964, Professional Football Day in Las Vegas. The game’s principal beneficiary was Wilbur Clark’s Cavalcade of Charities. The Oilers stayed at the Stardust and the Raiders at the Desert Inn — hotel-casinos partly owned by Clark, although reputed mob figure Moe Dalitz and his partners ran them.

5. The game was called by Bob Blum, who would become a Las Vegas sports fixture after leaving the Raiders and the Bay Area. Blum, the Raiders’ original play-by-play voice, recommended he be replaced in the booth by Oakland broadcast legend Bill King.

William P. Straeter The Asociated Press Raiders running back Clem Daniels cuts around Chiefs defensive end Jerry Mays during an AFL game in October 1965 in Kansas City, Mo. A year before, Daniels had a 68yard scoring run in the Raiders’ 34-20 preseason victory over the Houston Oilers at old Cashman Field downtown.