Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Gruden gets most out of Gannon
Coach reshapes journeyman QB into team leader
symmetry because I think I’m wired the same way. I feel like every day I came in as a player, I had to grind and really work on my craft to prove myself to my teammates and my coaches.”
Gannon went to the Pro Bowl the next four seasons, winning MVP of the game twice. He won the league MVP award in 2002 and led the Raiders to the Super Bowl, though his five-interception performance was forgettable. He was a two-time first-team All-Pro and three-time AFC Player of the year, winning a passer-rating title, a passing yards title, a touchdown passes title and leading the league in completion percentage in 2001.
It was one of the most remarkable late-career runs in NFL history.
“I think (Gruden) saw me as a quarterback that wasn’t young, but was getting a chance to have his own team and wanted to get it right and wanted nothing more than to win football games and would do whatever it took to do that,” Gannon said in an interview on the Raiders’ team site. “I never wanted to do anything in terms of my play that would let him down because I knew how much he had invested in me.”
In three years under Gruden, Gannon threw 79 touchdown passes and averaged more than 3,500 passing yards.
He didn’t miss a beat when Gruden left for Tampa Bay in 2002. Gannon threw for a career-best 4,689 yards on 67.6 percent passing and tossed 26 touchdown passes on his way to an MVP award and an appearance in the Super Bowl against Gruden’s Buccaneers.
But just like that, the magical ride was over for the Philadelphia native who was so adept at passing on the run and picking up extra yards with his legs yet still found a way to start all 48 games over his first four seasons in Oakland.
His health wasn’t able to hold up forever, though. Gannon played two more injury-plagued seasons for the Raiders before retiring before the start of the 2005 campaign and becoming a broadcaster.
“Six years ago, in 1999, I was really a journeyman quarterback,” Gannon told the Associated Press at the time. “I had played in the league 11 or 12 years and never really felt I was given an opportunity or chance to be an everyday player. In 1999, the Oakland Raiders, Mr. Davis and Jon Gruden gave me that opportunity to be an everyday starter. I tried to make the most of that opportunity.
“I can tell you this, I never took one day of my career in the National Football League for granted.”
He finished his career with 28,743 yards and 180 touchdown passes between stints with Minnesota, Kansas City, Washington and Oakland.
Gannon, a University of Delaware Hall of Famer, was originally drafted by the Patriots, who wanted to make him a safety.
They were the opponents in a 2002 playoff matchup remembered as the “Tuck Rule Game.” A controversial call helped propel the Patriots to a victory and end a realistic shot at a championship for the Raiders.
While the Raiders are responsible for many pro football firsts, they were not first to field a cheerleading squad.
The Baltimore Colts, who had cheerleaders in 1954, are widely credited with that distinction. The Raiderettes — aka “Football’s Fabulous Females” — didn’t make their debut until 1961 during the Raiders’ second American Football League season.
The uniforms looked a lot different than they do today.
When the Raiderettes first urged defensive tackles Harry Jagielski and Volney Peters to hold that line, only the Bills, Packers, Chargers, Vikings, Eagles and Steelers had cheerleaders. Now all but six NFL teams (Bills, Bears, Browns, Packers, Giants and Steelers) do.
Five things worth knowing about the Raiderettes:
Shortly before his death, Al Davis told a reporter that the official Raiderettes did not make the trip to Las Vegas for a 1964 preseason game against the Houston Oilers at old Cashman Field and were replaced by showgirls who wore sweaters. Local historian Michael Green said the cheerleaders were from the Desert Inn and Stardust.
Most Raiderettes only cheer for a season or two before moving on to other things. Emily Compagno is part-time host of Fox TV’s “The Five,” Anjelah Johnson is a stand-up comedian and former MADtv cast member Jane Lubeck modeled without her pompoms for Playboy.
In 2014, two Raiderettes sued the club for wage theft and other unfair practices. They settled out of court for $1.25 million in back pay. As part of the agreement, the cheerleaders’ salary was bumped to $9 per hour.
NFL cheerleaders generally are not supposed to fraternize with the players, but that didn’t prevent two Raiderettes from marrying them — although only one was a Raider. Karen Baughman wed former Raiders AllPro tackle Bob Golic; Paige Green became the second wife of Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway of the Denver Broncos after they met at a celebrity golf tournament hosted by Raiders Hall of Famer Marcus Allen.
And then there’s this, from Steve Hartman and Matt “Money” Smith, authors of “The Great Book of Los Angeles Sports Lists,” about former Raiders All-Pro defensive back Lester Hayes, who marched to the tune of his own drum: “Off the field, Hayes had a girlfriend that was a former Raiderette. The only problem was his wife at the time. She, too, was a former Raiderette.”
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