The late Al Davis, longtime owner of the Oakland Raiders and the team’s head coach in the mid-1960s, has been elected to the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame, it was announced this week.
Davis is among eight members in the hall’s class of 2014, including Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig, former baseball star Shawn Green, longtime hockey star Mathieu Schneider and the late Rudy LaRusso, a five-time NBA all-star who played for the San Francisco Warriors in the late 1960s.
Davis, a longtime member at Beth Jacob Congregation in Oakland, was the principal owner of the Raiders from 1972 until his death at age 82 in 2011. In NFL circles, he is considered a maverick and renegade.
The International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame is located at the Wingate Institute in Netanya, Israel. Induction ceremonies for the 2014 class will be held in conjunction with the Maccabiah Games in 2017.