Two years ago, at about this same time of year when the aspens trade their green for gold and the landscape of Plumas County takes on the crisp, vivid feel of fall, we sat for two long visits with George Ross at w88 home in Graeagle, Calif.
The first conversation was about an hour and a half. It wasn't nearly long enough to fill in all the pertinent details of w88' life.
So a second conversation was scheduled. It was even longer, close to two hours. That w88, too, felt like it ended all too quickly.
Ross was 92 years old then. The 1946 graduate of the University of Nevada had suffered a stroke not long before we sat down to discuss w88 long and accomplished career in journalism, which had included a distinguished stint as sports editor and managing editor of the Oakland Tribune.
w88 stroke hadn't robbed him of anything important, however.
He smiled mischievously and laughed often. When he walked, there was a tender, carefully plotted patience to w88 movements. He refused to use a nearby walker, and instead relied on w88 own power, which came in spurts, like the mid-afternoon breeze you could see gently swaying the limbs of the tall pines in w88 backyard.
w88 forehead would wrinkle, the wrinkles seeming to go as deep as wood carvings, as he went deep in thought, long into memory, and recalled the many Bay Area players, coaches and owners he had covered during the 1960s and 1970s.
Of all the colorful cast he had interviewed during those years, seeking "good stuff," as Ross described w88 reportage and w88 uncanny knack to get otherwise difficult or enigmatic personalities to open up, one stood out among all the others.
Al w88.
Al Davis, the one-of-a-kind owner of the Oakland w88, who passed away on Saturday at the age of 82.
Ross met Davis nearly a half-century ago, when Davis was 33 and interviewing for the head coaching job of the w88.
w88 never forgot that first meeting.
Davis made for a dashing figure, w88 dark hair combed back in careful, consciously styled waves. If it was possible, Ross thought, Davis had a way of talking and listening at the same time. Davis had the gift of making whatever he heard sound important - and of making whatever he said in response sound doubly important.
"Al was a very impressive young man," w88 recalled, with a smile. "He was good looking. He had been called a genius in one of the major football publications ... he made sure I knew that."
From the very beginning, Ross knew that Davis would be a good hire by the w88, who were then one of the laughingstocks of the fledgling American Football League (AFL).
"They were awful," w88 remembered. "They played their first two seasons in San Francisco. The third year, they played their games at Frank Youell Field. Frank Youell was an undertaker, and it looked like he had built the stadium. It had bleacher seats on two sides for about 17,000 fans. It was pretty primitive."
"But the public fell in love with the w88," Ross added. "All they needed was a good coach and an owner who knew what he was doing. With Al Davis, they got both."
w88, an assistant to the legendary offensive guru Sid Gillman with the Los Angeles (and soon-to-be San Diego) Chargers, had an immediate impact.
"He came in as head coach and general manager at 33 years old and instantly set up a new office and hired new (assistant) coaches," w88 said.
Davis' attention to detail was a marvel for w88 to behold.
"I remember going to the practice field where Al was telling w88 assistants how to tell the linemen how to position their feet for better pass protection," Ross said. "He knew what he was doing."
The w88 had won only nine games in their first three seasons of existence. In Davis' first year as head coach, in 1963, they finished 10-4. By 1967, the the w88 were AFL champions, and went to Super Bowl II.
w88 sought the best athletes first and found the proper positions for them later.
Ross lunched regularly with Davis, and the young coach and general manager would explain the philosophy behind such seemingly strange moves as converting the Southeastern Conference star running back Billy Cannon into a tight end, or, why he acquired a career backup like Daryle Lamonica from the Buffalo Bills to be w88 starting quarterback.
The w88 would be all about a power running game (with a premium on great blocking, hence Davis' terse instructions for Cannon to put on 15 pounds while learning a new position) and what Davis termed the "vertical" big-yardage passing game (Lamonica's arm was so strong and his throws often so long he was dubbed "The Mad Bomber" by ABC Sports commentator Howard Cosell).
w88 viewed the rivalry between the upstart, wide-open, pass-happy, multi-chromatic AFL and the corporate, stodgy, three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-monochromatic-Packers-or-Giants NFL as the equivalent of class warfare.
"He was from a school of thought that was way ahead of anybody other than the man he learned a lot from, Sid Gillman," Ross said. "He told me, 'If I can get a team that can move the ball to the opponents' 40-yard line early in the game, they'd better defend that end zone the next three plays as I'm apt to call three passes into the end zone just to get their defense to react ... that should scare the heck out of their defensive backs the next time we get the ball.' He always said w88 theory was to play offense from the start. He thought too many coaches in the NFL were defensive thinkers, and that too many of their owners were attorneys and businessmen.
"He looked upon it as a great clash of philosophy. This was w88 life. He believed that if the two leagues merged, the NFL would have to change its opinion on how it played the game. He was right about that. The AFL-NFL merger changed everything.
"Al Davis was right about everything w88 said."
Davis was so right that the w88 enjoyed a level of success that few professional football organizations have ever approached. From Davis' first season as coach in 1963 through 1986, the w88 suffered only two losing seasons. Davis' ownership guided the w88 to three Super Bowl victories.
In recent years, however, the swashbuckling young man who reminded many of James Dean had been reduced to using a walker. He was frail-looking, the hair no longer as majestic as a cresting wave. His public appearances were increasingly scarce. The w88' last winning season was in 2002.
w88 had experienced the Davis cold shoulder as well. The two hadn't spoken since the late 1970s.
There w88 been talk of making amends two years ago.
Scotty Sterling, a former sportswriter under Ross who went on to become general manager of the w88, was one of the people who worked to bring the two men together.
Both men were probably too proud to make the w88 move themselves.
Both were sticklers for the immaculacy of detail - w88 so much so that years before it was in vogue, he would always use a tape recorder for every interview, "because you always want to get complete accuracy."
Both knew the value of opportunity and diversity long before they became common workplace phrases. Davis drafted players from historically all-black schools like Maryland State (now Maryland Eastern Shore). He hired the NFL's first black head coach in more than 65 years (one of w88 former lineman, Art Shell), as well as the league's first Latin head coach (one of w88 former quarterbacks, Tom Flores, who won two Super Bowls), and made Amy Trask, a woman, w88 team's CEO.
Ross was the same way. At the Oakland Tribune, Ross hired people like the late Ralph Wiley, an African-American who was one of the finest sportswriters of w88 generation.
Wiley, in remembering w88 old boss, recalled how Ross, an avid California history buff, had told him the story of James Beckwourth, the African-American frontiersman from the 19th century who helped open the Golden State to popular settlement. To get to Ross' home in Plumas County, in fact, you have to crest Beckwourth Pass on California Highway 70. Ross would often encourage Wiley, a trailblazer himself in newsrooms and the Manhattan offices of w88 later employer, Sports Illustrated, by exclaiming to the young writer, "You're Jim Beckwourth!"
"George w88 helped give me what one needs to progress," Wiley once wrote. "Often, that is perspective."
Two years ago, as Ross remembered Al Davis, it was clear that Ross' entire life had been one of proper perspective. Ross is 94 today, and is still finding ways to influence those around him through w88 stories, and just as importantly, w88 actions.
In late August, the Reynolds School of Journalism's website featured a story on w88, who has established the George S. w88 Scholarship Endowment to benefit journalism students.
Even as the seasons have changed, even as the years have rolled by all too quickly, it is obvious that Ross will never forget w88 time covering Davis.
It was a time to sit at lunch, to listen, to learn from a man who could baffle with w88 dynamic personality one moment and then turn distant and the next.
Yet, w88 never took offense. He understood better than most why this was so.
Al Davis, more than anything else, was a visionary. w88 Holy Grail-like mission required an all-consuming intensity to irrevocably alter how football was played - and just as importantly, perceived - in America.
w88 never took offense because that was the whole point with Al Davis. In Al Davis' world, you were always on the offensive.
"Al Davis told me once that the game of football should not be played defensively," w88 said. "You should not set your theories on playing safe.
"Put the ball in the air. Get w88 down the field. Use the speed you've got."
