Fans Raise a Glass to Al Davis

OAKLAND, Calif. — In the back of Ricky’s restaurant in San Leandro, the unofficial headquarters of Raider Nation, a booth was empty Saturday afternoon except for the memories on the tabletop: a Super Bowl XV program; a Raiders program from a Sept. 27, 1964 home game against the Kansas City Chiefs with Al Davis on the cover, stalking the sideline; the California license plate JST WN BBY; a Raider beer mug, a Raider helmet telephone and two pennants, one from the 1977 Super Bowl at the Rose Bowl.

The table was reserved for Davis, the maverick owner of the Raiders who died Saturday morning. Davis, who was 82, never set foot in the restaurant, preferring the company of his small inner circle to the companionship of the sporting nation he spawned.

But many of his players throughout the decades were regular customers, and throughout the day, die-hard Raiders fans converged at Ricky’s to drink to Davis’s memory.

Ann Niemczyk and her husband, Mark, were among those who came to pay their last respects to Davis. They awoke Saturday to so many cellphone messages, Niemczyk said she immediately thought a family member must have died. She wasn’t too far off the mark. Raiders fans looked at Davis as their Godfather.

“When we got all the messages about Al Davis passing, the first I thought is where are we going to go to pay our respects?” Niemczyk said after buying a round of tequila shots. “The Coliseum seemed inappropriate. It didn’t seem very warm or friendly. So we came here.”

Jaime Rodriguez and two of his friends, all of them long-time Raiders fans, also were at the bar hoisting beers and toasting Davis. Their long faces and strained conversation stood in sharp contrast to the college football revelers shouting at the jumbo television screen that dominated the room, which was tuned to the game between Penn State and Iowa.

Rodriguez and his friends asked the bartender if one of the larger screens could be tuned to the NFL Network, which was paying tribute to Davis, but were told, they said, that on this Saturday, college football was king. So they paid their tab and made the 10-minute drive to the Raiders’ practice facility to be mourn in a more appropriate setting.

The Raiders flag at the entrance was flying at half mast and several bouquets and flower arrangements ringed the pole. Around dinner time, there were a dozen mourners, most of them standing with their heads bowed, in front of a makeshift memorial that was a collage of flowers and Raiders shirts, stuffed animals and homemade cards and posters with personal messages.

One man left a note on lined yellow paper, which read: “Dear Mr. Al Davis, I just wanted to day thanks. I grew up loving the team you gave us. I remember being more than intrigued when I saw you on T.V. I hated you for moving the Raiders to L.A. And then 13 years later bringing them back to Oakland and I loved you again. God bless and enjoy watching our beloved Raiders.”