C1 SPORTS Sunday, August 16, 2020 >> MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/SCSENTINEL AND TWITTER.COM/SCSENTINEL » santacruzsentinel.com Santa Cruz Sentinel - 08/16/2020 Page : C01 SUPRO FOOTBALL RFCITYRAIDERS SIXTY YEARS AGO, THE FIRST-YEAR OAKLAND RAIDERS TRAINED IN SANTA CRUZ RAIDERS ARCHIVES — ALBERT KAYO HARRIS AND ASSOCIATES PHOTOGRAPHERS The Raiders’ first day of training camp practice at Santa Cruz High in 1960, the franchise’s inaugural season in the AFL. Raiders met for practice at Santa Cruz High “We had no Santa Cruz High. money, so we By Jim Seimas “We had a lot of guys out there,” [email protected] hung around said Pro Football Hall of Fame Six decades ago this summer a lineman Jim Otto, now 82. “… it the hotel or the group of misfits from all parts of was, to a certain degree, a rag-tag Boardwalk. the country assembled in town, bunch. But we had some pretty We’d look at the a vacation destination in North- good guys. We all helped put that pretty girls on ern California, in an attempt to team together and were kicking achieve football glory. butt.” the beach, which Some players were All-Amer- They stayed in a historic, but is what most icans who went unselected in now-defunct, middle-rate hotel guys do with no the inaugural American Football off Pacific Avenue. It was a hop, League draft earlier that year. skip and jump away from Memo- money in their Others didn’t stick in the heralded rial Field, their practice facility, pocket.” National Football League. Some which was dotted by gopher holes — Oakland Raiders were local standouts attempting and ruts. The team often prac- quarterback Tom Flores to shock the nation by shining ticed twice a day on subpar facil- RON RIESTERER — SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL during tryouts in their proverbial ities. And if they were lucky and Oakland Raiders coach Eddie Erdelatz with quarterbacks Paul backyard. And some were over- talented enough, they’d last the Larson, left, and Tom Flores at practice at a park in Oakland in MOREINSIDE coming injury, looking for a sec- duration of the six-week training 1960. ond shot to continue their dream camp — and they’d officially be- Page C6: Ohio State of again stepping foot on the field. come Oakland Raiders. players’ parents want Big These prospective profession- “Santa Cruz, 1960. That was Online: Follow the Raiders throughout the NFL season at Ten to play football this fall, als gathered at, of all places, RAIDERS >> PAGE 5 SANTACRUZSENTINEL.COM/SPORTS. News+Notes January 31, 2021 6:45 pm (GMT -8:00) Powered by TECNAVIA MEN’S BASKETBALL Ex-Santa Cruz star Yee-Stephens extends career the Waves, the 6-foot-2 guard man confirmed, and the former Malibu. “… I like to believe it hap- By Jim Seimas redshirted one season and has scoring machine is eager to turn pened for a reason.” [email protected] two years of eligibility remain- things around. As a college freshman in 2016- SANTA CRUZ >> Recent Pepperdine ing. Earlier in the week, he was To do that, he has to stay 17, he underwent surgery on his University graduate Kaijae Yee- accepted into NCAA Division II healthy. right ankle. Later in the year, Stephens, the leading basketball Cal State San Bernardino, where “I didn’t think this is the way he had surgery to repair an in- Yee-Stephens scorer in Santa Cruz High history, plans to get a master’s degree in my career would’ve panned out jured left labrum. And in the be- had a forgettable college career. cyber security. to this point,” said Yee-Stephens, ginning of his sophomore year, Inside: Justin Sanders The first half, anyway. Yee-Stephens has a spot wait- who scored a record 2,066 points he had his left knee scoped, but wins sprint car main After undergoing four surger- ing for him on the basketball in his four-year Cardinals career, the procedure wasn’t successful. event at Ocean Speedway, ies over a three-year span with team, Coyotes coach Andy New- but only 29 over the past four in STAR >> PAGE 2 PAGE C2. Santa Cruz Sentinel - 08/16/2020 Page : C05 SUNDAY, AUGUST 16, 2020 SANTACRUZSENTINEL.COM | SPORTS C | 5 RON RIESTERER — SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL The Oakland Raiders offense lines up at a park in Oakland in 1960. for camp. Erdelatz and his Raiders staff had to make a series of cuts, which included get- FROM PAGE 1 ting to 43 players by Aug. 23 and down to 33 by Sept. a long time ago. I’m pretty 6 — five days ahead of the sure the statute of limita- team’s season opener. tions has expired, so I can Santa Cruz High wasn’t talk to you,” said 83-year- the perfect venue for camp, old Tom Flores, a stand- but it was hard to beat the out quarterback at Sanger weather and the scenery. High and College of the Pa- Now the Las Vegas Raid- cific. He became the Raid- ers, the team is preparing to ers’ first starting signal- play its inaugural season in caller and, decades later, Sin City. their Super Bowl-winning Flores and his wife, Bar- head coach. bara, visited the Raiders’ That’s right, today’s new $75 million training Raiders, beloved by many facility in Henderson, Ne- and hated by many more, vada, last month. It wasn’t got their start in this surf- a high school field pocked ing community and did so with gopher holes. with minimal fanfare. “Oh man, their workout The Santa Cruz Sentinel facility is friggin’ breath- reported on June 26, 1960 taking,” he said. the Raiders would hold training camp in town. But Judging the talent the front page of the paper The roster was reduced was dominated by coverage to 69 players after three of Miss San Diego Suzanne days of practice, Sentinel Reamo claiming the title of sports editor Mel Bowen Miss California at the Civic reported. Fourteen were RON RIESTERER — SPECIAL TO THE SENTINEL Auditorium. News of the cut and three left camp. The Oakland Raiders defense lines up at a park in Oakland in 1960. White House administra- Six others were injured, in- tion being accused of blun- cluding Santa Cruz’s Fred ders in the handling of the Fehn, a 256-pound tackle Jose State linebacker Tom worst way,” he said. “So I Erdelatz, fearing for his And intense. U2 spy plane incident and who pulled a leg muscle on Louderback and 33-year-old didn’t go out and do what a player’s safety, shot down “They had a lot of scuf- Santa Cruz’s dog ordinance the first running exercise of cornerback Eddie Macon, lot of the others did.” the suggestion. fles at practice that had controversy also made the camp. Among the more hu- who finished with nine in- Otto did have one late “You should use some of to be separated,” Ross re- cover. morous of injuries: Charlie terceptions. night tradition: He bought the guys we sent home for called. “They kept having The Raiders were buried Powell, an ex-49er and ex- Little did they know, but a large sandwich from a that,” Erdelatz told the Sen- new people come to the fa- in the middle of the paper, pro boxer, pulled a tendon two players were at the out- nearby vendor. He wanted tinel. cility. I attribute their suc- on page 14. posing for photographers set of long storied careers to make sure he didn’t lose Several testosterone- cess to Flores, the quarter- Santa Cruz was as much on Day 1. with the franchise: Flores weight after all of the phys- driven players joked about back. He was a steady guy. an unknown to the play- “If this keeps up, we’ll and Otto. ically demanding practices. wanting a one-on-one wres- Not great, steady.” ers as they were to its res- be eating out of a phone Residents from Otto’s tling match with a tiger. When the team left town idents. booth,” Erdelatz told Around town hometown wanted him to What the photographer after six weeks, the locker “I was a young guy, fresh Bowen two days after camp For whatever the reason, make the pros, too. But they did get was Louderback and room was a sea of discarded out of college,” said Otto, a started. Flores said Erdelatz didn’t wanted him on the home- ex-University of Richmond Raiders’ gear. center who hailed from Wis- He added: “We’ve got a believe in long practices. town Packers. defensive end Carmen Ca- “I got a nice pair of shoes consin and shined at Uni- good group. There’s been The team held two-a-days He said he told them, “If valli playfully trying to out of the deal,” Pillsbury versity of Miami. “Where is no bed check and I haven’t for much of camp, but there I’m going to play for the tackle an elephant named said of his new size 9 cleats. Santa Cruz? That’s the first even seen one of them was still plenty of time to Packers, I gotta play some Opel on a staged fumble. The Raiders finished thing you think.” smoking.” enjoy the area. place first. So leave me There was always some- their inaugural season with Said Flores: “I don’t re- Erdelatz was big on car- Flores said he made alone to kick some butt.” thing to do in Santa Cruz. a 6-8 record. They were out- member many fans.