Al Davis never cared how rowdy his Oakland Raiders were off the field, only how fast and explosive they were on it. His speedy receivers and athletic cornerbacks set standards for how the AFL game was played. And as Davis rose from assistant (he was Alworth's first position coach at San Diego) to coach--general manager to commissioner in the AFL, his influence grew.
No one, though, held greater sway than Joe Namath. The three-year, $427,000 rookie contract the Jets gave him in 1965, the biggest deal ever for an athlete in a team sport at the time, was easily the smartest single decision made by the AFL. Handsome, blue-eyed and shaggy-haired, he was viewed by the '60s generation as one of its own. And he was a thrill to watch. "He was so good, such a competitor, so wonderful for the league," says Paul Maguire, a punter and linebacker on the Bills in the '60s before becoming a broadcaster. "You know how when Tiger Woods is in a tournament, you turn on the TV, and when he's in contention, you can't look away? Same with Joe. When he came to town, everything stopped. Everyone just wanted to see Joe."
By the end of the 1960s the most compelling figures in American sports arguably were Muhammad Ali, Bill Russell, Wilt Chamberlain—and Joe Namath.
