The Oakland Raiders began play in 1960 as part of the American
Football League, before the merger with the NFL. During this
period, each one of these players played for the Raiders at one
time.
This is not a power trail. There are not roads to every cache and
driving offroad is prohibited. As you'll see, there have been fires
in this area over the years and it wouldn't be good to burn this
valley in the name of geocaching.
Remember, everyone plays the game their own way ... cut and paste
logs are very encouraged!
Pat Lamonica (born July 17, 1941 in Fresno, California) is a former
American collegiate and professional football quarterback who
played in the American Football League, and later in the NFL.
Lamonica lettered in four sports and was an All-State Quarterback
at Clovis High School in Clovis, California. Clovis High School
renamed its football stadium Lamonica Stadium in 1970. After high
school, he turned down a professional baseball contract with the
Chicago Cubs. Lamonica spent his collegiate career at the
University of Notre Dame, and was the team's starting quarterback
for three seasons.
After a 20-for-28, 349-yard performance in the 1962 East-West
Shrine Game at Kezar Stadium in San Francisco, Lamonica was named
the game's Most Valuable Player. He was drafted by the Buffalo
Bills in the 24th round of the 1963 AFL draft. He was also drafted
by the Green Bay Packers in the 12th round of the 1963 NFL draft.
Lamonica played with Buffalo for four seasons, backing up Jack Kemp
on a team that won back-to-back AFL championships in 1964 and 1965.
He was known as "The Fireman", coming into games if Kemp was hurt
or ineffective, and pulling out victories.
In 1967, Lamonica was traded to the Oakland Raiders with Glenn Bass
for Art Powell and Tom Flores. In his first year with the Raiders,
under head coach John Rauch, he threw for 30 touchdowns and ran for
four more. In 1969, he threw for 34 touchdowns and more than 3,300
yards. It was in Oakland that Lamonica's passing acumen earned him
the nickname "The Mad Bomber."
With Lamonica, the Raiders won three straight Western Division
titles and one American Football League Championship. The Raiders
made one World Championship Game appearance with Lamonica as
quarterback, losing to the Green Bay Packers, 33-14, in Super Bowl
II. Lamonica threw for two touchdowns in the game. Lamonica
quarterbacked the Raiders during the Heidi Game.
Lamonica was a three-time American Football League All-Star and
twice was selected as the American Football League's Most Valuable
Player, in 1967 and 1969. Lamonica's last season in the NFL was
1974. Lamonica played for one season (1975) in the short-lived
World Football League as quarterback of the Southern California Sun
where in limited time he went 9 for 19 and gained 90 yards for 1
touchdown.
In recent years, he hosted a national fishing show on Fox Sports
Net called Outdoors with the Pros.
Daryle Lamonica went 66-16-4 as a starter, good for a 78.4% winning
percentage, second best in NFL history (Otto Graham is the highest
at 81.0%). In the American Football League, Lamonica's winning
percentage as a starter was 90.0%, on 40 wins, 4 losses and 1 tie
in 45 games, the best ever in the AFL.