Oakland Raiders: Ken Stabler Hall of Fame Presenter Named

Ken Stabler should’ve gone into the Hall of Fame years ago, but that doesn’t mean the Oakland Raiders legend won’t have somebody to speak for him.

The Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2016 just had their presenters named leading up to the induction ceremony. There were plenty of obvious choices:

• Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. – Lisa DeBartolo, Edward’s daughter
• Tony Dungy – Donnie Shell, Tony’s teammate
• Kevin Greene – Dom Capers, Kevin’s coach with the Steelers and Panthers
• Marvin Harrison – Jim Irsay, Indianapolis Colts owner
• Dick Stanfel – Marv Levy, Hall of Fame coach
• Brett Favre – Deana Favre, wife
• Orlando Pace – Justin Pace, son

True to form, the Stabler family stayed within the tight-knit community of the Silver and Black, calling on a man who knew what the “Snake” was all about  and understands his value to the game of football.

John Madden was the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978. He was in charge when the team drafted Stabler in 1970 and oversaw his development from young backup to four-time Pro Bowl starter. Together the two won 67 games in just eight seasons and engineered 18 comebacks in the 4th quarter. Their crowning achievement came in 1976 when the Raiders lost just one game en route to their first Super Bowl title.

Madden has long been one of the advocates trying to get Stabler into Canton sooner, indicating voters get too caught up in reputation and stats to not recognize how great he was.

"“No, I mean, if you just look at how he played — he’s a Hall of Fame quarterback. We get caught up today in statistics and comparing statistics and you can’t do that with different eras. For example, when we threw a medium range pass it was 17 yards deep. Now, a medium range pass is eight to 10 yards deep. We didn’t have any of those smoke screens…and I’m not saying it’s wrong, that’s just the way they play today.”"

Now he’ll have a chance to tell the world why this southpaw who made the game of football fun to watch was one of the all-time greats and though he’s gone, will forever embody the spirit of the Raiders.