Former Oakland Raiders QB Stabler dead at 69

Stabler recently was working on a book with The Sports Xchange’s Tom LaMarre, a former Raiders beat writer. He again called LaMarre, now the golf writer for The Sports Xchange. About three weeks ago, Stabler told LaMarre he had cancer but wanted to complete the book.

God Bless Kenny Stabler. Instead, he relied on his own instincts.

Stabler’s family released a statement through his foundation, saying he had been battling cancer since February. I knew Kenny on a lot of different levels.

“I don’t think he ever cared about losing. And every time I went out there, I gave them everything I had”.

I once asked Stabler why it took so long for him to play after being drafted in the second round in 1968. Stabler had to earn the starting job from fifth string in the fall, but he did. Davis dispatched a team employee to bring him back.

“I’ve often said, if I had one drive to win a game to this day, and I had a quarterback to pick, I would pick Kenny”, Madden said.

When the Tuscaloosa News broke the story that ex- Oakland Raiders’ great Ken Stabler passed earlier on Thursday, it was met with stunned disbelief.

Stabler had that Raider look and attitude about him.

Mostly, Stabler stuck with me. To be able to accomplish what he was able to do in his pro career and to be able to do what he did at Alabama, it means something that he’s an Alabama-born quarterback that was able to have so much success.

“But I like the way we play, too, wide open and winging it”. Stabler would be named the NFL MVP that year. He quarterbacked the Raiders to their first Super Bowl victory following the 1976 season against the Minnesota Vikings by calmly dissecting the staunch Purple People Eaters defense. “He was always charming, and he was a great a football player”. Even before arriving in the National Football League he won two national championships at Alabama. “And, I guess we couldn’t”. Now, we can only hope that somehow, a few way, he gets into the Hall where he belongs. Although the Crimson Tide rolled over Nebraska in the Sugar Bowl, Alabama ended up at No. 3 in the polls. “There’s plenty more where that came from”.

In the dressing room at halftime, Phillips was addressing his players, and some could hear Stabler throwing up in a bathroom area.

Stabler came to symbolize those 1970’s Raider squads. “If there had been instant replay, it’s their ball”. That season, his 66.7 percent completion rate, 27 passing touchdowns, 103.4 passer rating and 9.41 yards per attempts all led the NFL. John Madden’s joyous celebration after the 32-14 victory in Super Bowl XI at the Rose Bowl was largely determined by Stabler’s excellence.

After 10 seasons with the Raiders, Stabler was traded to the Houston Oilers in 1980 for quarterback Dan Pastorini.

Stabler first showed his professional chops in the game best known for the Immaculate Reception.

And while his “rebel” persona off the field will also be a part of his legacy, perhaps one day one of his greatest contributions will be remembered as his decision to donate his brain and spinal cord to science upon his passing in order to be studied for degenerative brain disease as a result of chronic traumatic encephalopathy.