Tom Flores

Tom Flores

Date of birth	March 21, 1937 (1937-03-21)
Place of birth	Sanger, California
Position(s)	Head Coach Quarterback
College	Pacific
AFL All-Star	1966
Career record	97-87-0 (Regular Season) 8-3 (Postseason) 105-90-0 (Overall)
Super Bowl wins	1969 AFL-NFL World Championship Game (as player) 1980 Super Bowl XV (as head coach) 1983 Super Bowl XVIII (as head coach)
Championships won	1969 AFL Championship (as player) 1980 AFC Championship (as head coach) 1983 AFC Championship (as head coach)
Stats
Playing stats	Pro Football Reference
Playing stats	NFL.com
Playing stats	DatabaseFootball
Coaching stats	Pro Football Reference
Coaching stats	DatabaseFootball
Team(s) as a player
1960-1966 1967-1969 1969	AFL Oakland Raiders AFL Buffalo Bills AFL Kansas City Chiefs
Team(s) as a coach/administrator
1979-1987 1992-1994	NFL Oakland/LA Raiders NFL Seattle Seahawks

Thomas R. "Tom" Flores (born March 21, 1937) is a retired American football quarterback and coach. Flores and Mike Ditka are the only two people in the National Football League history to win a Super Bowl as a player, as an assistant coach, and as a head coach. Flores was also the first Hispanic starting quarterback and the first minority head coach in professional football history to win a Super Bowl. Flores is currently a radio announcer.

Biography

Football player

Flores played quarterback for two seasons at Fresno City College beginning in 1955. He was active off the field as well serving on the Student Council as well as President of the Associated Men's Students. He received an academic scholarship to study at the College (now University) of the Pacific. Flores graduated from the University of the Pacific in 1958, but was unable to find a job in professional football. He was cut by the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in 1958, and then by the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) in 1959. In 1960 Flores finally landed a position as a quarterback with the American Football League's Oakland Raiders, who began play in 1960 as a charter member of the league. He was named the Raiders' starting quarterback early in the 1960 season, becoming the first Hispanic starting quarterback in professional football history.

Flores had his most productive season in 1966. Although he completed only 49.3 percent of his attempts, he passed for 2,638 yards and 24 touchdowns in 14 games. Oakland traded him to the Buffalo Bills in 1967. After serving primarily as a backup, he was released by the Bills and in 1969 signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, where he was backup to Len Dawson on the Chiefs' World Championship team. He retired as a player after the 1970 season. He was one of only twenty players who were with the AFL for its entire ten-year existence. He is the fifth-leading passer, all-time, in the AFL.

Coaching career

Flores is a member of the Sid Gillman coaching tree. After stints as an assistant coach in Buffalo and Oakland (he won a Super Bowl XI ring as an Assistant Coach under John Madden), Flores became the Raiders' head coach in 1979, following Madden's retirement. He followed the team to Los Angeles in 1982.

Flores was the NFL's first minority head coach to win a Super Bowl, winning twice - Super Bowl XV with the Oakland Raiders and Super Bowl XVIII with the Los Angeles Raiders, the latter victory being the only such in the history of NFL football in Southern California.

After a 5–10 finish to the 1987 season, Flores moved to the Raiders' front office, but left after just one year to become the president and general manager of the Seattle Seahawks. He returned to coaching as the Seahawks head coach in 1992, but was fired in 1995 following three disappointing seasons.

His 83 wins with the Raiders are the second-most in franchise history, behind only Madden. Flores left Pro Football with a lifetime coaching record of 97–87 (52.7%), as well as an 8-3 playoff record, and with two Super Bowl victories. Flores, Jimmy Johnson, Bill Parcells and George Seifert are the only eligible coaches with two such victories, who have not been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Post-coaching career

Flores is currently the color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Greg Papa on the Raiders radio network.

Sanger High School's Football stadium is named "Tom Flores Stadium" in honor of Tom who was a graduate of Sanger High School.

See also

• Other American Football League players
• Most consecutive games with five touchdown passes (AFL)

References

• Fire in the Iceman: Autobiography of Tom Flores by Flores