For nine days in 1960, the Raiders were known as the "Señors"
You do indeed learn something new every day. Today, we learned this: For nine days in 1960, the Oakland Raiders were known as the "Señors. " As posted by team's Twitter account, the change to Raiders happened on this day , 66 years ago.
The video attached to the post includes quotes from local officials who explained that the change was made due to "public demand. " The franchise had partnered with the Oakland Tribune to hold a contest to come up with a name for the team. More than 10,000 submissions were made.
The finalists , per a 2020 item in the San Jose Mercury News , were Admirals, Lakers, Raiders, Diablos, Mavericks, Seawolves, Gauchos, Nuggets, Señors, Dons, Costers, Grandees, Sequoias, Missiles, Knights, Redwoods, Clippers, Jets, and Dolphins. As the story goes, Tribune sports writer Scotty Stirling (who would later be the team's G. M.
), there was a practical reason for resisting the name. "We don’t have the accent mark for the ñ in our headline type," Sirling said. And so, nine days after the Oakland Señors were born, they disappeared.
The Raiders arrived.