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 Championship (1 AFL Championship, Super Bowl XI as an Assistant Coach and Super Bowls XV and XVIII) as a player, as an assistant coach, and as a head coach. Flores was also the first Hispanic starting quarterback ^[1] and the first minority head coach in professional football history to win a Super Bowl.^[2] Flores is currently a radio announcer.

Biography[edit]

Football player[edit]

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[edit]

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, 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[edit]

Flores is currently the color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Greg Papa on the Raiders radio network. Flores served as coach of the American team in the 2011 NFLPA Game.^[3]

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[edit]

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

References[edit]

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

External links[edit]

• Tom Flores football card gallery