ORGANIZATION MAN : After 22 Years With the Team, Art Shell Is a Raider Through and Through

When Art Shell was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame last summer, he said that he hoped that someday a National Football League team would have the guts to hire a black head coach.

Shell became the National Football League’s first modern-day black head coach when he was named by the Raiders earlier this week to succeed the fired Mike Shanahan.

Reminded the other day that great players have had difficulty making the transition to coaching ordinary players, Shell downplayed his Hall of Fame career.

“If you call me a great player, then you see me in that light,” he said. “I never saw myself in that light. But great players can be great coaches. This is a game about people. I think if you understand people and understand the game, you can get a great performance out of the players.”

The Raiders certainly got a great performance out of Shell, the player.

At 42, he has spent 22 years with the team, 15 as a player and the last seven as an assistant coach.

Willie Brown, the Raiders’ Hall of Fame defensive back, thinks Shell will be a good head coach.

“Art has always been a Raider,” Brown said. “And with that tradition of being a Raider, I’m sure his attitude and coaching will be the same as when he played. He was an outstanding player, and I’m sure he has the makings of being an outstanding head coach.”

A third-round draft choice from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore in 1968, Shell became a fixture at left tackle for the Raiders before retiring at the end of the 1982 season.

After Shell was elected to the Hall of Fame, former Raider coach John Madden said: “The Hall of Fame is for the best that ever played and that’s what Art is.”

Shell played in eight Pro Bowls, more than any other Raider, and he also earned three Super Bowl rings, two as a player and one as an assistant coach.

With Shell and guard Gene Upshaw on the left side of the line and left-handed quarterback Ken Stabler, the Raiders became a left-handed team.

Former NFL coach Hank Stram once said: “If the defense could line up the Russian army against that left side, the Raiders would still run left.”

Said Stabler: “A lot of people called us a left-handed team because I was left-handed, which really wasn’t the case. We were a left-handed team because of guys like Art Shell, (center) Dave Dalby, (left guard) Gene Upshaw and (tight end) Dave Casper.”

Shell played perhaps his best game in Super Bowl XI as the Raiders rushed for a record 266 yards. Playing against defensive lineman Jim Marshall of the Minnesota Vikings, Shell didn’t allow Marshall to get past him. Marshall made no sacks, tackles or assists in the game.

“When somebody told me that I played a perfect game, I was shocked because I had no idea Marshall had not even been in on one play,” Shell said. “I was too busy to keep track.”

Nicknamed Goliath by his Raiders teammates, Shell, at 6 feet 5 inches and at least 290 pounds, excelled as a pass blocker.

Opponents, however, claimed that Shell perfected the art of holding.

“I can attest, that man can hold,” Elvin Bethea, former Houston Oiler defensive end, said at Shell’s retirement dinner. “Believe me, he’d put a crab out of business.”

Shell was also a good run-blocker.

“Art was like a big Coke machine with a head on it,” former Raider running back Pete Banaszak said. “Running backs liked to run behind him because 99% of the time there was a hole.”

Shell didn’t begin his career as a starter. He spent his first two seasons on the bench, where he played behind Bob Svihus.

“When I joined the Raiders, I was determined not to sit on the bench too long,” Shell said.

After becoming a starter when Svihus injured his back lifting weights, Shell remained in the starting lineup for 156 consecutive games before he hurt his knee in a 1979 exhibition game against the Rams.

Although he had torn ligaments in his left knee, an injury that would have sidelined most other players for an entire season, Shell missed just five games before returning. Torn ligaments usually requires surgery but Shell disdained an operation and worked out four times a day by himself to rehabilitate his knee.

“It was an amazing recovery,” former Raider coach Tom Flores said. “Any other player would have been out for an entire season.”

Shell played for three more seasons before retiring and becoming the Raiders’ offensive line coach.

Raider players seem pleased with the selection of Shell.

“I believe he’ll be a players’ coach,” said Bob Golic, Raider nose tackle. “It’s not that long ago that he was a player and he worked with a lot of these guys. I think that will have a lot of influence on how he deals with the players in a head coaching capacity.”

Shell said his career was shaped by his father, also named Art.

Shell’s mother died when he was 10 and his father brought up five children.

“Our mother taught us well when she was alive,” Shell said. “Then when she wasn’t there anymore, we just had to carry on. We were very, very close to our father.

“When we were growing up he talked softly, but when he said something you knew he meant it. When he did pull out the rod, you knew you deserved it and you were awfully sorry.”

Shell’s father died the day after Art’s election to the Hall of Fame.