McCallum Gets Transfer to Raiders
If you think Ulysses had a long voyage and a hard time returning home, check out the odyssey of Navy Lt. j.g. Napoleon McCallum, who returned to the Raiders Thursday after a four-year absence.
The Raiders reacquired McCallum from San Diego for a draft choice, thought to be a mid-round pick conditional on how much he plays.
How convoluted is this?
Raider official Steve Ortmayer helped draft McCallum for the Raiders, acquired him for the Chargers when he was San Diego general manager, and now, having returned to the Raiders, helped reacquire McCallum.
The Raiders say McCallum’s Navy hitch, originally due to expire in December, will be up in July, thus freeing the Annapolis graduate to concentrate solely on football for the first time in his career.
The Raiders drafted McCallum on the fourth round in 1986, everyone else having assumed that his naval commitment precluded the NFL.
However, a favorable ruling from a friendly Secretary of the Navy allowed McCallum to try both.
While serving aboard the U.S.S. Peleliu in Long Beach Harbor, McCallum had a decent rookie season--536 yards, a 3.8 average--but showed little breakaway ability.
The next season, the Navy changed secretaries and McCallum was reassigned to another ship far away from the Raiders.
In 1988, it was the Raiders who reassigned McCallum, sending his rights to the Chargers as part of the Jim Lachey-John Clay deal.
In 1989, the Navy posted McCallum to San Diego as a recruiter and allowed him to try to double.
This time it was the Chargers who reassigned him--to their military reserve list.