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<fs x-small>Photo: //Oakland Tribune//, September 19, 1954</fs>

====== Art Beckett ======

Arthur Thomas Beckett (May 23, 1894-May 19, 1978) was one of the eight original co-owners of what would become the Oakland Raiders and was the most enigmatic and shortest-tenured of the group.

==== Early Life ====

Beckett was born on May 23, 1894, in Sacramento, to Arthur E. Beckett (1869-1955) and Marguerite Elizabeth Beckett (Hickey) (1876-1936). He was the eldest of three siblings that included a brother, Roy John (1895-1940) and a sister, Marguerite Elizabeth (1898-1976). The senior Arthur Beckett worked in a variety of jobs, including as a druggist and a stint in the oil industry, before attaining the post of harbormaster for the Port of San Francisco where he stayed until his retirement in 1939.

==== Business Career ====

The junior Beckett’s early working life was in the building trade and by the mid-1920s he had formed his own contracting business. By the 1930s, he was a major player in the home building business and in 1942 he formed a partnership with a man named Fred Federighi. The company of Beckett and Federighi would undertake large projects, most notably the Bay Fair shopping center in San Leandro, until at least 1964. The pair also operated on the finance side of things, forming the Pacific States Mortgage company and in 1963, Beckett entered a partnership with several other businessmen, including Raiders owner Ed McGah, to create the Silverado State Bank in Napa. After this, his business life fades from the public record.

==== American Football League Franchise Owner ====

In the wild series of events that led up to the awarding of an American Football League franchise to Oakland, Beckett was first mentioned as part of the Chet Soda/Robert Osborne group on January 26, 1960, and the group received the franchise on the 30th. While the other seven men in the group wasted no time getting their pictures in the paper and their quotes in print, Beckett never made a public appearance or statement in conjunction with the team. Nor did he attend any of the early organizational meetings. By February 24, he was out and replaced by Roger Lapham. His reason for leaving the team never made it to the papers. His connection with the team was seldom, if ever, mentioned again, even in his obituary.

==== Personal Life ====

Beckett married Gertrude Eleanor Burt (1896?-1984) in February 1916. Their first child, Jean Elizabeth came later that year, followed by another daughter, Beverly, in 1917. Their first son, Arthur Thomas, Jr., known as Thomas to his family was born in 1920, but he died tragically of strangulation less than two years later when he got tangled up in the ropes of a porch swing at the Beckett home . Their final child, John Burt, was born in 1923.

Art and Gertrude were active in various social and charitable organizations throughout their married lives. Art’s connection with the Silesian Boys Club of San Francisco, run by the Catholic Church, brought him into contact with several of his future AFL partners, including Chet Soda and Ed McGah. He was also a member of the Eagles, the Orinda Country Club.

While not as active in organized sports as some of his partners, Beckett was an avid fisherman whose exploits earned him regular mentions on the field sports pages of the Oakland Tribune and was a member of the International Order of St Hubertus, the patron saint of hunters.

==== Death ====

Beckett disappeared from the public eye after the mid-1960s and his likely retirement. He died at the age of 83 in Walnut Creek, California, survived by eight grandchildren.

=====Timeline=====

===1894===

-May 23-

Born in Sacramento to Arthur E. and Marguerite Elizabeth Beckett (Hickey).

===1910===

-March 19-

Reported his bicycle stolen. Newspapers considered it to be part of a rash of bicycle thefts in Oakland.

===1960===

-January 30-

Along with seven partners, awarded an Oakland franchise by the American Football League.

-February 24-

Sold his share of the Oakland team back to the partnership.

===1978===

-May 19-

Died in Walnut Creek, California, at the age of 83.

==== Professional Front Office Career ====
|<35%>|
|1960|Oakland (AFL)|General Partner  | |
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