The team announced the signing of two more players today: 6’4”, 220-pound end Earl Randolph out of Arizona State-Flagstaff (now Northern Arizona) and 6’4”, 235-pound tackle/linebacker Julius Varnado from San Francisco State.
Randolph played a variety of positions in college, including in the secondary, which is where Eddie Erdelatz wanted to try him out first. He had been in camp with the Dallas Cowboys for a while last season. Varnado was also in the Cowboys organization as their 15th-round draft pick this year, but he chose to give Oakland a try.
Raiders exonerated
Milt Woodard, assistant commissioner of the AFL, announced that the league had exonerated the Raiders of tampering chargers regarding quarterback Joe Kapp of the Calgary Stampeders. The big revelation was that these charges had been filed by the Canadian League weeks before Kapp’s recent announcement that he wouldn’t sign for 1961.
“Kapp’s statement that he would play rather than sit out a year indicates some inducement had been offered,” said Canadian League official Sid Halter. “It may not have been the general manager but it’s quite evident that Kapp was approached by someone in Oakland a long time ago.” Also named in the complaint was Calgary guard Tony Pajaczkowski, but the Raiders said that name was unfamiliar to them.
Woodard threw out the complaint, saying, “It was a rather nebulous protest and we’ve determined after an investigation that the Raider management has been complete above board in the Kapp situation and not guilty of tampering.”
Halter admitted he didn’t have solid evidence. “It’s difficult to pinpoint,” he said, “but I still feel there was some tampering going on, no doubt about it.”
Owens on Fleming
University of Washington football head coach Jim Owens though former Huskies running back and Raider second-round draft pick George Fleming was a pretty fair ballplayer.
“George Fleming will make the pro fans forget a lot of their heroes,” he said. “Here’s a (young man)[1], in my judgement who’s tailor made for professional football. He’s about as versatile an athlete as I’ve ever seen, well equipped to become a really great back in pro ball. All you have to do is watch (him)see note 1 move around a football field a little bit and you know he’s got it. He’s the kind of ball carrier who can break the back of the opposition at any moment. He’s got excellent hands as a flanked-out receiver, he’s a good defensive back and a placekicker of professional capability.”
Fleming had been drafted by the Bears, too, but Owens said, “he wants to play on the West Coast and he really wants Oakland. He feels he’ll have the opportunity to move along with a growing club that’s going to go places, where he might get lost behind a (big) name in the NFL. He started on the ground floor at Washington and grew into a great college back. He can do the same in the pro ranks. I think you’re going to like George Fleming in Oakland.”
Oakland Tribune
San Francisco Examiner
San Mateo Times
[1] Substituted for the original term used, a common word used by football coaches across the country in reference to African-American players with the intent, conscious or otherwise, to infantilize them. It needs no further noting here except to say it’s no less obnoxious or racist because of it was the “style of the time.” Owens didn’t stand out from the crowd in this regard.