Considered one of the finest general managers to build an NFL team. Ron Wolf has impacted the Oakland Raiders from the early '60s through the '80s. He returned to do it again this week. Raiders owner Mark Davis asked Wolf about potential candidates for the team's vacant general manager position. Wolf recommended Green Bay Packers director of football operations Reggie McKenzie. It looks like that recommendation has paid off.
Ron Wolf joined a faltering Oakland Raiders team in 1963. By the end of the decade he had helped build a dominant football team. Every year the Raiders were a factor. Super Bowl II and the playoffs every year. He brought in future Hall of Famers Art Shell and Gene Upshaw. On a team run by Al Davis, Wolf would never call all the shots. He wanted that chance.
In 1975, Wolf decided to call those shots with the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers. It was a frustrating time as the team started 0-26. The losses resulted in friction with owner Hugh Culverhouse. Wolf did put together a team that started to win. The Buccaneers would make it to the 1979 NFC Championship. While in Tampa, the Raiders team that Wolf helped build won Super Bowl XI.
In 1978, Wolf had enough. He returned to Oakland. He restocked a team that would power to two more championships in the early '80s. His drafts included two more Hall of Famers in Howie Long and Marcus Allen.
Despite all this time with the Raiders I find that Wolf gets more attention for his time with the Green Bay Packers. I'm not sure why that is as he did fantastic work in both places. Perhaps working in the shadow of Al Davis with the Raiders is the reason. Wolf's first move with the Packers was to fire head coach Lindy Infante and hire Mike Holmgren. Next, he got himself a quarterback. Wolf wanted Brett Favre in the draft. He didn't get him but that didn't stop Wolf. He traded a first round pick to the Atlanta Falcons for the backup quarterback. Favre wouldn't be a backup in Green Bay for very long. In 1993, Wolf then made perhaps the greatest free agent acquisition in history when he signed defensive end Reggie White. After that Green Bay became a destination for free agents. Wolf, Holmgren, Favre and White changed the atmosphere in Green Bay. As he did in Oakland, Wolf created a contender in Green Bay. Winning Super Bowl XXI.
Jim Finks is the only general manager to be inducted in the Professional Football Hall of Fame. Ron Wolf should follow. Finks built winners in Minnesota, Chicago and New Orleans. Wolf did the same in Oakland and Green Bay. Like Finks, Wolf not only built winners he built sustained winners. Ron Wolf didn't make the Hall of Fame cut this year but his time will come. In the Raiders hiring of Reggie McKenzie his time continues.
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