Ben Davidson
Ben Davidson was born in Los Angeles, California, United States on June 14th, 1940 and is the Football Player. At the age of 72, Ben Davidson biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 72 years old, Ben Davidson has this physical status:
Benjamin Earl Davidson, Jr. (June 14, 1940-2012) was an American football player best known for his stint with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League, and he was nicknamed a defensive end.
He appeared with the Green Bay Packers and the Washington Redskins of the National Football League earlier in his career.
Early years
Davidson, a native of Los Angeles, California, was the son of Avis (née Wheat) and Benjamin Earl Franklin, Senior. He attended Woodrow Wilson High School in Los Angeles' El Sereno neighborhood, but did not play football in high school due to his height (6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)) and track, but basketball and track were more to his liking. He was spotted by the football coach while attending junior college at East Los Angeles College and invited to join the team. He was later recruited to play at the University of Washington in Seattle, where he flourished as a member of two consecutive Rose Bowl-winning teams under head coach Jim Owens and gained entry into professional football.
Personal life
Davidson collected his winner's check ($5,195) from the 1961 NFL championship game and bought a rented house in Seattle, bringing a lifelong and profitable focus on residential real estate. He started 1961 with a Rose Bowl win on January 2 and ended it with a football championship on December 31. In between, he was pregnant and the birth of his first child.
Davidson and fellow Oakland Raider teammate Tom Keating were avid motorcycle riders and rode from California to the Panama Canal, as well as a four-month, 13,000-kilometer (23,000 km) ride through the United States while with the Raiders.
At the age of 72, Davidson died of prostate cancer. He was retired and living in San Diego and was accompanied by his wife Kathy, and daughters Janella, Dana, and Vicky. Tom Keating, Davidson's longtime colleague and motorcycle buddy, died two months after him, and also as a result of prostate cancer.
Professional career
The New York Giants selected Davidson in the fourth round of the 1961 NFL draft but the Green Bay Packers were traded in training camp.
In 1961, he played mostly special teams for the Packers, who beat the Giants 37–0 in the championship game, the first of five NFL championships for head coach Vince Lombardi. Davidson was traded to the Washington Redskins for a fifth round draft pick during training camp in 1962. He served in 1962 and 1963 before being suspended in September 1964 final cuts after failing to follow the team's stringent weight regulations.
Davidson is best remembered for his time with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League. Al Davis was signed as a free agent right after his release from the Redskins and he flourished as a pass rusher under the guidance of head coaches Davis, John Rauch, and John Madden. Davidson played in Oakland from 1964 to 1972, and was a participant in the 1970 league merger. In 1966, 1967, 1968, and 1968, he was an AFL All-Star.
In 1967, the Raiders won the AFL championship and participated in Super Bowl II, but the Green Bay Packers defeated them. Oakland made it to the AFL championship games for the next two seasons, but the New York Jets and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1969, the league's last game, lost to the New York Jets in 1968 and the Kansas City Chiefs in 1969. Achilles' tendon ligament injury in 1972 kept him on the sidelines the entire season.
The defending champion Kansas City Chiefs led the Raiders 17–14 late in the fourth quarter on November 1, 1970, following the AFL-NFL merger. Dawson, who lay on the ground, appears to have won the Chiefs in the final minute, prompting Chiefs quarterback Otis Taylor to assault Davidson. Ofsetting fines were issued after a bench-clearing brawl, nullifying the first down under the original statutes at the time. The Chiefs were compelled to punt, and the Raiders tied the game on a George Blanda field goal with eight seconds remaining. Davidson's play cost the Chiefs not only cost the Chiefs a victory, but Oakland captured the AFC West with a season record of 8–4–2, while Kansas City finished 7–2 and out of the playoffs. The NFL modified its personal fouls law after the season, separating those called during a game from those who were not. The NFL expanded its regulations in 1976, specifically excluding a late striker like Davidson's as illegal.
Davidson's assault on Dawson was not an unusual occurrence; Winston Hill, a Jets player of the 1980s, dubbed Davidson "the No. 1." In the league, there is 1 cheap-shot artist." Davidson "probably was accountable for more late hits than any other player" of his time, according to a New York Times reporter, and he was also known for going after the opposing team's quarterback. Davidson portrayed himself as a "villain" and embraced this image, even though wearing a handlebar mustache.
Davidson joined the Portland Storm in early September 1974, just midway through the World Football League's inaugural 1974 season. He remained in his motor home when dealing with the storm. He came from California. His season and playing career were halted because of a late-season knee injury in early November.
Entertainment career
Davidson appeared in a few films, including The Black Six, M*A*S*H, and Conan the Barbarian. Porter the Bouncer appeared in Behind the Green Door in 1972 and a convict football player in Necessary Roughness in 1991. In Miller Lite ads starring John Madden and Rodney Dangerfield, Davidson performed himself. Rhino Rhinelander, the 1977 pilot for Lucan and the 1984 TV film Goldie and the Bears, appeared in the short lived 1976 film Ball Four as a minor-league baseball player. Davidson appeared in an episode of the 1970s television series Happy Days as a lumberjack. In 1972, he appeared in Banacek's premiere.