2021’s most interesting | “That’s a lifetime achievement. That’s forever.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 21st year of the millennium was expected to be a time of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Instead of normal, 2021 gave us more of the same as 2020 with vaccinations, face mask requirements and more COVID-19 deaths. There were people who stood out during the year because of their work, accomplishments or their impact. Vida en el Valle selected the 10 most interesting people of 2021. Here is No. 4:
The pride of Sanger High School – which named its football field after him – has become the pride of the Valley, the Raiders and the NFL.
Tom Flores, who guided the Oakland/Los Ángeles Raiders to Super Bowl victories, was finally admitted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame when the NFL announced on Feb. 6 that he would be enshrined with the class of 2021.
He was passed 20 times for the hall of fame.
Flores, 84, was a Latino trailblazer in the NFL: The only Latino to have won a Super Bowl as a player, an assistant coach and coach. He was the league’s second Latino quarterback, after Tom Fears.
Despite his 97-53 record with the Raiders, Flores was overlooked until this year when Pro Football Hall of Fame President David Baker knocked on the door of his Palm Springs home.
“I was kind of expecting it sooner and then it didn’t happen. So I got skeptical about it and I was a little guarded in it as far as anticipating that this might be the year,” Flores told Raiders.com.
“I wasn’t going to count anything and then when it finally happened – when Mr. Baker knocked on my door here at my home in Palm Springs – I saw that big body coming into the doorway and I said, ‘Oh man, it happened!’ That’s when you realized it happened.
“There’s no better feeling. I had tears in my eyes. I have tears in my eyes right now just thinking about it because that’s a lifetime achievement. That’s forever.”
It didn’t take that long for others to recognize a player, coach, broadcaster who was known for his cool demeanor.
He has been inducted into the halls of fame at the University of the Pacific (1982), Fresno County (1988), California Sports (2007), California Community College Athletic Association (2011), and Bay Area Sports (2012).
Hundreds of Raider Nation members and supporters showed up in Sanger on Sept. 18 to celebrate Flores’ induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
For years until recently, Flores spearheaded a Raider Nation blood drive in Sanger and Fresno.
His youth foundation fosters the growth and development of students in athletics, arts and sciences.
“Fifty-five years working for the Raiders,” he told The Fresno Bee’s Anthony Galavis. “I always said I’ll take one more chance. That was 61 years ago. Holy Christ. I guess it worked out. They’ve been a lifetime of enjoyment. A professional lifetime of enjoyment and experiences and success that I wouldn’t have otherwise.”