ALAMEDA, Calif. -- Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown, regarded as the godfather of bump-and-run coverage, died Tuesday after a lengthy battle with cancer at the age of 78.
Brown had been one of the closest confidantes of late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis, as well as a trusted advisor to Mark Davis, who took control of the team upon his father's death in October 2011.
"He," Mark Davis wrote of Brown in a text, "was a Raider."
Undrafted out of Grambling State in 1963, Brown initially signed with the Houston Oilers before being cut and then signed by the Denver Broncos.