Tom Flores

Thomas Raymond Flores (born March 21, 1937) is an American former professional football coach and player.

Flores and Mike Ditka are the only people in National Football League history to win a Super Bowl as a player, assistant coach and head coach (Super Bowl IV as a player for the Chiefs, Super Bowl XI as an assistant coach of the Raiders, and Super Bowls XV and XVIII as head coach of the Raiders). Flores was also the first Hispanic starting quarterback and the first minority head coach in professional football history to win a Super Bowl.

Flores is currently a radio announcer for the Raiders Radio Network.

Biography

Football player

Flores played quarterback for two seasons at Fresno City College, beginning in 1955. He was active off the field too, serving on the Student Council and as President of the Associated Men's Students. He received an academic scholarship to study at the College (now University) of the Pacific. Flores graduated from the University of the Pacific in 1958, but was unable to find a job in professional football. He was cut by the Calgary Stampeders of the CFL in 1958, after which he spent the season with the Salinas Packers of the Pacific Football Conference along with future Raider teammate turned pro wrestler Don Manoukian. A second attempt to break into pro football with the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) in 1959 also failed. In 1960, Flores finally landed a position as a quarterback with the American Football League's Oakland Raiders, who began play in 1960 as a charter member of the league. He was named the Raiders' starter early that season, becoming the first-ever Hispanic starting quarterback in professional football.

Head coach

A head coach, senior coach, or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports such as association football, the head coach is usually called the manager, while in other sports such as Australian rules football they are generally termed a senior coach.

Other coaches are usually subordinate to the head coach, often in offensive positions or defensive positions, and occasionally proceeding down into individualized position coaches.

American football

Head coaches in American football have different responsibilities depending on what level of the sport they are coaching.

High school football

The head coach has a much more complete hold on the intricacies of the team. He may have to perform the duties of a defensive or offensive coordinator.

Often, high school head coaches have to do more work off the field than on. It is important that head coaches in high school hire a competent and proactive coaching staff because when the head coach is pulled away from practice then he must be confident that his team is in good hands with his other coaches and staff. One of the most difficult issues, off the field, that head coaches must deal with is the parent although many coaches do not allow parental interactions in many casess. He must be able to handle any issues that parents may have with the way that the head coach is running the program, all along while staying professional and not being demeaning. Furthermore, a high school's head football coach often serves as his school's Athletic Coordinator or Director, which adds even further responsibilities to his job. In some jurisdictions, a high school head coach must also have a paying job within the school, almost always as a teacher.

Hall of fame

A hall of fame is a structure housing memorials to famous or illustrious individuals in a certain field, usually chosen by a group of electors. The meaning of "fame" has changed over the years, originally meaning "renown" as opposed to today's more common meaning of "celebrity".

In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or museums which enshrine the honorees with sculptures, plaques, and displays of memorabilia and general information regarding the inducted recipient/s. Sometimes, the honorees' plaques may instead be posted on a wall (hence a '"wall of fame") or inscribed on a sidewalk (as in a "walk of fame" or an "avenue of fame"). In others, the hall of fame is more figurative and just simply consists of a list of names of noteworthy individuals (or sometimes groups, for ex. Sporting groups or Rock groups) maintained by an organization or community or honouring its inducted members legacy or legend.

The English-language term was popularised in the United States by the Hall of Fame for Great Americans at Bronx Community College, in New York City, completed in 1900. Its inspiration is the Ruhmeshalle ("Hall of Fame") in Munich, Germany. The Walhalla memorial in Bavaria, Germany, is an even earlier hall of fame, conceived in 1807 and built from 1900 to 1907.

Football Hall of Fame

A Football Hall of Fame may refer to:

American football

Association football

Australian rules football

Canadian football

Professional sports

Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations or teams can command large incomes. As a result, more sportspeople can afford to make athleticism their primary career, devoting the training time necessary to increase skills, physical condition, and experience to modern levels of achievement. This proficiency has also helped boost the popularity of sports.

Most sports played professionally also have amateur players far outnumbering the professionals. Professional athleticism is seen by some as a contradiction of the central ethos of sport, competition performed for its own sake and pure enjoyment, rather than as a means of earning a living. Consequently, many organisations and commentators have resisted the growth of professional athleticism, saying that it was so incredible that it has impeded the development of sport. For example, rugby union was for many years a part-time sport engaged in by amateurs, and English cricket has allegedly suffered in quality because of a "non-professional" approach. An important reason why professional sports has been resisted in history was that organisations for professional sports usually did not submit to the international sports federations, and could have their own rules. For example, the National Basketball Association was formerly not a member of the FIBA.