Black Hole co-founder dies after bout with COVID-19

Rob Rivera, a longtime Raiders fan who helped found the franchise’s Black Hole section of fans in Oakland, died earlier this week after battling COVID-19, according to reports.

He was in his 50s.

“Rob was the Black Hole,” said Wayne Mabry, aka “Violator,” a longtime Raiders fan who would cheer the team in the Black Hole alongside Rivera. “His passion with the Black Hole, I’ve seen it circle the globe. My word is ‘generations.’ We’ve got generations of Black Hole members, and I hope these chapters continue to flourish and remember what that’s about.”

Rivera was inspired to found the Black Hole after seeing the Cleveland Browns’ Dawg Pound fan section during a broadcast during the 1994 season.

The Raiders were still in Los Angeles at the time, but seeing the atmosphere in Cleveland “just made us think, man, if ever the team was going to come back to Oakland. … we were going to do something similar to the Dawg Pound in Cleveland,” Rivera said last year in an interview with NBC Sports.

“After a few names, the Black Hole was mentioned, and there was a silence,” he added. “It was a fit. We created something absolutely special that will go down in the history of the NFL.”

The Black Hole went on to become one of the rowdiest fan sections in football and has more than 25 chapters nationally, along with chapters in Australia, Germany and Mexico, according to its official website.

Members of the Black Hole often paint their faces or wear Raiders-themed costumes during games. Rivera told NBC Sports he was “heartbroken” about the franchise’s relocation to Las Vegas but noted that he’d continue to support the Raiders.

“We have a new frontier. That frontier happens to be in a different city,” he said. “We’re going to be there. We’re going to support. We’re doing to do our thing. We’re going to make our mark in (Allegiant) Stadium as well.”

The Raiders played their first regular-season game before fans last week at Allegiant Stadium, beating the Baltimore Ravens on “Monday Night Football.” They were on the road Sunday in Pittsburgh but return home this week to play the Miami Dolphins.

“I’m hoping we can keep his dream alive, keep his torch burning,” Mabry said. “Back in the days when he painted up, just having a brother on the other side of me with war paint on was just a tribute to what we looked at the game as.

“It’s almost tribal in its essence. It’s full of rituals. … We looked forward to every Sunday, Monday, Thursday or whatever day it is because of that. It’s almost like therapy for us.”

Contact reporter Sam Gordon at sgordon@reviewjournal.com. Follow @BySamGordon on Twitter.