‘Three Mile Lyle’ Alzado a colorful part of Raiders history

Editor’s note: This is part of an occasional series acquainting fans with the Raiders’ illustrious 60-year history as the team moves to Las Vegas for the 2020 season.

Lyle Alzado likely never would have made the NFL had a Denver Broncos scout not had car trouble in the middle of Montana. It’s an ironic footnote to the career of a wild personality who so clearly was destined to be a Raider.

Alzado only spent the final four of his 15 seasons with the Raiders, but it was a perfect match for the ferocious defensive lineman. “If me and King Kong went into the alley, only one of us would come out,” the Brooklyn native famously said. “And it wouldn’t be the monkey.”

Alzado had already put together a stellar career when the Browns gave up on him and dealt him to the Raiders in 1982. He was already a three-time All-Pro, three-time All-AFC and an AFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1977.

But he was reinvigorated by the move to Los Angeles. Alzado won the comeback player of the year in 1982 and helped the Raiders to a Super Bowl title in 1983.

Not bad for guy who received no scholarship offers out of high school. He made his way to Kilgore Junior College in Texas and was asked to leave, according to Alzado in an ESPN story, for befriending a Black teammate.

Alzado, who was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, found his way to NAIA school Yankton College in South Dakota. It was while he was playing there that he was discovered by the NFL.

As the legend goes, a Broncos scout had car trouble and passed the time stranded looking at film of Montana Tech. It was a defensive lineman playing against them that stood out, and the Broncos invested a fourth-round pick in Alzado.

Denver was rewarded with an immediate impact performer who made the All-Rookie team in 1971 and established himself as one of the top defensive ends in the league by 1972.

Denver also got a loose cannon who played the game so angrily and violently the “Lyle Alzado Rule” was implemented to keep players from throwing their helmets after he ripped the helmet off Chris Ward of the New York Jets and threw it at him.

“I could sic him on people like a Doberman,” former Denver teammate Tom Jackson once said.

The Raiders got the same guy toward the end of his career.

“We used to call him ‘Three-Mile Lyle,’” former teammate Howie Long once said. “Because like Three-Mile Island, you just weren’t sure when he was going to blow.”

That temper was fueled by a traumatic childhood with an alcoholic father who reportedly abandoned the family. It was also exacerbated by long-term steroid use.

Alzado would cite the use of performance-enhancing drugs from his college days and throughout his pro career for the brain cancer that eventually took his life at 43, though researchers can’t corroborate the claim.

Though he died so young, Alzado lived a full life. An amateur boxer in college, he actually challenged Muhammad Ali in an exhibition bout at Mile High Stadium in 1979.

Alzado also gained enough fame in his playing days to cross over into the entertainment world after his career. It didn’t hurt that he ended his career in Los Angeles with the Raiders.

He had memorable parts in “Ernest Goes to Camp” and “Destroyer,” in addition to a series of other roles in both television and the movies.

Alzado did a series of commercials for Sports Illustrated and participated in an anti-drug music video as part of the Reagan administration’s “Just Say No” campaign.

Despite all the craziness, Alzado was awarded the NFLPA’s “Whizzer” White Award for community service in 1977.

He finished his career with 112.5 sacks and 20 fumble recoveries. Alzado also recorded three safeties, tied for fourth place in NFL history.

Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on Twitter.