Tonight three former Raiders await word to see if they will be part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2021. They will sit in their hotel rooms in Tampa, ahead of the NFL Honors show and await for the knock on the door. But Friday night, another Raiders legend had the same experience.
His name is Wayne Mabry. But most of you probably know him better as Violator. The stripe-faced mainstay Super Fan featured in basically every NFL broadcast of a Raiders home game the past three decades.
Friday night, Mabry and his wife sat in their hotel room in Tampa, awaiting the same knock on the door prospective Hall of Fame hopeful Raiders legends Tom Flores, Charles Woodson, and Richard Seymour are waiting for today.
“We were in our rooms of course, in suspense, waiting like three hours, so your nerves start to get to you after a while, but it’s just staying alert because you never know and I got the knock and got in there, so come August we’ll make that trip to Canton and do it all right. Get my blue jacket and a ring and hopefully a truck. That’s the grand prize.”
Who gets the truck will be decided by fan vote between Mabry and two other fans who will also be enshrined in this year’s class.
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You will find few fans who are more deserving of the prize than Wayne.
For 29 years Mr Mabry got up, put on his “war paint” and his costume and assumed the character of the Violator character at Raiders home games. When it all started the team was in Los Angeles, but then so too was Wayne.
He assumed his spot in the LA Memorial Coliseum end zone in what was at that time called the Pirates Pavillion. Basically the Black Hole before the Black Hole.
Just four years later the team uprooted (again) and headed back to Oakland. Wayne would move as well. Not from Southern California, but rather his seat for viewing Raiders games. From day one back in Oakland Coliseum in 1995, Violator was a mainstay right at the 50-yard line. Front row, section 117, seats one and two. Right next to the tunnel where the teams took the field.
There, Mabry was regularly seen in view of TV cameras as well as often greeted by players, coaches, and celebrities.
There isn’t an avid football fan, let alone Raiders fan, who wouldn’t recognize Mabry’s iconic striped face and intimidating crazy-eyed gaze. He has arguably the face of Raider Nation for nearly three decades.
Over the past 24 years, Wayne’s gameday routine wasn’t just painting his face and donning his costume. It included a near seven hour trek back and forth from the Coliseum.
“Always out of Southern Cal, making that 6 ½ hour drive to Oakland and, hey, making it happen,” said Mabry.
“Everybody had assumed that I lived in Northern California. I’m like ‘no, I’m what you call a road warrior.’ Every week was a road game for me. It was all part of game day. We enjoyed it for what it was. It was like therapy. The whole process from the day before to the day after was part of your therapy.”
These days Mabry resides in Moreno Valley which is east of Los Angeles. It’s pretty much the closest you can get to Las Vegas and still be considered in the LA area. Right off I-15. And yet, the man who had taken his place in the front row of every Raiders home game for nearly 30 years may see that streak end.
“I’m retired so I couldn’t afford the prices for where I’ve been sitting for 24 or more years,” said Mabry. “Can’t afford it. Even without [being retired] it’s a big stretch.”
The 36-year member of the carpenter’s union retired in 2013, but was still able to afford to keep his seats at Oakland Coliseum for the six years that followed. But the new stadium in Vegas meant huge increases in ticket prices which could mean an end of an era for this Super Fan.
“We saw this whole thing coming and it was like ‘man, this is going to be maybe the end of it.’ Mabry continued. “It hit us pretty hard. I knew the last season in Oakland was probably going to be it as far as purchasing [season tickets].”
Wayne says he’s not giving up just yet. He’s holding out hope something will work out. His primary hopes rest in a plan to try and gain some kind of corporate sponsorship that would help him to be able to afford tickets. Though he’s not entirely sure how that would happen.
If you ask me, that corporate sponsor should be the Raiders themselves. It just makes sense from a fan support standpoint to have a Super Fan presence in the stadium next season when fans are finally allowed into Allegiant.
Mabry said he’s not stressing over it. Right now he’s got other things to think about. He’s currently in a whirlwind of his selection to be enshrined in the Hall of Fans and is set to attend his first ever Super Bowl.
Then in August it’s to Canton where he will look to join Tom Flores and Charles Woodson and perhaps Richard Seymour as Raiders legends to be enshrined in those hallowed halls.
“When we meet in Canton that’s going to be the trifecta,” said Mabry. “A Raiders trifecta.”