A lot can be said about the infamous Raiders teams of the 1970s and 1980s, but future congressmen is not one of the things that immediately jumps to mind. In fact, much the opposite was thought of the players who were known for their rough play right up to and sometimes beyond the blow of the referee’s whistle.
But one of the key members of those teams, a guy who won three Super Bowls and made two Pro Bowl appearances during a career spend exclusively in the Silver and Black will be running for Congress as a democrat in November.
The funny thing is, Henry Lawrence, who anchored the right tackle position on the Raiders for years, fit perfectly with the Raider image at the time. Who would have thought that a guy with the nickname “Killer” would find his way from the football field to the campaign trail.
Lawrence will be taking on incumbent Vern Buchanan, who has represented Florida’s 16th congressional district since 2007. Lawrence, who grew up in a time when schools were still segregated and in a family with very little money, believes he is what people are looking for. “I needed to do it for the people here, for the people in this country those who don’t have a voice because I come from that environment,” said Lawrence, a hard worker who fulfilled the “American Dream” by making something out of himself despite having all of the odds stacked against him.
