In 1996, the Raiders made news for a very different kind of bus ride in Kansas City
Who knew there were so many memes of buses and bus drivers? This week, fans have been sharing those as the Raiders’ victory lap around Arrowhead Stadium after last month’s game has become big news.
Many of the sports talk shows spent time Tuesday on Chiefs coach Andy Reid’s comments about the Raiders bus ride and Raiders coach Jon Gruden’s reaction.
Oddly, this isn’t the first time a bus has been a big story ahead of a Chiefs-Raiders game.
A San Francisco Chronicle story from 1996 noted the “great Raider bus caper” took place on Sept. 7 of that year and was big news in Kansas City.
A day before the teams were set to meet in Week 2, the Raiders were practicing at Pembroke High School. When the players returned to the bus, there was no driver to take them back to their team hotel. One report at the time said the driver was missing. Another said the driver was too stick to operate the bus.
Whatever the reason, placekicker Cole Ford stepped up and drove his teammates to the Hyatt Regency (now the Sheraton Kansas City Hotel at Crown Center).
“My parents have a 40-foot motorhome,” Ford told the San Francisco Chronicle at the time, “but the bus was a lot bigger.”
A report in the Kansas City Star at the time said the bus ran into a stop sign at 51st Street and Ward Parkway, and “more than a few curbs got in the way when Ford tried to turn.”
Raiders coach Mike White didn’t join the team as he jogged back to the hotel, the Star reported.
“It wasn’t really a problem at all,” John Herrera, a Raiders senior executive, told The Star. “One of the bus drivers got sick, apparently one of those stomach things.”
The Chronicle story said Ford had trouble with the air brake, and he had to hold it down with one hand while steering with the other. Keeping his focus was another issue.
“When you’ve got 30 guys chanting behind you,” Ford told the Chronicle, “it’s kind of tough to concentrate.”
Earlier this year, former Raiders receiver Tim Brown recounted the adventure in an interview with the Athletic.
“The bus is there, but the driver is gone and the bus is running. So, Cole Ford says, ‘Hey, I used to drive a bus before I came in the league,’ and we were like, ‘Well, hot dog it, let’s go!’ ...
“I’m sitting there and I said, ‘Cole, we only got one rule. We don’t hit people. Cars and trees can be replaced. People cannot.’ And he was looking at me like, ‘OK, Coach, I got you, yes sir, on three, ready, break!’ Man, we are coming back and we did take out a tree. I know we took out a tree. And we get this thing close enough to the hotel and when we are parking it, he looks at me and says, ‘Tim, this is the first time I ever drove a bus in my life.’
“But it wasn’t like he was laughing about it. It was the craziest thing ever.”
But is it a crazier bus story than the one from last month? That’s up for interpretation.
The day after the 1996 bus ride, the Chiefs beat the Raiders 19-3. Cole provided the only points for his team, but also had a field-goal attempt blocked in the first quarter.
