Pete Banaszak, a Raider for all 13 seasons, dies at 82

Pete Banaszak spent his entire professional career with the Oakland Raiders. When the franchise finally won its first Super Bowl, he scored two of its touchdowns. The club announced his death Saturday, October 24. He was 82, according to NFL.com.

The Raiders selected Banaszak out of Miami in the fifth round of the 1966 AFL draft. He stayed for 13 seasons and appeared in 173 regular-season games. In their remembrance, the Raiders noted that his 16 rushing touchdowns in 1975 remain the franchise's single-season record.

His two scores in Super Bowl XI helped Oakland beat Minnesota 32-14. The Raiders' own archive preserves that performance. For a player who spent 13 seasons with the club, those touchdowns were a direct contribution to its first Super Bowl championship.

More than one famous play

Banaszak also helped create the famous Holy Roller finish against San Diego. That extraordinary play can dominate a retelling of his career. It should not reduce 13 seasons to one moment. The 1975 scoring record and the championship contributions offer a fuller account of why he mattered to Oakland.

The National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame inducted him on June 9, 1990. Its contemporary banquet profile describes a short-yardage runner, blocker and special-teams contributor. Those assignments rarely carry equal billing, but they belong in a remembrance of a player whose work extended beyond carrying the ball.

A Wisconsin native who played college football at Miami, Banaszak made Oakland his only professional football home. The Raiders' announcement remembers both the player and the person. No cause of death was included in that announcement.