Both stories were written by George Ross, Tribune sports editor from 1961-75 and a key figure in lifting his hometown from a minor league city into World Series, Super Bowl and National Basketball Association champions.

Another sign of Ross' impact in Oakland: He dug one of the first shovels of dirt at the May 15, 1964, groundbreaking of the Oakland Coliseum complex. To say that he moved earth would be no understatement.

He mother-henned the Oakland Raiders from ragamuffins into regal status. He convinced Finley to bring his future dynastic A's westward in 1968 — but not to play in high-schoolish Youell Field, the Raiders' first Oakland home. Lastly, Ross coaxed Franklin Mieuli and the Warriors across the Bay Bridge.

It all began with the Raiders in 1960, when the American Football League was formed. Without that

"It was the only step," said Ross, now 93 and living in Graeagle, a Plumas County resort town one hour west of Truckee. "There was no other franchise in sight. The (Triple-A baseball Oakland) Oaks had already folded up (in 1955)."

Finley was the second step.

"He had screwed up so badly in Kansas City," Ross said. "He went to the American League and asked to move. They said, 'Yeah, four years from now.' So he stayed as a lame duck owner in Kansas City for four years of purgatory."

When Finley finally received approval to move, Missouri Sen. Stuart Symington said, cryptically, "Oakland is the luckiest city since Hiroshima."

Ross advised Finley to leave his mascot mule in Kansas City because Oakland was "too cosmopolitan" for such gimmickry. Finley, who listened only to Finley, brought the mule. But it was the A's or nobody for Oakland.

"You can't choose — you're chosen," Ross said.

Mentally, Ross seems more like 33 than 93. He and the late Leonard Koppett are the most perceptive sportswriters I've known. Ross now uses a hearing aid and needs a cane or walker once he leaves his mobile trailer home. He had a heart attack six years ago and a stroke last September.

"Medication helps," he said May 27. "I'm ahead of the game. If the doctor's right, I'll get to 110."

Ross, a pilot, once owned a single-engine plane. He taught mineralogy after retiring to Graeagle in 1980. He lives alone after the death of his wife of 50 years, Helene. They had no children, and Ross' "family" now consists of raccoons, skunks, bears, deer, chipmunks and squirrels.

In the AFL's infancy, the Raiders were the league's stepchild before Al Davis became coach-general manager in 1963.

Davis and Ross then became personal friends. Ross knew he was being used. They dined together after games before Ross wrote his column. Ross convinced Davis that he didn't need the San Francisco press; the Tribune would be his primary media support system.

Then Ross learned that Davis had gone behind the back of the Raiders' principal owner, Wayne Valley, and cajoled the team's other owner, Ed McGah, into signing a rollover contract that legally bound Davis to the Raiders "... endlessly.

"McGah hated Valley anyway," Ross said. "Valley stuck it too him all the time. McGah was dumb, dumb. Davis used to laugh at him. And Davis hated Valley. Al knew he needed only one signature on the contract. Valley thought he needed two. I noticed that Al had become more cordial to McGah."

When Ross wrote the column — after McGah told him that he hadn't read the language on the contract before signing it — Ross' friendship with Davis ended.

"I can't trust you anymore," Davis told him.

Thirty-five years later, that breakup still haunts Ross.

"Oh, sure," he said. "I had an unusual relationship with Al Davis before it cooled. But it wasn't about trust. I was a reporter, and I had a story that was circulating nationally."

Oakland then landed a trifecta of the most eccentric owners in any one sports town — Davis, Finley and Mieuli.

"We treated them as news sources," Ross said. "Mostly it was workable. Finley was, independently, a (expletive). He treated his black players like they were converted slaves."

Because Ross worked aggressively to get the A's, is he upset by the idea of their moving?

"Professionally, no," he said. "Because when they built the Coliseum (in 1966), they didn't built it for either occupant. Al Davis prevailed on them to convert it for his needs, and baseball is less at home there than it should be.

"If the team moves and stays in the Bay Area — in Contra Costa County, Fremont or San Jose — it will still be part of the Oakland-area sports (scene)."

This is one time I must disagree with the brainy boss who hired me in 1964. The A's must remain in Oakland, which should make sure that they get first priority on a new place to play over the Raiders, who were rewarded with a renovated Coliseum, at the A's expense, upon returning to Oakland in 1995.

The Raiders left town; the A's didn't — not yet. Make sure they don't, Oakland.

Dave Newhouse's columns appear Mondays, Thursdays and Sundays, usually on the Local page. Know any Good Neighbors? Phone 510-208-6466 or e-mail dnewhouse@bayareanewsgroup.com.