“He’s old school”

Offensive Right Tackle Henry Lawrence

  HE’S OLD SCHOOL
AND
TOUGHER THAN A JUNK YARD DOG

By David Carrillo aka (Meraider)
of Area Chica Pro Sports and Raiderdrive.com staff writer

A very special thanks to Tony of Tones Memorabilia and “Former Raider Great Offensive Raider Tackle” Henry Lawrence for making this interview possible. Don’t forget to check out Tones Memorabilia at www.raiderdrive.com/tones_memorabilia.htm Tone has everything from autographed 8x10’s to autographed plaques, mini helmets, Pro Jersey’s and unique sports memorabilia.  Tone has one of the largest memorabilia sport stores in the bay!

“They call him killer”

Since the Raiders inception in 1960, there has been an emphasis placed on having monstrous offensive linemen to protect the quarterback and to basically control the line of scrimmage. This trend has been an ongoing process ever since. There have been many, many great offensive linemen over the last forty-plus years. It’s a pleasure to have had the chance to sit down and talk football with one of the all-time great offensive linemen, right tackle, Henry “Killer” Lawrence.

Henry was born in a camp for migrant workers in Danville, PA. Just days before his birth, his mother was picking potatoes to help support the family. Henry also worked in the fields for the better part of his first 15 years. Henry is the third of six children born into the Lawrence family. Even though life was a constant struggle throughout Henry’s childhood, the family managed to stick together and finally persevere. All six of the Lawrence children attended college, a real testament to the courage and resolve of the entire family. Henry now resides in Florida, where his parents live and where he was raised.

“Well, it’s home and my folks are getting old.” Said Henry. “My mom’s been a little sick, so I decided I’d stay (down south) and kind of hang out with them a little bit. As far as Florida goes, I like the heat, the moisture and the humidity because of the skin.”  As tough as Henry played, I’m sure his skin can use some soothing.

Henry had never played offensive tackle before his junior year at Florida A&M. He had been used to playing positions such as tight end, defensive end and wide receiver as he did in high school. Lawrence didn’t like his new position at first, but as the years passed and he made it to the National Football League, he became more passionate about the position.

Henry’s nickname “Killer” was bestowed upon him during his formative years in high school and college. On his first day of practice, during his junior year at Florida A&M after the switch to offensive tackle, he remembered something that his high school coach had told him once. When the play went away from your side of the line, you should go down field and knock somebody over. Did he ever! The “Killer” had arrived.

As a member of the Raiders, Henry continued to play with that same aggression, making him one of the greatest offensive linemen to have worn the Silver and Black.

Henry played on an offensive line with the Raiders that included three hall-of-famers, center Jim Otto, LT Art Shell and LG Gene Upshaw. When Shell and Upshaw were in their prime, it was an almost certainty that the Raiders were going to run left. This theory helped make the Raiders a championship caliber team year after year. As the years passed and the aforementioned legends grew older, the focus of the running game shifted to the right side of the line, where Henry and the great Mickey Marvin resided. Henry has had the good fortune to play with numerous, HUGE offensive linemen besides Otto, Upshaw, Shell and Marvin. He also lined-up with players like John Vella, George Beuhler, Dave Dalby and Charlie Hannah to name a few.

“Ah, it was great!” exclaimed Henry when asked about playing with the behemoth teammates of his era. “ I had a great time with athletes like that. It was considered a paradise coming to Oakland to play. But I’m sure just like anything else; there were ups and downs with negatives and positives. The bottom line was that everybody wanted to win and if you could contribute to (winning) then we, as a team, just moved on.”

“We were playing great teams that had great athletes like that too, but at that time, we were bigger, and in most cases, bigger is better. A lot of teams just couldn’t deal with that. A lot of teams tried to figure out for years on how they were going to beat those Raiders. Finally, everybody kind of figured out that you have to go and get some 300-pound linemen to combat the 300-pound linemen. Now everybody’s doing it that’s the standard now. If you’re not 300 pounds now, they don’t look at you like you can play (offensive) line.”

“People used to try to understand how we’d win those close games in the last three to five minutes, basically it boiled down to wearing people down. When you get a big force going against a little force over a repetitious amount of times in the battlefield of the trenches, it takes a toll. The only unfortunate thing was that we weren’t that innovated offensively to do some of the things that we were capable of doing, but overall, it worked out pretty well.”

The Raiders have had many memorable games. The “Heidi bowl”, the “Sea of hands” and “The holly roller” are a few of the great ones. Henry is a big part of the rich history that belongs to the Raiders and has played in numerous memorable games. “Probably the most memorable, besides the Superbowl, was a playoff game against the Baltimore Colts in 1977. I remember that we had a double-overtime. I had a sack on me in that game; to me it was so devastating. We played them for five quarters, and in the sixth quarter they got that sack on me. To this day I still blame myself for that sack.”

 “We ended up winning that game. After the game, everybody was cheering and celebrating. We were in the locker room, in the shower, and I was crying like a baby. Art Shell looked at me and said, “what the @$%*  is wrong with you?” I said to Art, while still crying, ‘they got a sack on me!’ Art looked at me and said, “I’m glad to see that, it lets me know that you take pride in what you’re doing.” The reason I picked that game (as my favorite) is because of what Art Shell told me, it was a compliment. Coming from Art Shell, who himself was passionate for the game, had great skills and played by my side is something to remember. You talk about the trenches, those were the trenches.”

Henry Lawrence has secured his place in the annals of Oakland Raiders history; he’s an old school guy with a big heart. “Man, back then it was something else, and a blessing to be playing with the Raiders.” No, Henry, you are the blessing.

 Thank you for visiting Area Chica and Raiderdrive.com
David Carrillo (aka) MeRaider