Art Shell

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Shell was born on November 26, 1946, in Charleston, South Carolina. He was the oldest child of Arthur Lee Shell Sr., a machine set operator, and Gertrude Shell, who died when Shell was 15. After her death, Shell took on added responsibility caring for his siblings. Shell attended the segregated Bonds-Wilson High School, which no longer exists, graduating in 1964. He was coached by James Fields and Eugene Gray. He made all-state teams in both basketball and football. In 2015, Shell was inducted into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame. He went to college at Maryland State College, now the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES), an historically black college in Princess Anne, Maryland. He was coached by Roosevelt "Sandy" Gilliam, and played offensive tackle and defensive tackle on the football team. He was named a Little All-America his senior year in 1967, All-Conference in three seasons, and was named All-America by the Pittsburgh Courier and Ebony magazine in 1967. Shell's teams were 20–8–1. Future College Football Hall of Fame and NFL running back Emerson Boozer was one of his teammates. He graduated in 1968 with a Bachelor of Science degree in industrial arts. Shell is a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

In Their Own Story

The timeline of Shell's leadership includes significant moments of resilience and appointment. In 1989, following Shanahan's departure, Shell stepped up to guide the remaining twelve games before securing the permanent role. He is recorded as one of the few coaches to have coached the team in both Oakland and Los Angeles, a feat shared only with Tom Flores. While Jon Gruden later became the sole coach to lead the team in both Oakland and Las Vegas, Shell's influence remained foundational across the earlier relocations. His presence on the coaching staff also included two distinct tenures as head coach, marking him as a recurring force for the organization.

Reader's Guide

Shell was drafted 80th overall in the third round by the American Football League's Oakland Raiders. Playing offensive tackle, Shell participated in 23 postseason playoff contests in the AFL and NFL, including eight AFC or AFL championship games, a loss in Super Bowl II, and victories in Super Bowls XI and XV. He was a four time All-Pro (two times first-team and two second-team), and was named to eight Pro Bowls. He played 15 seasons for the Raiders. He was a top special teams player his first two years, and then moved to offensive line in his third year, becoming equally adept at pass and run blocking. Shell played 156 straight games for the Raiders until he suffered a preseason injury in 1979, and after he recovered, Shell played another 51 straight games until he was injured again in 1982, his final season. Shell played next to Hall of Fame and 100th Anniversary All-Time teammate guard Gene Upshaw in three different decades. He was also offensive linemates with Hall of Fame and 100th Anniversary All-Time teammate Jim Otto and Hall of Fame offensive tackle Bob Brown. Shell was an offensive line coach with the Raiders from 1983 to 1988. In 1989, the Raiders owner Al Davis hired Shell as his head coach to replace Mike Shanahan, becoming the first black head coach in modern NFL history, and the first since Fritz Pollard in 1925. As coach of the Raiders from 1989 to 1994 (at the time located in Los Angeles), Shell coached 12 games in 1989, and 16 games/year from 1990 to 1994, compiling a record of 54 wins and 38 losses. Shell was named AFC Coach of the Year in 1990, when the Raiders won the AFC West division with a 12–4 record, and advanced to the AFC championship game in the playoffs, becoming the first African-American coach to lead the team to the Conference Championship game. Shell also received the Maxwell Club's coach of the year award (the Greasy Neale Award), and Pro Football Weekly's NFL Coach of the Year Award. Al Davis, owner of the Raiders, fired Shell after a 9–7 season in 1994, a move Davis later called "a mistake." After leaving the Raiders, Shell went on to coaching positions with the Kansas City Chiefs (offensive line coach 1995-1996) and Atlanta Falcons (offensive line coach for four years before resigning in early 2001), before serving as a senior vice president for the NFL, in charge of football operations. In 2004, Shell became the NFL's S

Did You Know?

• Shell was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1989.
• In 2019, he was named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
• He was a member of the 1970s All-Decade Team and the Super Bowl Silver Anniversary Team (1991).
• Shell is the father of Billie Dureyea Shell, author of the Unfaithful book trilogy, and the great-uncle of Brandon Shell, an offensive lineman drafted in 2016 by the New York Jets.