Alphonse Alan Dotson (born February 25, 1943) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

defensive tackle A defensive tackle (DT) is a position in American football that will typically line up on the line of scrimmage, opposite one of the offensive guards, however he may also line up opposite one of the tackles. Defensive tackles are typically the la ...

who played

college American football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football in the United States, American football rules first gained populari ...

at Grambling State, where he was All-American in 1964. He was drafted by the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

in the 2nd round (24th overall) of the

1965 NFL Draft The 1965 National Football League draft was held at the Summit Hotel in New York City on Saturday, November 28, 1964. The first player selected was Tucker Frederickson, back from Auburn, by the New York Giants. The draft was marked by the failur ...

but signed with the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The tea ...

and played a year. In 1966, he played for the AFL's

Miami Dolphins The Miami Dolphins are a professional American football team based in the Miami metropolitan area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member team of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. The team pla ...

. From 1967-1970 he played for the AFL's

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

, mostly as a backup as he recorded only 4 career starts. The Raiders

defensive line In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A numbe ...

of that era was

Ike Lassiter Isaac "Ike" Thomas Lassiter (November 15, 1940 – February 15, 2015) was an American college and professional football defensive lineman. He is an alumnus of St. Augustine's College in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he received a bachelor's de ...

Ben Davidson Benjamin Earl Davidson (June 14, 1940 – July 2, 2012) was an American football player, a defensive end best known for his play with the Oakland Raiders in the American Football League (AFL). Earlier in his career, he was with the Green Bay ...

Tom Keating Thomas Patrick Keating (1 March 1917 – 12 February 1984) was an English art restorer and famous art forger who claimed to have faked more than 2,000 paintings by over 100 different artists. The total estimated of the profits of his forgeries ...

, and

Dan Birdwell Dan Birdwell (October 14, 1940 – February 14, 1978) was an American college and professional football player. A defensive lineman, he played collegiately for the University of Houston and professionally for the Oakland Raiders of the American ...

, a group who set the NFL sack record (broken in 1984 by the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

), so Dotson did not get a lot of playing time, although he played in most of the games while with the Raiders. His son is

Santana Dotson Santana N. Dotson (born December 19, 1969) is a former American football defensive tackle in the National Football League. He was a part of Houston's Yates High School football team when it won the 1985 5A state championship. While at Baylor, ...

, himself a former All-American and also the 1993 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year with the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and played in two

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

s with the

. He was a Super Bowl champion winning

Super Bowl XXXI Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champio ...

with the Packers. When his son, Santana, had become a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

, Alphonse acted as his son's agent used his commission on the deal to purchase which includes grapevines that covered 1/3 of the land. So now, Dotson is now a grape grower at Certenberg Vineyards in Texas. He also is a former president of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association. Dotson's grandson Alonzo Dotson, a

defensive end Defensive end (DE) is a defensive position in the sport of gridiron football. This position has designated the players at each end of the defensive line, but changes in formation (American football), formations over the years have substantially ...

, played college American football at the

University of Oklahoma The University of Oklahoma (OU) is a Public university, public research university in Norman, Oklahoma. Founded in 1890, it had existed in Oklahoma Territory near Indian Territory for 17 years before the two Territories became the state of Oklahom ...

where he was part of two National Championship games and won three Big XII Conference Championships. Alonzo is now a National Scout For The Buffalo Bills after 4 seasons as a area scout for the New York Jets, he also spent 5 seasons with the Green Bay Packers as a college scout.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dotson, Al 1943 births Living people American football defensive tackles Oakland Raiders players Kansas City Chiefs players Farmers from Texas Miami Dolphins players Grambling State Tigers football players American Football League players