Cliff Branch was one of the greatest players in Raider history. Cliff struck fear into secondarys throughout the league during an outstanding 14 year career. The Raiders' speedster finished his career as the NFL's postseason leader in receptions and yardage. This included 3 touchdowns in Oakland three Super Bowl Victories. Cliff was a solid player who worked to become a complete receiver and wasn't the stereotypical speedster who cannot make a key grab. Branch had a big heart, a big mouth and a non-stop motor.

Records
NCAA Division 1-A record for kickoff returns for touchdowns (8, t-1st)
Oakland Raiders franchise record for longest reception (99 yards from Jim Plunkett, 1983)

Awards
Four Pro Bowl appearances (1974 - 1977)

An Interview With Clif Branch
from the Official Raiders Site

Q: What was your most memorable game while playing for the Raiders?

Cliff Branch: Well, there were several of them but it has to be the 1974 playoff game against the Miami Dolphins. The Dolphins were the defending Super Bowl champions and we had played the Dolphins in the Championship game in 1973 and we lost to those guys. We had the best record in the National Football League that year and we had home field advantage. We played Miami in the first round of the playoffs and they had to come out to Oakland, it was such a great game. It was the kind of game that was a sea-saw battle. I had a big play that put us up 21 to 19 and then Miami came right back and scored. We had the ball with about two minutes left in the game and we drove all the way down the field. Clarence Davis made a catch that’s pretty famous today called the “Sea-of-Hands” catch and we ended up winning the game and advanced to the next round of the playoffs. That had to be the most memorable game because it was just an incredible playoff game.

Q: Is there another greatest moment that you might have as a Raider?

Cliff Branch: The big play or game was probably the 1976 season when we were 13 and 1 and we had home-field advantage. We played Pittsburgh for the AFC Championship game in Oakland, the one that would advance us to the Super Bowl. In the prior two years we had lost to Pittsburgh in the 1974 and 1975 in the Championship Game. So this was our third straight year in the AFC Championship or actually our fourth straight year and finally to get a chance to play Pittsburgh three years in a row and finally beating the Steelers and going to our first Super Bowl as a Raider for me it was the most exciting game.

Q: What was your favorite route to run?

Cliff Branch: I always like to run to “Cliff’s Corner” as much as possible. Whenever we faced that direction in the Coliseum, it would a deep pattern in the direction of the Cliff’s Corner. For one thing when I used to line up we didn’t flip-flop the receivers so I was always on the left and when we were heading in that direction that would be heading north of the Coliseum so that would always be on the side where John Madden and our team players would be on that side of the bench. I scored a lot of touchdowns in that particular corner. My whole game was playing the team deep and coming up with big plays on deep patterns. It was a good luck corner.

Q: Now is there any game that you wish you could play again?

Cliff Branch: I would play them all again. I think my approach would be more focused and as you get older you look back on being a Raider and some of the things you did. And I wish I could play them all again, I think if I played them all again, I would be totally focused 100 percent and I think I would be more successful.

Q: You are one very few people that have been on all three Raider Super Bowl Champion squads. Can you tell us about the Super Bowls and comparing them and what was the most meaningful to you?
Cliff Branch: You can compare all of them because the three I was in we won. That’s their comparisons - when you go to the Superbowl and you win. But I think in comparison the Super Bowl was a big step for us because we had been knocking on the door for a while. Like I said before in 1973, 74 and 75 and this was my fourth straight Conference Championship game to be in and we finally got over the hump. So being at Super Bowl XI was probably the most memorable because we finally got there after loosing three prior AFC Championship games. We only lost one game that year, we were 16-1 that year, so that was good. When you go 16-1 and go on to the playoffs and win a Super Bowl, I think we won 12 straight games so we were very hot.

Q: What can you tell us about Super Bowls XV and XVIII?

Cliff Branch: Well, the 1980 season was a very interesting year because we traded Kenny Stabler for Dan Pastorini and picked up a lot of key players...Bobby Chandler and Burgess Owens from the Jets. So it was a very interesting year, first we were changing our leadership roles with bringing in Dan Pastorini and Jim Plunkett wanted me to back up and battle for that position and when Pastorini got hurt we were 2-3 and then when Plunkett took over we came together as a group and he gave us great leadership. We went into the playoffs as a Wild Card team, and we were the first Wild Card team to win a Super Bowl. The 1980 team was a very, very good team because of the fact of bringing in a lot of guys from trades and trading our leadership roles from Kenny Stabler to Pastorini and Jim Plunkett.

Q: What do you do now?

Cliff Branch: I work for a lot of promotional companies. I work for three, four, five different promotional companies and I am always out in the public doing public relations for these companies. I also make a lot of personal appearances. I do card shows and I have one coming up in February at the Cow Palace.

Q: How do people find out where you are going to be and what you are going to do?

Cliff Branch: Well, most of those events that I do are basically promoted through the newspaper. You can find out through the newspaper like the San Francisco Chronicle and the Oakland Tribune.