Former Raiders running back Clarence Davis is alive and well.
The Las Vegas Raiders posted a story on their website and tweeted that Davis, 73, had died. They have deleted the story and the tweet, and they have issued a statement.
“The Raiders received notice of Clarence Davis’ passing but have found that information to be false,” the team said in a statement texted to PFT. “The Raiders extend our deepest apologies to the Davis family and the Raider Nation for the erroneous announcement.”
Mistakes like this can happen, especially in the age of social media. I learned that lesson the hard way more than 15 years ago. Apparently after someone had died in a car accident on the Terry Bradshaw Passway in Shreveport, Louisiana, one or more news outlets in Shrevport reported that Terry Bradshaw had passed away. I wrote something up instead of checking with Fox, which I easily could have done but failed to do.
Our current policy is to not post obituaries without an announcement from the team, the league, the family, or some other credible entity, like the Hall of Fame.