Alphonse Dotson

Alphonse Alan Dotson (born February 25, 1943, in Houston, Texas) is a former American football defensive tackle who played college American football at Grambling State, where he was All-American in 1964.

He was drafted by the National Football League's Green Bay Packers in the 2nd round (24th overall) of the 1965 NFL Draft but signed with the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs and played a year. In 1966 he played for the AFL's Miami Dolphins. From 1967-1970 he played for the AFL's Oakland Raiders, mostly as a backup as he recorded only 4 career starts. The Raiders defensive line of that era was Ike Lassiter, Ben Davidson, Tom Keating, and Dan Birdwell, a group who set the NFL sack record (broken in 1984 by the Chicago Bears), 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, himself a former All-American and also the 1993 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and played in two Super Bowls with the Green Bay Packers. He was a Super Bowl champion winning Super Bowl XXXI with the Packers.

When his son, Santana, had become a free agent, Alphonse acted as his son's agent used his commission on the deal to purchase 83 acre 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 the president of the Texas Wine and Grape Growers Association.

Alphonse also has a nephew playing college American football at the University of Oklahoma—Alonzo Dotson, a defensive end.