Yster Charles "Chet" Soda (March 15, 1908 – March 12, 1989) was an

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

businessman who was the first general partner and general manager of the Oakland Raiders, an original franchise in the American Football League (AFL, 1960–1969). Soda was one of eight partners in the franchise, others including F. Wayne Valley and

Donald Blessing Donald F. Blessing (December 26, 1905 – July 4, 2000) was an American coxswain who competed in the 1928 Summer Olympics, held in Amsterdam. Blessing was born in Hollister, California and attended Visalia Union High School. In 1928, h ...

. Soda was allegedly the source of the team's original name, the "Oakland Senors;" although Soda himself professed to prefer to name the team the "Oakland Mavericks." Whoever named the team apparently chose "Senors" as an

inside joke An in-joke, also known as an inside joke or a private joke, is a joke whose humour is understandable only to members of an ingroup; that is, people who are ''in'' a particular social group, occupation, or other community of shared interest. It i ...

reference to Soda, who was known for referring to his associates as "señor." The new name was subject to much ridicule in the press, with particular attention given to the misspelling of the plural of "señor" and to the lack of a tilde over the "n", and was overruled less than two weeks after it had been announced."Now It's Hi, Raiders! (Bye, Senors)", ''Oakland Tribune'', April 14, 1960, p1 Soda's involvement in the team was limited to its first year; immediately after the 1960 season, he resigned as general manager. Two weeks later, Valley, Ed McGah and Robert Osbourne bought out Soda and the other partners' shares in the franchise.

References

See also