Raiders Countdown to Kickoff: 44: Who wore it best, who's wearing it now

It's the first day of training camp today which means we are just 15 days from the team's first preseason game. The regular season, however, it still 44 days away. And with that we look at the best to wear the number 44.

Who wore it best: FB Marv Hubbard (1969-75)

Played fullback for the Raiders in a time when fullback carried the rock as the workhorse back. In the early 70s, that workhorse was Marv Hubbard. He spent seven seasons with the Raiders from 1969-75. Four of those seasons he was the team's leading rusher, and three times he was named to the Pro Bowl.

He is currently the Raiders fifth all-time leading rusher with 4394 yards while averaging a healthy 4.8 yards per carry. He was on the 1976 Raiders team, but suffered a shoulder injury that placed him on injured reserve that season. Even still, he received a Super Bowl ring as part of that team and wore it with pride as a big part of the foundation of that Super Bowl squad.

Hubbard, like so many other players who have been remembered in this series, left us too soon. He passed away of prostate cancer last May at the age of 68, just two months before his former quarterback Ken Stabler passed of colon cancer.

Who's wearing it now: No one

That is as it should be. The only 44 that should (and hopefully will) be worn by the Raiders this year is in rememberance of Hubbard.

Follow @LeviDamien