Jack Tatum, a safety for the Oakland Raiders from 1971 to 1979, was known for two things: knocking the hell out of an offensive player and paralyzing New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game. Tatum died at 61 on Tuesday, after a massive heart attack. According to the Associated Press, Tatum was dealing with diabetes and other health problems for the last several years.
"We are deeply saddened by the news of Jack Tatum's passing. Jack was a true Raider champion and a true Raider warrior," The Raiders said in a statement on their website. "He was a great player and person and has been a big part of our lives since we drafted him in 1971 as a first round pick out of Ohio State. "Jack was the standard bearer and an inspiration for the position of safety throughout college and professional football. Our thoughts, prayers and well wishes go out to his wife Denise and family."
In the '70s, Tatum sent fear in to the hearts of wide receivers trying to catch a pass across the middle or in the open field. He wasn't called "The Assassin" for nothing. It was just another day at the office to see Tatum knock a helmet off of a receiver or knock the wind out of a running back, but his most controversial hit came when he tackled Stingley.
In the preseason game, Stingley was lunging for a pass that fell incomplete while Tatum was coming at him full speed. While Stingley was off-balance, Tatum hit him severing Stingley's fourth and fifth vertebrae. Stingley spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair, dying in 2007. Even though it was a clean and legal hit, Tatum was criticized for never apologizing for it. While he did want to speak with Stingley after the hit, that never happened over the close to 30 years after the incident.
"It's not so much that Darryl doesn't want to, but it's the people around him," Tatum told the Oakland Tribune in 2004 about trying to connect and meet up with Stingley. "So we haven't been able to get through that. Every time we plan something, it gets messed up. Getting to him or him getting back to me, it never happens."
But it's not as if Tatum didn't feel bad for what happened to Stingley. According to John Hicks, a close friend and former Ohio State teammate of Tatum, that incident stuck with him for the rest of his life.
"It was tough on him too," Hicks said of Tatum. "He wasn't the same person after that [hit]. For years he was almost a recluse."
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