NFL legend Jack “The Assassin” Tatum dies at 61
The NFL is in mourning. A legend has fallen. Former All-Star safety for the Oakland Raiders whose ferocity in the field earned him the title of the Assassin died at the age of 61 on Tuesday, July 27 2010. The cause of death was heart attack.
Tatum, born 1948, faced a myriad of health problems including diabetes before his death. He was diagnosed with the disease shortly after ending his NFL career. Diabetes cost Tatum all the toes on his left foot and an arterial blockage cost him his right leg in the final years before his death.
In a career spanning 10 years, Tatum had 37 interceptions. Tatum started 106 of 120 games he played for the raiders and led them to the 1976 NFL championship. He played his last season in the NFL for the Houston Oilers.
The Raider issued a statement expressing sorrow at receiving the news of Tatum’s death. “Jack was a true Raider champion and a true Raider warrior,” the statement read. He was a hard hitter and feared safety. His tackle of Minnesota Viking’s wide receiver Sammy White has become one of the enduring moments of NFL history. Jack charged into Sammy head first knocking away his helmet. Some rank Jack among the hardest hitters in NFL history. Sammy White, Earl Campbell and Riley Odoms, among many others, would attest to that assertion as they have been on the receiving ends of Jack’s tackles.
Unfortunately, his legacy would remain tied to one 1978 preseason game against the New England Patriots. The fateful hit left the Patriot’s wide receiver, Darryl Stingley, paralyzed from the waist down. The legacy of the hit remained with Tatum till his final days and might even tarnish his memory long after his death.
During an exhibition game, Darryl moved to receive a pass from Steve Grogan. Jack moved in from behind and tackled Darryl. It was nothing out of the ordinary for Professional Football and nowhere close to the kind of force Jack has been known to use. Darryl though was down and never got up again. The play was not illegal, Jack was not penalized in anyway and at that moment, no one imagined Darryl would have been seriously injured until a stretcher was brought in.
Since that day Jack has been the poster child of everything that needed to be fixed with the NFL. Many of the hits that Jack made in the day are illegal now. Jack played rough, not dirty yet his reputation as a dirty player endured. “Jack Tatum was a great tackler,” said d**k Anderson, NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 1973. Anderson at least didn’t believe there was anything to warrant Jack’s unflattering reputation.
While there is no overstating the tragedy that befell Darryl Stingley, Jack didn’t take it too well either. After Darryl was hospitalized, the two never spoke again. There was no reconciliation between the two. Reportedly Tatum tried to get together with Darryl to offer his condolences even if he wouldn’t offer an apology but Darryl’s family made sure that encounter didn’t take place. They never looked each other in the eye again and there was no apology to Darryl before his death three years ago.
Tatum never would have apologized for the way he played the game even if he had lived to a 100 years old. Providing fuel to those who want to paint him as NFL’s ultimate villain, Tatum once said that he always wanted to hit players hard and when those hits resulted in someone getting hurt, Jack was unfazed. To him it was all a part of the game. Good thing he added that he wanted the players he knocked down, to be okay or there would have been no hope of salvaging Jack’s legacy.
It still didn’t rest well with Tatum that people thought he deliberately tried to hurt Darryl. Raiders’ Coach, John Madden, said that the Darryl’s injuries ate away at Jack and disturbed him far more than he let it be known. He further said that it was his hits that earned him a place in Ohio State, the reason why he was an All-American and why he became pro as a first round draft pick. “And then he hits a guy, the guy doesn't get up, and they call him an assassin”.
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