Jack Tatum The Raider Nation mourns the passing of Jack Tatum, who died Tuesday, July 27, 2010 at the age of 61, will go to his grave as one of the National Football League's all-time villains? Those who were there when he struck fear into every running back and receiver who ventured into his territory as a dominating safety for Ohio State and the Oakland Raiders know that is not exactly fair. Tatum, was not the dirty player that he has been painted as -- he simply hit harder than perhaps anyone who has ever played the game, and you remember those collisions to this day if you saw or heard them. Few athletes were ever known for one play like Tatum. For despite three Pro Bowl appearances, a win on a Super Bowl team in Oakland and a degree of secondary fame as the Raider off whom the ball bounced to Franco Harris for the "Immaculate Reception,'' Tatum is always defined by a single hit: The one in a 1978 exhibition game that left Darryl Stingley a quadriplegic for life. It not only changed the lives of the two men involved, it changed the NFL -- it can be argued that the league's emphasis on safety that continues today began because of that play. Even before that, Tatum was known for his vicious hits on a Raiders team, run by Al Davis and coached by John Madden, that thrived on its fearsome image. A first-round pick by Oakland from Ohio State, the 18th overall, in 1971. Tatum was known as the "Assassin" after his playing days. That play haunted him after Aug. 12, 1978, when Tatum hit Stingley just as he caught the ball over the middle in that pre-season game at the Oakland Coliseum. Stingley lay motionless on the field and never regained use of either his arms or legs, however, Tatum told The Oakland Tribune he had tried to visit Stingley in an Oakland hospital shortly after the incident but was turned back by the receiver’s family. They never met after the hit. Dying in 2007 at age 55 of heart disease and pneumonia caused by his quadraplegic state. Stingley never blamed Tatum and there was no penalty on the play for what at the time was a clean hit. Tatum never modified his style, which endures on NFL highlight reels in a hit Tatum made on Vikings receiver Sammy White in a 32-14 win by the Raiders in Super Bowl XI. Oakland Raiders past and present always have excelled at banding together, finding a common bond in playing for a franchise that takes great pride in its tradition, renegade image and penchant for embracing those shunned by other teams. Now, the Silver and Black bands together to pay tribute to one of the greatest football players to ever play the game of football.
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