RIP Darryl Stingley

[Fat Elvis]

http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6647374?MSNHPHMA

[WilliamTheIrish]

RIP.

Hope the last days weren't as difficult as the struggle of his last 30+ years.

[Frankie]

Gee, I saw that game live, when he had his neck broken. Bad, bad sight. RIP DS.

[Stewie]

RIP Darryl. You deserved better from that Raider POS.

[siberian khatru]

Can we now charge Jack Tatum with manslaughter?

[WilliamTheIrish]

Sk,

Cold. But awesome.

[chagrin]

Rest now

[StcChief]

RIP.... Tatum was a POS.

[Amnorix]

Rest in peace.

As for Jack Tatum, I will not voice my unpleasant thoughts as to the methods of his demise. Suffice to say that there are few people on this earth that I have less respect for -- an opinion I hold at least as much because of his actions AFTER the incident, than for actually causing the paralysis.

On the flip side, while I'm not fan of his broadcasting ability, John Madden has my eternal respect for how he handled the tragic event.

[KCFalcon59]

RIP Darryl. I too saw that game. He was an inspiration to lots of people. Tatum can die a slow horrible death as far as I am concerned. POS raider.

[gblowfish]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Tatum

Some interesting stuff from wikipedia:

"But his most infamous hit was in a 1978 preseason game against the New England Patriots. Tatum hit Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley as he was leaping for a pass. This badly damaged Stingley's spinal cord and left him paralyzed from the chest down. Tatum claims that he attempted to visit Stingley in the hospital soon after the hit but was forbidden by Stingley's family. The two did not speak from that day until Stingley's death in April, 2007. Tatum has never apologized for the hit. "I don't think I did anything wrong that I need to apologize for. It was a clean hit." Neither the NFL nor Stingley have taken action against Tatum. Tatum also never tried talking to Stingley about the incident until he was promoting his autobiography.

In 1997, Tatum asked the NFLPA if they could give him a catastrophic injury pension for having to live through the Stingley incident but the league declined after thinking it wasn't a catastrophic injury."

And this:

"After being released by the Oilers after the 1980 season, Tatum retired. After his playing career ended, Tatum became a land developer and moved into the real-estate business becoming a part-owner of a restaurant in Pittsburg, California. Tatum also married, and had three children. He wrote three best-selling books, They Call me Assassin in 1980, They Still Call Me Assassin in 1989, and Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum in 1996.

Tatum would eventually face his own disability as his left leg was amputated below the knee in 2003 due to a staph infection caused by diabetes. Tatum also suffered from an arterial blockage that almost cost him his right leg. He currently uses a prosthetic leg to walk around or a wheelchair. Tatum currently works in increasing awareness of diabetes. To facilitate this goal, he created the Ohio-based Jack Tatum Fund for Youthful Diabetes, which finances diabetes research.

Prior to Super Bowl XL, ESPN Andrea Kremer did an interview with Tatum confirming that he still has few regrets about paralyzing Stingley."


What a piece of crap. He turns Stingley into a cripple on a cheap shot, then wants to collect his own injury pension because people call his rat bastard ass out on it. He's the poster boy for Raider Nation.

Smoke a turd in Hell, Jack-O.

[stlchiefs]

Here is a similar story to above. I was wondering why when they were reporting everything today there was no mention of Tatum's conduct following the hit. I guess it's because he's a total fugtard. He has as much class as a steaming pile of poo.

Tatum Article (http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/6648544)

Tatum missed chance to make peace
John Czarnecki / FOXSports.com

Raiders safety Jack Tatum never visited Darryl Stingley in the hospital. He never picked up the telephone, simply to talk. He forever believed that another of his hard hits — nothing dirty intended — paralyzed Stingley from the chest down in a meaningless preseason game in 1978. With Stingley's passing, Tatum has lost all chance to make peace with the man.

My first summer in an NFL training camp was 1976. I was in Latrobe, Pa. with the Pittsburgh Steelers, a remarkable team of characters coming off their second NFL championship season. The one team the Steelers disliked the most was the Oakland Raiders. A year later, Steelers head coach Chuck Noll accused the Raiders of fostering a criminal element on the football field. Noll actually appeared in a court room, defending his words against the Raiders. Noll was thinking of guys like Tatum and his safety sidekick, George Atkinson.

Pro football was a lot different back then. It wasn't lawless, but there weren't flags for illegal hits and taunting and, generally, what are considered head-hunting hits today. When Tatum roared into Stingley that night in Oakland, he simply dropped his head and shoulder pads on the receiver's back.

No flag was thrown as Stingley lay motionless on the field. The NFL didn't fine him and Stingley never sued Tatum. Even Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks refused to describe the hit as illegal or flagrant.

"I thought it was a good football play," Tatum once said. "I hit him with my head shoulder. I was just trying to do my job. It's unfortunate but it happens."

If you remember the famous "Immaculate Reception" play in a 1972 Pittsburgh-Oakland playoff game, it was Tatum's vicious hit on the intended receiver, Frenchy Fuqua, that jarred the ball loose and sent the ball flying 15 yards backward to where Franco Harris plucked it and ran 42 yards for the winning touchdown.

There were a few television attempts to bring the two men together. Stingley almost met Tatum in 1996 until he discovered that the Raider safety, an All-American from Ohio State, was attempting to plug his book, Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum.

Darryl Stingley lays motionless after a hit by Jack Tatum in 1978. (File / Associated Press)

Later, FOX Sports tried to get these two men together. Yes, we were thinking about ratings, but also the good it might have done for both men to finally meet and talk.

Stingley told the Boston Globe in 2003 of the interview attempts, "If they showed up at my door without a camera then we could have some real healing. This is a world built on hype," he said.

"Selling newspapers. TV ratings. Those are real. But in my world what's important is to have a forgiving nature."

The thing about Tatum is that he wasn't a hard-ass jerk. His teammates liked him and found him to be very personable. In his era, he was bigger than most safeties at 215 pounds. He could bring the lumber, as they say. Receivers were open targets in those days. Receivers like Lynn Swann would leap for passes and invariably some safety would take his legs out, pretty much knowing the man would fall on his head or shoulders.

Till the end, Stingley loved the game of football. He followed the Patriots' recent successes and was a fan as he lived out his days in Chicago, where he was a high school star.

Tatum is fighting his own battles these days. He has lost one leg in his battle with diabetes and all the toes on his other foot. Stingley knew of Tatum's physical losses, but refused to say the obvious, "What goes around, comes around."

You see, Tatum wrote in his books that he was out to maim and hurt the opposition. Stingley could never forgive or ignore those words and thoughts.

Pro football remains a violent game. That is its appeal to the fans and players alike. It is all macho. But when Tatum played, and before he did, the game was wilder and players were more reckless. Not more fearless, just more reckless with their bodies.

It is interesting to note that mild-mannered Ohio State football coach Jim Tressel used to have the "Jack Tatum Hit of the Week" award, given weekly to a defensive player.

His aggressive style should be awarded. But no one should ever look the other way when a man goes down for good.

Humanity demands that one comes forward and consoles the other. Because every player entering the arena knows that any game could be their last.