Quote:
Originally Posted by milkman
The book deal is the only real problem I have with Tatum, other than the fact that he was a dirty, cheatin' Raider.
But the fact is, he didn't break any rules on that hit on Stingly, and he wasn't the only player of that era to make those kinds of hits (Fred "The Hammer" Williamson, to name a Chief), and the only reason he's villified is because he did put Stingly in a wheelchair.
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Thank you, but the fact of the matter Tate never play outside of the rule book. He had teammates that did but he played with in the rule book. He hit like no other and because of guys he played with and the hit on Stingley he got a bad rap. The hit on Stingley was clean and ironically was not even a hard hit. It happened 08/12/78 on my birthday and to this day I am stunned the kid did not get up. Jack showed poor form IMO on how he handled the situation. He did show up at the hospital to see Darrell but was cussed and told to f&ck off.
He should have understood the emotions of the situation and put that aside. He did not and felt he was hired to hit and that is what he did. The nickname was given to him before he ever played a down in the NFL and was not the nickname he had with the team. He should have reached out after feelings cooled and the whole book deal came off tacky. That said RIP Tate you were the hardest hitter pound for pound ever and 2nd place is distant.