Former Oakland Raider defensive back Jack Tatum, known as the ‘Assassin’ for his bone-crunching hits and one tackle that left an opposing player paralyzed, died this week at the age of 61 years old, according to a recent article from USA Today.
Tatum, who had diabetes and lost part of his leg due to amputation because of the disease’s complications, started an organization in Ohio to help raise money for diabetes research. He died of a heart attack.
However, Tatum will always be remembered in the public’s consciousness for his 1978 preseason hit on Darryl Stingley of the Patriots, who was confined to a wheelchair for the last three decades of his life before his death at the age of 55 years old. The two men have been linked ever since, even though they never spoke or reconciled after the incident. Tatum said he tried to apologize but was kept away by Stingley’s family.
Although it was a helmet-to-helmet hit, the kind that is outlawed today, it was well within the rules at the time. Tatum did not receive a penalty for the hit.
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