Tatum, amongst one of the most feared and respected NFL players of his era, died of the heart attack Tuesday morning within an Oakland hospital. He had been waiting for a kidney transplant.
Tatum was a sledgehammer in Oakland¡¯s ¡°Soul Patrol¡± secondary in the 1970s that also incorporated protection George Atkinson, cornerback Skip Thomas and Hall of Fame cornerback Willie Brown.
¡°As quite a few big plays as Jack manufactured, it let you know this guy knew in which to be when the chips have been down,¡± Atkinson explained. ¡°Guys didn¡¯t need to arrive across the middle because receiving arrive at by him was like acquiring arrive at by a truck. He was devastating with his timing and his angles of contact.¡±
Under no circumstances was that much more accurate than on Aug. 12, 1978, in an exhibition game against the Patriots, when Tatum hit Stingley over a pass above the middle. The collision severed Stingley¡¯s fourth and fifth vertebrae, leaving the receiver almost totally paralyzed in the neck down.
Outside of his close circle of buddies, who swear he had an effortless smile and infectious laugh, Tatum largely kept to himself in public settings, which only seemed to generate him much more intimidating. John Madden, Tatum¡¯s former coach, mentioned the Stingley strike impacted the Raiders star.
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