Oakland Raiders safety, Jack Tatum, who is known best as the one responsible for the hit which paralyzed New England receiver Darryl Stingley, is dead at 61. He died of a heart attack in Oakland, Tuesday morning.
Jack Tatum was known as one of the hardest hitters and most feared players in the NFL named "the Assassin".
About the infamous hit that paralyzed Stingley, Tatum said to the Bergen County (N.J.) Record in 2003, “I’m not going to beg forgiveness,”
“That’s what people say: You never apologized. I didn’t apologize for the play. That was football.”
After a year, Tatum spoke to The Oakland Tribune and said that he had tried to visit Stingley in an Oakland hospital shortly after the incident but was turned back by Stingley's family. He never met the paralyzed receiver after the hit.
Tatum, lost his left leg due to circulation problems, started a charitable group to help kids with diabetes. He was instrumental in raising more than $1.4 million for the fight against the disease in the Columbus, Ohio area.
