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Former Buckeye Jack Tatum suffers fatal heart attack

meisel.14@osu.edu

Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 23:07

Tatum

Andy Gottesman / The Lantern

Tatum stands at midfield prior to the Ohio State game with USC on September 12, 2009 as the Buckeyes' honorary captain.

Former Ohio State defensive back Jack Tatum died Tuesday of a heart attack. He was 61.

Tatum, known for his intimidating, hard-hitting style of play, which earned him the nickname "The Assassin," starred in the Buckeye secondary from 1968-1970.

"We have lost one of our greatest Buckeyes," OSU coach Jim Tressel said in a statement. "When you think of Ohio State defense, the first name that comes to mind is Jack Tatum. His loss touches every era of Ohio State players and fans."

As a senior, Tatum earned the honor of the national Defensive Player of the Year. He was a three-year starter and a two-time All-American.

He was a first-round draft choice by the Oakland Raiders in 1971. He won a Super Bowl with the Raiders in 1976 and was named to three Pro Bowls.

Tatum's punishing blow to New England Patriot Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game severed a pair of the wide receiver's vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed. Stingley died in 2007 from after-effects of the hit.

Tatum was inducted into the Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004.
 

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1 comments

Anonymous
Thu Jul 29 2010 19:45
Forget what you've read about All Pro, Raider safety Jack Tatum. The day after I lost my friend from our college days at Ohio State, the media everywhere dredge up the same old superficial Jack Tatum story.

It's all about the “Assassin” nickname (a totally fabricated moniker meant to attract book sales) and the absolutely fictitious allegations that Jack Tatum never tried to reconcile with Darryl Stingley after the infamous "hit" that left Stingley paralyzed for life. Jack was forever after portrayed in the press as a callous, ruthless, unapologetic “dirty” player. He was not. His teammates, his coach, and his friends KNOW he was not. The “hit” was shockingly hard, but clean. There was no penalty on the play, and the NFL never disciplined him.

The real story I personally KNOW to be true was that Jack Tatum off the field had a quiet, unassuming, soft-spoken personality. He left the tough guy football persona at work.

I also KNOW for a fact how personally devastated Jack was about Darryl's injury and how he tried a number of times to meet with Darryl. But the Jack Tatum I knew wanted a private, personal reconciliation not a media circus for ESPN and strangers.

Yet, none of what I KNOW to be true meshes with news reports. Yes, he was indeed the hardest-hitting safety of his time, perhaps ever. Yes, he was rightly feared on the gridiron, and yes, he still deserves to be in The Pro Football Hall of Fame. The fact that he is not now and may never be so enshrined is definitely attributable to media mis-coverage of the Stingley tragedy. But Jack Tatum was emphatically NOT the “Assassin" his co-author and publisher portrayed. He was and will remain my friend, and I will miss him.

Fred Strine
Seattle, WA
OSU, 1970







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