RIP Jack Tatum

RIP, Assassin.

 

Wow. Way too young. RIP.

 

An all-time Raider. Hard to believe he only played for nine years. Seeing that photo of the Sammy White hit reminded me how small he was. I was at the Stingley game as a kid, there are probably at least 10 worse looking hits every week in the NFL. I never got the impression that Tatum "enjoyed" his rep, but figured at his size he needed every edge he could get.

 

Oh wow. I'm an Oakland native and this is a sad day.

 

He played HS football at the town across the river from us, rivals back in the day.

Even as a little kid I heard people talking about him and having to play against him.

 

RIP

The guy could hit. He had the 3 hardest hits I've even watched on Earl Cambell/ Sammy White/ Rob Lyttle

 

Don't forget hit on Riley Odoms huge Bronco tight end. Tatum laid him out. Knocking out Earl Campbell is a feat in itself.

A lot of what Tatum did would be illegal today, but that doesn't make him a dirty player. That was how the NFL was played then.

 

Good riddance.

 

Listen to Boston radio this afternoon. They had Steve Grogan on, and he basically said he couldn't say anything nice about Tatum, given the way he acted following the Stingley hit (i.e., not reaching out to Stingley until he had a book to sell).