Ex Patriot Darryl Stingley dies (1 Viewer)

[Ozymandias]

Ex-Patriot Darryl Stingley died at age 55. He was paralyzed by a hit from Jack Tatum in 1978.

A reminder that football is a violent game.

RIP.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070405/ap_on_...obit_stingley_2

 

[fatness]

Chicago Tribune

Stingley's life changed forever on Aug. 12, 1978, in a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. A wide receiver for the New England Patriots, Stingley was the victim of a vicious but legal hit by Oakland Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum. The blow broke Stingley's neck and left him a quadriplegic for life..........

...........Tatum suffered his own setbacks, eventually losing his left leg to diabetes and his right leg to an arterial blockage. Tatum wrote a book, "They Call Me Assassin," celebrating his reputation as a vicious hitter. On the 25th anniversary of his hit on Stingley, HBO attempted to put the two together on the air. Stingley declined.

Stingley said at the time that he was willing to talk to Tatum, but he wouldn't be exploited. "It's still a story that everybody, including me, would like some closure on," he said then. "But it seems like every time we get to that point, there is something on his side where he is trying to capitalize from it.

"When it looked like he was about to lose his leg to diabetes, it was another opportunity for him to seize the moment like he did two or three years ago when he also wanted to set up something. We found out he was releasing another book. I'm not available to help people sell books.

 

[On The Rocks]

Wow.

I remember the play he was hurt like it was last week.

:(

 

[The Shizzle]

Its a sad story. There was a story on Boston TV a few years ago about it. Its just really sad.

 

[The Great Snook]

RIP.

He was a good man. He turned his injury into something positive.

 

[Ron_Mexico]

I remember watching Stingley, Russ Francis,

Randy Vataha, and Mini Mack Herron run wild in the mid-70s.

I was just hitting my teenage years,

sitting on an aluminum ice block in the North endzone

of Schaeffer Stadium. It was suck weather and suck football.

Those were not very good teams, not quite the glory days.

The present day Pats will be viewed as the glory days of NE Patriots football someday.

RIP Darryl.

 

[Nigel]

I remember watching Stingley, Russ Francis,

Randy Vataha, and Mini Mack Herron run wild in the mid-70s.

I was just hitting my teenage years,

sitting on an aluminum ice block in the North endzone

of Schaeffer Stadium. It was suck weather and suck football.

Those were not very good teams, not quite the glory days.

The present day Pats will be viewed as the glory days of NE Patriots football someday.

RIP Darryl.

The 1976 team was an exception, they were the best team in the NFL that year.I remeber that game vividly as well, and what an insensitive ####### Tatum was in the aftermath.

RIP Daryl

 

[phthalatemagic]

I read Tatum tried to go to the hospital to apologize, but wasn't allowed?

 

[stevegamer]

Rest in peace. Stuff like this always makes you thankful that you were never really hurt playing football.

 

[BigRed]

I remember watching Stingley, Russ Francis,Randy Vataha, and Mini Mack Herron run wild in the mid-70s.I was just hitting my teenage years,sitting on an aluminum ice block in the North endzoneof Schaeffer Stadium. It was suck weather and suck football.Those were not very good teams

You must have been really drunk in those days. Don't doubt the weather sucked, but mid/late 70s were some very good NE teams (or fair at worst) - they just didn't take the next step.Remember seeing the hit. It was a hard hit but have seen hits which looked worse. Don't recall if it looked "dirty" but seem to recall it was unnecessary in how he did it. Also recall Tatum never apologized or really made more than a token effort, but could be wrong. One thing I recall for sure was how Cosell was all over it like a leech and I wished it was him who'd gotten the hit instead.

 

[Rozelle]

Sad ... very sad, the fact it was a meaningless preseason game made it even more so.

 

[Traders2001]

RIP.

 

[JohnnyU]

I remember the Patriots being a rival with Bert Jones and the Colts in the mid-to-late 70s, and Darryl Stingley and Steve Grogan were a big part of it. Stingley was a very very talented WR, and as a Colts fan I feared when they had to go against him.

RIP Mr. Stingley

 

[metoo]

Sad ... very sad, the fact it was a meaningless preseason game made it even more so.

Wow. I saw this on ESPN, didn't know it was a preseason game.

 

[The Man With No Name]

I remember the Patriots being a rival with Bert Jones and the Colts in the mid-to-late 70s, and Darryl Stingley and Steve Grogan were a big part of it. Stingley was a very very talented WR, and as a Colts fan I feared when they had to go against him.

RIP Mr. Stingley

RIPIn his 5 season career, he only had over 400 yards receiving in 1 season, his last.

 

[DeCleater]

I remember the Patriots being a rival with Bert Jones and the Colts in the mid-to-late 70s, and Darryl Stingley and Steve Grogan were a big part of it. Stingley was a very very talented WR, and as a Colts fan I feared when they had to go against him.

RIP Mr. Stingley

RIPIn his 5 season career, he only had over 400 yards receiving in 1 season, his last.

Different era. Back then Mel Blount could mug you all over the field.

 

[JohnnyU]

I remember the Patriots being a rival with Bert Jones and the Colts in the mid-to-late 70s, and Darryl Stingley and Steve Grogan were a big part of it. Stingley was a very very talented WR, and as a Colts fan I feared when they had to go against him.

RIP Mr. Stingley

RIPIn his 5 season career, he only had over 400 yards receiving in 1 season, his last.

Different era, and I remember Stingley always hurting the Colts when they played. Obviously he didn't get to see his potential realized. I think 657 yards in 1977 is worth at least 1000+ now, and he played in 14 game seasons.

 

[buster c]

too young to die. be interested to hear how he passed, but I get the feeling that his traumatic injury had something to do with it.

the hit was clean. it was an imperfect convergence of ball, player & defender arriving at the same spot at the same time.

sad that there never was any closure between the 2 participants

RIP

 

[Pat Patriot]

I remember watching Stingley, Russ Francis,Randy Vataha, and Mini Mack Herron run wild in the mid-70s.I was just hitting my teenage years,sitting on an aluminum ice block in the North endzoneof Schaeffer Stadium. It was suck weather and suck football.Those were not very good teams, not quite the glory days.The present day Pats will be viewed as the glory days of NE Patriots football someday.RIP Darryl.

I remember the mid-70's Pats very well. Good times. I was 10 in 1976 and that was the first Pats team that I LOVED. It was fun to be a fan then. The Patriots were actually VERY GOOD from 1976-1980 and again from 1983-1988. I had season tickets during that period.Darryl Stingley was a class act and an inpiration. RIP.

 

[BigRed]

Different era, and I remember Stingley always hurting the Colts when they played.

Oh cmon stats tell you everything about how good a player was.

 

[boilerdave]

Chicago Tribune

Stingley's life changed forever on Aug. 12, 1978, in a preseason game against the Oakland Raiders. A wide receiver for the New England Patriots, Stingley was the victim of a vicious but legal hit by Oakland Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum. The blow broke Stingley's neck and left him a quadriplegic for life..........

...........Tatum suffered his own setbacks, eventually losing his left leg to diabetes and his right leg to an arterial blockage. Tatum wrote a book, "They Call Me Assassin," celebrating his reputation as a vicious hitter. On the 25th anniversary of his hit on Stingley, HBO attempted to put the two together on the air. Stingley declined.

That is a great book btw.

 

[Spike]

too young to die. be interested to hear how he passed, but I get the feeling that his traumatic injury had something to do with it.

the hit was clean. it was an imperfect convergence of ball, player & defender arriving at the same spot at the same time.

sad that there never was any closure between the 2 participants

RIP

The hit was legal , it wasn't clean.