Sports

Hard-hitting former Raider Jack Tatum dies at 61

3:47 PM on 07/27/2010

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This photo taken Oct. 25, 2009 shows former Oakland Raider Jack Tatum before an NFL football game between the New York Jets and the Oakland Raiders in Oakland, Calif. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

RUSTY MILLER,AP Sports

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) -- Jack Tatum, the All-Pro safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978, has died. He was 61.

Nicknamed "The Assassin," Tatum died of a heart attack Tuesday in Oakland, according to friend and former Ohio State teammate John Hicks.

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On Aug. 12, 1978, Stingley, playing for the New England Patriots, ran head-on into the hard-hitting Tatum on a crossing pattern. The blow severed Stingley's fourth and fifth veterbrae and left the receiver paralyzed.

Tatum said he tried to visit Stingley at an Oakland hospital shortly after the collision but was turned away by Stingley's family members.

Stingley died in 2007.