RIP/OSU/NFL: The Assassin is dead. Jack Tatum has died at age 61

 
Tatum as seen as a Buckeye who played under Woody Hayes and then as one of the Oakland Raiders and NFL’s most feared hitters in the secondary.

• Tough as nails Jack Tatum has died of a massive heart attack at age 61, career as a Buckeye and Raider great renowned for his big hitting and unapologetic ways he went about his business…
• Perhaps one of the most feared defenders in the game of football, Tatum, it’s hard to think that he’s not in the Hall of Fame…
• Rest In Peace Assassin, Buckeye Nation mourns.

by Mike Zimmer, Buckeye

Feared, reviled, respected and tough as nails.  That was Jack Tatum.  They called him (and he liked the moniker and called himself) ‘The Assassin”.  As one of Woody’s Super Soph’s in 1968, Tatum helped Ohio State win the National Title that year.  Drafted by Al Davis and the Oakland Raiders, he quickly became known as one the biggest hitters in the secondary in the NFL.  (http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/sports/stories/2010/07/27/jack-tatum-dies.html)

Tatum earned the name and then embraced it, with a take no prisoners attitude that eventually put him on the wrong side of  NFL lore and became the sad epitaph on most of which I’ve read about him today after his passing at age 61 of a heart attack.

Tatum paralyzed the New England Patriots Darrell Stingley and never quite apologized for it or was able to make amends with the injured receiver.  Most of the rest of his career highlights according to most media outlets were defined by that moment which is terribly unfair. Tatum was there for the ‘Immaculate Reception’ where he blasted Frenchy Fuqua and the ball wound up in the hands of Franco Harris who ran to the endzone on the last play of their 1972 play-off game with the Steelers.

Tatum also had highlight reels full of big hits including one of the 70′s most memorable hits in the Super Bowl ever.  In Super Bowl XI after the 1976 season, Tatum absolutely removed a Minnesota Vikings receiver from the ball and his helmet, producing an almost beheading in the process.

Yes, Tatum injured Stingley too.  But he was also part of a defensive backfield that was amongst the best of their era and played most of the decade as one of the most feared hitters  in the game.  And, as far as Buckeyes fans are concerned, Tatum was National Champion and helped make the 1968 Title possible playing for Woody Hayes.  Bob Griese still has nightmares of Tatum.

Rest In Peace Assassin.

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