Sports: Remembering Raider Jack "The Assassin" Tatum

"I was paid to hit, the harder the better. And I hit, and I knocked people down and knocked people out."
-Jack Tatum

Jack Tatum embodied this quote and more. One of the fiercest hitters to ever play the game, Jack Tatum (aka The Assassin) passed away a couple days ago after suffering a heart attack. Tatum was the epitome of an old school Raider- ferocious, hard-nosed, and obsessed with winning.   His play was a big part of the reason why the Raider teams of the 1960s and 70s were as hard-nosed as the city they represented. Tatum, along side George "The Hitman" Atkinson,  Skip "Dr. Death" Thomas and "Old Man" Willie Brown, comprised "The Soul Patrol," one of the best and most feared secondaries to ever play the game.

If you caught a pass over the middle, you could count on Jack Tatum gunning for your head as soon as the ball hit your hands. As a result, some of the nastiest hits in the history of football were perpetrated by Jack Tatum. In Super Bowl XI, he demolished the Minnesota Viking's Sammy White after he caught a pass across the middle, sending his chin strap flying one direction and his helmet another. That hit epitomized his menacing presence, but it was the punishment he layed on Darryl Stingley that weighs the heaviest. That collision left Stingley paralyzed, changing both of their lives forever.

He has been painted as a villain and a criminal, as many of those Raiders teams were, but the majority of his hits were legal (at the time at least). Tatum can be criticized, but his approach was simple; to drive through his targets so that they felt the pain the rest of the game. That approach is actually just textbook football with some added ferocity– a mentality some current Raiders should adopt.

He stuck around the Bay Area after his playing career and continued to help younger Raiders who played after him. Our thoughts go out to his family, friends and The Raider Nation.

Rest In Peace Jack The Assassin– A real Raider In Paradise