Darryl Stingley dead at 55

[1sparkybuc]

Very sad, tragic, life. Condolences to his family.

[JavaBuc]

I remember feeling sick when Jack Tatum hit him in the spine with his helmet.    Tatum should have done some jail time for that.

[Morgan]

The hit was legal - just unfortunate that Stingley got hit the way  he did.  I remember exactly the day when news came that he was paralyzed. 

[Morgan]

[SON-OF-ZELL]

Remember the book, "They Call Me Assassin", nice title for that one by Tatum

[jerseybucsfan]

It was a fluke play. The Pats are as much to blame as Tatum. Who calls a play like that against Oakland in the preseason? Awful throw, bad decision on Stingley's part to sacrifice his body and bad hit by Tatum. If the throw is on the money or behind him, the injury never would have happened.

[JavaBuc]

It was a fluke play. The Pats are as much to blame as Tatum. Who calls a play like that against Oakland in the preseason? Awful throw, bad decision on Stingley's part to sacrifice his body and bad hit by Tatum. If the throw is on the money or behind him, the injury never would have happened.

Come on.  Tatum was always taking cheap shots whenever he could.   That was just another in a long line.   There was no need for the helmet to the spine shot.   I watched the game live on TV.

[1sparkybuc]

By the rules of the day, it was a clean hit. There was no flag. There was no penalty. There was no fine or suspension. I too remember watching that game, and have seen the replay dozens of times. There was nothing extraordinary about the play except that one man didn't get up. It was typical of that era, and it did lead to a change in the rules. Stingley's head was at a bad angle and his spinal column in his neck was too thin.

Tatum used that incident to intimidate the people he played against. Not a class individual.
Stingley was bitter and vindictive for many years. From what I have seen and read since he died, he mellowed and became more understanding and forgiving since.

[coolhandluke]

Jack Tatum was a great player and he gave him a clean hit.  It is part of the game to hit hard.  The Head Coach of the PATS said it was a clean hit.

Let it go.

Java, having a hard time finding those 12 year olds this week???

[jerseybucsfan]

Tatum has felt regret for 30 years. And people often mix up Tatum with George Atkinson, who for years had the far worse reputation in the Raiders secondary. Clean hit, dumb call, unfortunate circumstances.

[caradoc]

It was a fluke play. The Pats are as much to blame as Tatum. Who calls a play like that against Oakland in the preseason? Awful throw, bad decision on Stingley's part to sacrifice his body and bad hit by Tatum. If the throw is on the money or behind him, the injury never would have happened.

Come on.  Tatum was always taking cheap shots whenever he could.   That was just another in a long line.   There was no need for the helmet to the spine shot.   I watched the game live on TV.

watch it again then.  There was nothing wrong with that hit.  Nothing at all, just a fluke.  He may be a jerk for what he did after, but there was nothing cheap about it.

[BucLord]

I remember feeling sick when Jack Tatum hit him in the spine with his helmet. Tatum should have done some jail time for that.

He didnt hit him in the spine, you dont know what you are talking about

[BucLord]

How can some of you actually sit here and say you watched the game?

It was a pre-season game in 1978, It was not televised nationally

[Morgan]

I didn't see the game, but remember the day that his paralysis was announced. I've seen Lynch make some hits similar to that one - and get fined for it.  In this case it was a freak accident. Thank goodness though, the NFL has made a rule against cleaning someone's clock like that - Ronnie Lott used to make some hits like that, too.

[1sparkybuc]

I remember feeling sick when Jack Tatum hit him in the spine with his helmet. Tatum should have done some jail time for that.

He didnt hit him in the spine, you dont know what you are talking about

The hit was helmet to helmet. He broke his neck.

I just read an interview with Tatum. He said Stingley refused to speak to him. I remember that to be the case when Stingley attended a Monday night game for the Patriots. He would not allow Tatum the opportunity to apologize. To my knowledge, he never did.