Daryl Stingley, 1951-2007, RIP

Some of you may not know who this guy was. He was a receiver on the New England Patriots in the 1970's. A very talented guy. In a pre-season (yep, a game that didn't even count) he took a hit from Oakland Raider Jack Tatum which left Stingley paralyzed. Stingley spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair working in Patriot's player development and speaking to handicapped people around the country. Tatum, probably the dirtiest player ever in the NFL, never reconciled with Stingley. RIP Daryl, you were one of the best.

Tatum was a thug!

I personally think he liked calling himself "The Assassin" because he just wasn't man enough to deal with what he did to Stingley, a 26 year old with his whole career ahead of him.

Had Tatum accepted what he had done, he would not have been an effective player.

Tatum did get his comeuppance when he had an amputation due to diabetes

I never really knew the entire story around the hit until about a month or two ago when I was reading Michael Holley's book Dynasty about the Patriots. And he didn't go into any detail.

So I researched it a bit and found an SI article. Stingley returning to Pat stadium a year after is something I read about about a month ago, and it honestly got me choked up. Not often in reading that happens but I think it was the great Ralph Wiley who did it and it was just an awesome piece. So to hear this news so soon after that read is shocking.

But it wasn't a dirty hit. It really wasn't. Tatum was a thug, true but the hit was clean. He was full speed. The only argument is that it was preseason because he had no opportunity to pull up. It's a hit that wasn't illegal then and not illegal now.

Tatum is a thug though. Was good friends with his nephew (see Random Question thread) and...well yeah he's not a great person.

.....clean hit but to call yourself "Assassin" after turning someone into a quadrapalegic is a bit much