Jack Tatum John David " Jack " Tatum ( November 18 , 1948 – July 27 , 2010 ) was an American football safety who played ten seasons from 1971 through 1980 for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League ( NFL ) . He was popularly known as " The Assassin " because of his playing style . " He was voted to three consecutive Pro Bowls ( 1973 – 1975 ) and was a member of one Super Bowl - winning team in his nine seasons with the Raiders . He is best known for a tackle he made against New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game that paralyzed Stingley from the chest down . A member of the College Football Hall of Fame , Tatum was a unanimous All - American in 1969 and 1970 . He was drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft , and with them earned a reputation as a fierce competitor and one of the hardest hitters ever to play the game . Tatum was also noted for his involvement in the Immaculate Reception play during a 1972 playoff game against the Pittsburgh Steelers . Tatum ' s hitting style was well recognized in the 1970s , and his New York Times obituary stated Tatum was a " symbol of a violent game " . College career . Tatum was born in Cherryville , North Carolina , and grew up in Passaic , New Jersey , where he had little interest in playing sports in his early years . Tatum did not begin playing football until he entered his sophomore year at Passaic High School , where he played as a running back , fullback and defensive back and was selected first - team All - State . He was selected a high school All - America n as a senior . In 1999 , the Newark " Star - Ledger " named Tatum as one of New Jersey ' s top ten defensive players of the century . Tatum visited a number of universities before starting his collegiate career with the Ohio State University Buckeyes . Head coach Woody Hayes recruited Tatum as a running back . However , assistant coach Lou Holtz convinced Hayes to switch Tatum to defensive back during Tatum ' s freshman season . Tatum was used by the Buckeyes to cover the opposing team ' s best wide receiver , but he also was used occasionally as a linebacker due to the nature of his hits and his innate ability to bring down even the biggest fullback or tight end . He first became known to college football observers as a sophomore when he helped limit All - American Leroy Keyes during a 13 - 0 upset against the Purdue Boilermakers during the early part of the 1968 season . Tatum was a first - team All - Big Ten in 1968 , 1969 and 1970 . In his final two seasons he was a unanimous All - American . In 1970 he was selected as the National Defensive Player of the Year and was among the top vote getters for the Heisman Trophy , which is awarded to the athlete considered to have been the nation ' s best college football player that year . Tatum helped lead the Buckeyes to a 27 - 2 record in his three seasons as a starter , with two national championship appearances , two Big Ten titles and one national championship win in 1968 , Tatum ' s first season with the team . In the storied rivalry between Ohio State and Michigan , Tatum and his fellow Buckeyes won in 1968 by the score of 50 - 14 , lost in 1969 by 24 - 12 , and won again in 1970 by 20 - 9 . Tatum was inducted into the Ohio State Varsity O Hall of Fame in 1981 and into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004 . In 2001 , Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel instituted the " Jack Tatum Hit of the Week Award " , given to the player who had the most impressive defensive hit of the game . Upon hearing of his death , Tressel said , " We have lost one of our greatest Buckeyes " . NFL career . Tatum was drafted by the Oakland Raiders as the 19th pick in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft to replace former Oakland safety Dave Grayson , who retired after the 1970 season , and for " defensive stability " . A few weeks later , Tatum signed a three - year , six - figure contract with a $ 50 , 000 signing bonus . Tatum was nicknamed " The Assassin " , a name he embraced and relished . However , according to his former head coach John Madden , Tatum was never called by that nickname during his playing career . Tatum played his first professional game against the Baltimore Colts , in which he tackled and knocked out Colts tight end s John Mackey and Tom Mitchell . Soon after the game , sportswriters started to compare him to Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus because of his hard - hitting skills , and he became the starting free safety in his rookie year . In 1974 , Tatum had six interceptions and in Super Bowl XI on January 9 , 1977 , Tatum knocked the helmet off Minnesota Vikings wide receiver Sammy White . This is often regarded as one of the biggest hits in Super Bowl history . The Raiders went on to win the Super Bowl . Immaculate Reception . Tatum was involved in one of the most famous plays in National Football League history , the Immaculate Reception , during the AFC against the Pittsburgh Steelers on December 23 , 1972 . With 22 seconds left in the game , Steelers quarterback Terry Bradshaw threw a pass to running back John " Frenchy " Fuqua . Tatum collided with Fuqua , knocking the ball into the air . The ball fell into the hands of Steelers running back Franco Harris , who ran it 42 yards for the game - winning touchdown . The play is famous because NFL rules at the time prohibited a receiver from batting the ball to another player of the same team . The referees ruled that Tatum had touched the ball and therefore Harris ' s touchdown was permitted , allowing the Steelers to win the game . Darryl Stingley incident . His most infamous tackle came in an exhibition game against the New England Patriots on August 12 , 1978 , a play that Tatum later stated he did " thousands of times " in practice and in regular game coverage . Tatum and Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley collided as Stingley was leaping for a pass on an inside slant route , a play the Patriots had run earlier in the game with some success that put him in the path of Tatum . There was an awkward collision as Stingley lowered his helmet to protect himself and hit Tatum ' s shoulder pad . The impact badly damaged Stingley ' s spinal cord and left him with incomplete quadriplegia for the rest of his life . The National Football League took no disciplinary action for the tackle ; however , many of those violent tackles were later outlawed . The incident affected Tatum personally and for several years , according to close friend John Hicks , made him " somewhat of a recluse " . According to Madden , " It was something that ate on him for his whole life . " According to Stingley in his 1983 autobiography , " Happy To Be Alive " , Tatum never made any effort to apologize or to see him after the incident . Gene Upshaw a teammate and future executive , described the hit as " one of those things that happens that everyone regrets " . Tatum had said he attempted to visit Stingley in the hospital , but was rebuffed by Stingley ' s family . They were supposed to meet once in a television interview , but Stingley backed out when he found out Tatum was promoting his new autobiography during the interview . The two did not speak from that day until Stingley ' s death on April 5 , 2007 , although Stingley related in a 2003 Boston Globe interview that he had forgiven Tatum . " It ' s hard to articulate , " he said . " It was a test of my faith , the entire story . In who , and how much , do you believe , Darryl ? In my heart and mind , I forgave Jack Tatum a long time ago . " Tatum never apologized for the hit , nor the style he played , stating that , " It ' s unrealistic . If you want to play football for a living , you ' re going to get injured " . Later career . Tatum was traded to the Houston Oilers for running back Kenny King and two seventh round draft choices in the 1980 NFL Draft and 1981 NFL Draft . He finished his pro career with them , playing all sixteen games that year , and recorded a career - high seven interceptions to finish with a career total of 37 interceptions with 736 return yards . He also recovered nine fumbles in his career , returning them for 164 yards . Retirement . Tatum retired after being released by the Oilers following the 1980 season . He first worked for the Raiders organization , and soon became a land developer and moved into the real - estate business . He became part owner of a restaurant in Pittsburg , California . Tatum also married and had three children . He wrote three best - selling books : " They Call Me Assassin " ( 1980 ) ; " They Still Call Me Assassin " ( 1989 ) ; and " Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum " ( 1996 ) . Health issues and death . Tatum eventually faced his own disability challenges , as all five toes on his left foot were amputated in 2003 due to a staph infection caused by diabetes . He soon lost the entire leg below the knee because of the illness . He also suffered from an arterial blockage that cost him his right leg ; he used a prosthetic limb thereafter . Tatum worked on increasing awareness of diabetes . To facilitate this goal , he created the Ohio - based Jack Tatum Fund for Youthful Diabetes , which finances diabetes research . His kidney started to fail in his final years , and he was awaiting a kidney transplant at the time of his death . Tatum died in Oakland on July 27 , 2010 after a heart attack . The Oakland Raiders released a statement that : " Jack was the standard bearer and an inspiration for the position of safety throughout college and professional football " , while Ronnie Lott stated that Tatum was one of his " football heroes " . Sportswriters John Clayton and Peter Richmond both wrote on Tatum ' s NFL legacy . Clayton wrote that Tatum was part of the reason why the Steelers - Raiders matchup was his most anticipated game of the season while starting his sports - writing career in Pittsburgh , and that Tatum hit like " no other safety in football " . Richmond , an Oakland journalist and insider , wrote about Tatum ' s quiet demeanor off the field , which was contrary to most journalistic reports about Tatum . However Steve Grogan , Stingley ' s teammate , when asked about making a comment about Tatum ' s death , stated : " I have a hard time trying to find something nice to say . . . I just can ' t do it " . Legacy . With the 1970s Oakland Raiders , Tatum was a key member of one of the most resilient teams of the era . Along with future Pro Football Hall of Fame r Willie Brown , safety George Atkinson and cornerback Skip Thomas , Tatum was part of the " Soul Patrol " secondary . He was ranked as the sixth hardest hitter in NFL history by NFL Films and was elected to three Pro Bowl s . He holds the record for the longest fumble return in NFL history . In a game against the Green Bay Packers on September 24 , 1972 , he returned a fumble 104 yards for a touchdown that could have been called back because of an officiating error . The record was tied 28 years later by Aeneas Williams .