They call me assassin (jack tatum) best hitter ever
Before there was Ronnie Lott, Shawn Merriman, Ray Lewis, and any other big hitting defensive player of the past 3 decades, there was: Jack Tatum. I remember watching my second Superbowl in 1976. I was eleven years old. Oakland was playing Minnesota. Late in the game, Minnesota was trying to make a comeback. Minnesota had a rookie wide receiver who was all the rage named Sammy White. Minnesota was driving the ball. Fran Tarkenton dropped back and threw a slant pattern to Sammy. I was laying on the floor with my feet propped up watching this with my Granddaddy. My Granddaddy and Grandmother are Christian folks, never cuss, rarely fuss. The pass was on target, as the ball got to Sammy, I saw two Raiders collide into him just as the ball got there, the main hit was being provided by Tatum. When they converged, there was a loud wack! and i saw a shoe fly into the air, a mouthpiece shot another way, a helmet flew another. I said "god damn!!' Then looked around to see if i was in trouble. Even at that young age i knew i had just seen something special, something ugly. Jack Tatum is the best hitter that ever put on a football uniform, case closed. He was the only man to EVER bring Earl Campbell down one on one in the open field. He made Franco Harris run to the sidelines. Made Lynn Swann quit in the middle of a game. True story. TATUM WAS THE ONLY DEFENDER TO EVER HIT AND BRING EARL CAMPBELL DOWN ONE ON ONE.Here is a short clip, the clip mentions the whole raiders secondary but it was Tatum that other teams feared the most.
i know the nfl 100 best player list is full of politics, and lots of nfl people didnt like tatum, but to leave the best hitting strong safety EVER off that list, its a damn shame...........
HERE IS THE HIT ON SAMMY WHITE. I THOUGHT HE HAD KILLED THAT MAN:
i know the nfl 100 best player list is full of politics, and lots of nfl people didnt like tatum, but to leave the best hitting strong safety EVER off that list, its a damn shame...........
HERE IS THE HIT ON SAMMY WHITE. I THOUGHT HE HAD KILLED THAT MAN:
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