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Former Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum dies

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Jack Tatum, the former Oakland Raiders safety best known for his hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in 1978, has died in Oakland. He was 61.

Tatum, known as ‘the Assassin’ during his playing days, died of a heart attack Tuesday, friend and former Ohio State teammate John Hicks told the Associated Press.

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On Aug. 12, 1978, Stingley, playing wide receiver for the New England Patriots, was tackled by Tatum on a crossing pattern. The blow severed Stingley’s fourth and fifth vertebrae and left him paralyzed.

Stingley died in 2007.

You can read more here. Sam Farmer will have a full story later on latimes.com/sports.

-- Houston Mitchell

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