Jack Tatum
American football player (1948-2010)
John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American professional football safety who played 10 seasons from 1971 through 1980 with the Oakland Raiders and the Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). He was popularly nicknamed as "the Assassin" because of his playing style. Tatum was voted to three consecutive Pro Bowls (1973–1975) and played on one Super Bowl-winning team in nine seasons with the Raiders. He is also known for a hit he made against New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley in a 1978 preseason game that paralyzed Stingley from the neck down. He won a national championship at Ohio State.
A member of the College Football Hall of Fame, Tatum played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes and was a twice an All-American in 1969 and 1970. He was selected by the Raiders in the first round of the 1971 NFL draft with whom he 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 versus the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Tatum's playing style was well recognized in the 1970s and his New York Times obituary stated Tatum was a "symbol of a violent game".
Early life
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.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Jack Tatum” as american football player (1948-2010). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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The subject matters to the people & ideas register because the source frames it as american football player (1948-2010). Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q687509. VIAF identifies the subject as 35734532. The Library of Congress control number is n79087178. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1948, 2010, 1971 and 1980.
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This entry incorporates text from “Jack Tatum” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.