August 12, 1978: Darryl Stingley, a wide receiver for the New England Patriots, suffers one of the worst injuries in the history of football -- willfully inflicted on him in a preseason exhibition game.
Darryl Floyd Stingley was born on September 18, 1951 in Chicago. A running back at John Marshall High School, he was moved to receiver at Purdue University. In 1973, he was selected for the North-South Shrine Game and the Chicago College All-Star Game.
That year, the New England Patriots had perhaps their best draft ever, taking these 3 players in the 1st round: John Hannah, a guard from Alabama that Sports Illustrated would eventually call, on its cover, "The best offensive lineman of all time"; Sam Cunningham, the running back from the University of Southern California who was said to have done more to integrate the Southeastern Conference in 60 minutes against Alabama than the entire Civil Rights Movement; and Stingley.
In 5 seasons with the Pats -- what should have been his 1st 5 seasons -- Stingley caught 110 passes for 1,883 yards and 14 touchdowns. He also ran for 244 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also returned kicks. In 1976, he helped the Pats win the AFC Wild Card berth. (Only 1 to a Conference at the time.) On September 18, 1977, the day he turned 26, he did something no NFL player had done before, nor has since: He ran for a touchdown and caught a pass for another on his birthday. The Pats beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 21-17.
As the 1978 season approached, with a good quarterback in Steve Grogan throwing to him and to a new receiver, Stanley Morgan, and a line anchored by Hannah giving them time to let plays unfold, the Patriots were primed for a successful era, and Stingley should have been just entering his prime.
Instead, he never played another regular season game.
On August 12, the Patriots played a preseason exhibition game against the Oakland Raiders at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. The Raiders had long been known as the dirtiest team in the League. Especially on defense. They had players like linebacker Ted Hendricks, "the Mad Stork." They had linebacker Phil Villapiano, whose name means "soft town," but he's actually from Asbury Park, New Jersey, a very tough town, and he lived up to it. (While in high school, he transferred from Asbury Park High to nearby Ocean Township High, considerably more suburban, but was still Asbury Park tough.) They had cornerback Lester Hayes, known -- for the way he bothered opponents, not women or kids -- as "Lester the Molester."
And they had cornerback Jack Tatum, who grew up outside New York in Passaic, New Jersey, a member of Ohio State's 1968 National Champions, a man who would title his autobiography They Call Me Assassin. When he hit a player, the player didn't see stars. The player was lucky to see anything.
The Patriots won this game, 21-7, but hardly anybody cared -- and not just because it was an exhibition game that didn't count for anything other than personnel assessment.
Grogan threw a pass, intended for Stingley, but it was a little off. Stingley reached for it. In came Tatum, like a speeding freight train, throwing his shoulder at Stingley's head. This compressed his spinal cord, and broke his fourth and fifth cervical vertebrae.
Although controversial, the hit was not against NFL rules at the time, as it was not helmet-to-helmet contact -- it was shoulder-to-helmet contact. No penalty was called on the play. Since then, the NFL has banned all blows to the head or neck of a defenseless player, and has disallowed players to launch themselves in tackling defenseless players.
Boston Globe reporter John Powers recalled, "You knew, right away, that it was bad. Darryl just lay there, motionless. And I remember, later on, seeing the doctor, asking him how long Darryl's going to be out, is he going to be able to play next year? And he said, 'You don't understand: Darryl's never going to walk again.'" He eventually regained some movement in his right arm, but that would be it. He spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair.
Just when it looked like things couldn't get any worse for Stingley and the Patriots, they did -- not medically, but officially. The injury came just after Stingley had finished negotiating a contract extension that would have made him one of the highest paid receivers in the NFL. The new contract was to be announced when the Patriots returned from the West Coast. Instead, it was never signed. The Patriots agreed to pay for all of Stingley's medical expenses for the rest of his life, as well as his and his children's education.
Raider head coach John Madden went right to the hospital after the game, and he and Stingley became friends for life. Gene Upshaw, the Raiders' Hall of Fame guard, also befriended Stingley, and, later, as Director of the NFL Players' Association, used Stingley's example to secure benefits for disabled players.
Oddly, the Patriots actually got better without Stingley. They set an NFL record for most team rushing yards in a season, 3,165, which stood for 40 years. Cunningham ran for 768 yards, Horace Ivory for 693, Andy Johnson for 675, and quarterback Grogan for 539. They also set a record that still stands with 181 1st downs rushing.
They won their 1st Division title in 15 years, but lost to the Houston Oilers in the Divisional Playoffs. They finally reached the Super Bowl in the 1985 season, as the generation of Patriot players that Stingley played with, including Grogan, Hannah, Morgan, Steve Nelson and Julius Adams was winding down. (Cunningham had retired by then, and Grogan had already been replaced as starting quarterback by Tony Eason, although Grogan did play in the Pats' Super Bowl XX clobbering at the hands of the Chicago Bears.)
Their Playoff run included a win against the Raiders, after which Raider linebacker Matt Millen picked a fight with Patrick Sullivan, Patriot general manager and son of founding owner Billy Sullivan, due to the heckling he was doing against the Raider players. Interviewed after the game, with a Band-Aid on his forehead but otherwise unscathed, the younger Sullivan, remembering Stingley, and also the Raiders' controversial 1976 Playoff win over them, the infamous "Ben Dreith Game" for referee Dreith seemingly handing the Raiders the win, said, "We're just getting back for Jack Tatum, and all of the crap that their football team has put on our football team over the years!"
In 1992, Stingley completed his correspondence course, and received his bachelor's degree from Purdue. He said he had forgiven Tatum, but also criticized him for not reaching out to him at the time. In 1993, he started a nonprofit organization to help troubled youth in his old neighborhood, the West Side of Chicago. He had a daughter and 4 children, including Derek Stingley, a defensive back in the Arena Football League. His grandson, Derek Stingley Jr., is a defensive back who helped Louisiana State win the 2019 National Championship, and was the 3rd pick in the 2022 NFL Draft, by the Houston Texans.
Darryl Stingley died on April 5, 2007, due to heart disease and pneumonia, complications of his paralysis. He was 55, and had lived to see the Patriots' 1st 5 Super Bowl appearances, and their 1st 3 Super Bowl wins.
With Raymond Berry, Hall of Fame receiver for the Baltimore Colts,
then head coach of the Patriots, before Super Bowl XX, 1986
Tatum played another 3 seasons. Madden said the Stingley hit "was something that ate on him for his whole life." Just as Chuck Bednarik had attempted to see Frank Gifford in the hospital after a scary hit in 1960, Tatum claimed he had tried to see Stingley in the hospital, but was turned away. With Bednarik, he was turned away by hospital officials. Tatum claimed it was Stingley's family that wouldn't let him see Darryl, something the family still denies.
Tatum never apologized, not for that hit, nor for any other, saying, "It's unrealistic. If you want to play football for a living, you're going to get injured."
Despite 3 Pro Bowl appearances and his role in helping the Raiders win Super Bowl XI, he has never been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The College Football Hall, yes; the Pro Football Hall, no. If he hadn't done what he did to Stingley, would he be in? I believe so. But he did do it. If he had publicly apologized, would he be in? Maybe.
He worked in the Raider organization, and then became a successful real-estate developer. With some irony, while Stingley lost the use of his legs, Tatum lost his legs due to diabetes. The disease forced him into needing a kidney transplant, but he died on July 27, 2010, before it could happen. He was 61.
When asked to make a comment about Tatum's death, Grogan, who never met the man off the field, said, "I have a hard time trying to find something nice to say... I just can't do it."
*
August 12, 1978 was a Saturday. NFL exhibition games were played, but it was too early for college football. These Major League Baseball games were played:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 6-4 at Memorial Stadium. Lee May and Pat Kelly hit home runs to support Mike Flanagan, and knock Jim Beattie out of the box after just 2 innings. Thurman Munson and Lou Piniella each got 2 hits, Chris Chambliss had a 2-run single, and Reggie Jackson singled as a pinch-hitter for Cliff Johnson (starting at DH because Flanagan was a lefthander), but it wasn't enough.
This series was drenched with rain. This game had 2 rain delays, the game the night before was shortened to 6 innings with the Yankees winning, and the next day's game was marred by the Oriole grounds crew -- the Yankees and their fans have always believed they were ordered to do so by manager Earl Weaver -- dumped rain off the tarp and onto the field, to get the game called, and get the score reverted to what it was at the start of the inning, turning a Yankee lead into a rain-shorted Oriole win. The Yankees won the series finale on the Monday, and continued their epic comeback to repeat as World Series winners.
* The New York Mets lost to the St. Louis Cardinals, 5-1 at Shea Stadium. Jerry Morales and Steve Swisher (father of later Yankee star Nick Swisher) each got 3 hits. Lou Brock did not play, and Keith Hernandez only appeared as a late defensive replacement. John Denny over 7 innings and Roy Thomas over the last 2 allowed only 1 hit, a single by John Stearns to lead off the bottom of the 7th.
* The Montreal Expos beat the Chicago Cubs, 4-3 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Each team scored 2 runs in the 12th inning, after only scoring 1 apiece in the previous 11 innings. Tom Hutton singled home the winning run in the bottom of the 14th inning.
* The Boston Red Sox swept a doubleheader from the Milwaukee Brewers at Fenway Park, 3-1 and 11-4. Jim Wright went the distance to win the opener, and Carlton Fisk hit a home run. Bob Stanley won the nightcap, supported by a home run by Jim Rice. Over the 2 games, Robin Yount went 1-for-9 with an RBI. Carl Yastrzemski, still hitting hard at age 39, didn't play in either game. Nor did Paul Molitor, about to turn 22 and having a fine rookie season.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 10-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Willie Stargell did not play. Mike Schmidt went 0-for-3, but did draw 2 walks. Greg Luzinski and Bob Boone hit home runs, and Richie Hebner went 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, in support of Randy Lerch.
* The Toronto Blue Jays beat the Kansas City Royals, 5-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto. George Brett did not play.
* The Texas Rangers beat the Cleveland Indians, 6-1 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Detroit Tigers, 6-3 at Comiskey Park.
* The Minnesota Twins beat the Oakland Athletics, 6-3 at Metropolitan Stadium in the Minneapolis suburb of Bloomington, Minnesota. Rod Carew went 2-for-4.
* The Houston Astros beat the Atlanta Braves, 5-2 at the Astrodome in Houston.
* The San Diego Padres beat the Cincinnati Reds, 4-2 at San Diego Stadium (later Jack Murphy Stadium and Qualcomm Stadium). Pete Rose and Johnny Bench both went 1-for-4.
* The San Francisco Giants beat their arch-rivals, the Los Angeles Dodgers, 3-2 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.
* And a doubleheader was split at the Kingdome in Seattle. The California Angels won the 1st game, 7-5, when Danny Goodwin singled home the winning run in the top of the 10th inning. The Seattle Mariners won the 2nd game, 5-3.
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