Paralyzed Stingley dies of aftereffects

Darryl Stingley spent more than half his life in a wheelchair, a symbol of the violence of the NFL, where large bodies collide at high speeds on every play.

He was only 26 when he clashed head-on with the Raiders’ Jack Tatum during an exhibition at the Oakland Coliseum as they leaped for a pass.

That play has haunted the NFL for nearly three decades. On Thursday, the aftereffects of Stingley’s grievous injury finally took his life at age 55.

He was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after he was found unresponsive in his Chicago home, according to Tony Brucci, an investigator with the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy revealed contributing factors were bronchial pneumonia, quadriplegia, spinal cord injury and coronary atherosclerosis, the medical examiner’s office said.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Darryl Stingley,” Tatum said in a statement released by the Raiders. “Darryl will be forever remembered for his strength and courage. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”

Stingley was a star receiver with the New England Patriots when he collided with Tatum on Aug. 12, 1978. With one jolt, his life was forever changed. His neck was broken; he was left a quadriplegic.

“I have relived that moment over and over again,” he said in a 1988 interview with the Associated Press. “I was 26 years old at the time and I remember thinking, ‘What’s going to happen to me? If I live, what am I going to be like?’ And then there were all those whys, whys, whys?

“It was only after I stopped asking why, that I was able to regroup and go on with my life.”

His death instantly rekindled the debate over the circumstances of the accident.

“That hit probably was not necessary in a game with no meaning,” said Steve Grogan, the Patriots quarterback who threw the pass.

But Chuck Fairbanks, New England’s coach at the time, said he couldn’t find anything illegal or dirty about it. Nor did the officials – no flag was thrown on Tatum.

“I saw replays many, many times, and many times Jack Tatum was criticized,” Fairbanks said. “But there wasn’t anything at the time that was illegal about that play. I do think probably that play was a forerunner for some of the changes in rules that exist today that are more protective of receivers, especially if there is head-to-head-type contact. I think that probably pre-empted some of the things that happened today.”

That style made Tatum a symbol of a violent game and he never shed that reputation. He eventually wrote a book titled: “Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum.”

Tatum and Stingley never reconciled. In 1996, they were supposed to meet for a TV appearance, but Stingley called it off after being told it was to publicize Tatum’s book.

But when he learned that Tatum needed to have part of a leg amputated because of diabetes, he empathized.

“You can’t, as a human being, feel happy about something like that happening to another human being,” Stingley told the Boston Globe in 2003. “Maybe the natural reaction is to think he got what was coming to him, but I don’t accept human nature as our real nature.”

Stingley is survived by his wife, Martine, and three sons, Hank, John and Derek. Funeral services are pending.