Reporter Gil Santo WBZ Radio, Boston
The interviewer is unspecified
R.I.P.
DARRYL STINGLEY
September 18, 1951 – April 5, 2005
September 18, 1951 – April 5, 2005
Born on the west side of Chicago, Darryl played running back at John Marshall High School. He was offered a scholarship to play football at Purdue University where he was converted to a wide receiver.
He played at Purdue from 1970 until 1972. He received his bachelor degree in 1992 in a commencement ceremony which was described as “stirring.”
In 2004 Stingley returned to Purdue to be inducted into the Intercollegiate Athletics Hall of Fame.
"The Purdue family has lost one of its treasured heroes in Darryl Stingley," athletics director Morgan J. Burke said. "His strength and courage will never be forgotten. On behalf of the entire university, our thoughts and prayers are with his family."
In 1973, Stingley was the first round draft choice of the New England Patriots of the NFL. He played for the team from 1973 until 1977.
During a 1978 pre-season game against the Oakland Raiders, Stingley was running a crossing pattern. As he went into the air to catch a pass he took a violent hit from the elbow of Jack “The Assassin” Tatum. Stingley fell to the ground immediately.
He had to be taken off the field on a stretcher and in the coming days it was learned that he had broken his fourth and fifth vertebra and was a quadriplegic.
Over the years he gained some use of his right arm which allowed him to use an electric wheelchair.
Tatum never apologized for the hit, continuing to claim it was a “clean hit.” In 1980 he wrote a book titled “They Call Me Assassin” and tried to contact Stingley. Stingley refused to speak to him.
In 1983 on the 25th Anniversary of the hit, HBO tried to get both men into the studio to discuss the play. Again, Stingley refused calling the event a “publicity stunt.”
Stingley became the Director of Player Development for the Patriots. In 1983 Stingley co-authored his memoir entitled “Happy To be Alive” with Mark Mulvoy.
In 1993 he started a non-profit organization to assist troubled youths in the Chicago area.
He was pronounced dead yesterday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after being found in his home unresponsive. The cause of death has been attributed to heart disease and pneumonia complicated by quadriplegia.
Stingley is survived by his wife Martine and three sons; Hank, John and Derek, who plays defensive back for the Albany Firebirds in the Arena Football League.
THE COUCH NOTE: Jack Tatum would eventually face his own disability as his left leg was amputated below the knee in 2003 due to a staph infection caused by diabetes. Tatum also suffered from an arterial blockage that almost cost him his right leg. He currently uses a prosthetic leg to walk around or a wheelchair. Tatum currently works in increasing awareness of diabetes. To facilitate this goal, he created the Ohio-based Jack Tatum Fund for Youthful Diabetes, which finances diabetes research. Prior to Super Bowl XL, ESPN Andrea Kremer did an interview with Tatum confirming that he still has few regrets about paralyzing Stingley.
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The Masters is this weekend. A sure sign of spring.Will Tiger win his 5th Green Jacket?
Or will it be the Cinderella Boy?
Of course, you need to have clean balls to play like a champion...
All of New England is patting themselves on the back today. The Red Sox bid $51,111,111.00 just to get negotiating rights to “Dice-K” and then signed him to a $52,000,000.00 contract.
The Red Sox $103,000,000.00 pitcher Daisuke Matsuzaka stuck out 10 hitters in 7 innings and helped the Red Sox win 4-1 yesterday.
Pretty impressive outing …EXCEPT IT WAS AGAINST THE KANSAS CITY ROYALS!!!!!
The Royals went 61-100 in 2006; 56-106 in 2005 and 58-104 in 2004.
Sheesh…. It was the KANSAS CITY ROYALS!
Take a cold shower Red Sox Nation.
Take a cold shower Red Sox Nation.
Finally, George Carlin gives us his take on Baseball vs. Football
Our friend Anndi, who is on the way with her Chicklet to CT to meet up
with MaryFly and Bug to see Taylor Hicks will have a ball (pun intended) with this.
CREDITS:
DARRYL STINGLEY VIDEO
WBZ Radio
Gil Santo
CINDERELLA BOY
From the movie CADDYSHACK
Bill Murray
Written by: Brian Doyle Murray
Harold Ramis & Bill Murray
REAL MEN OF GENIUS
Mr. Golf Ball Washer Inventor
Created By: Bob Winter
Talent: Pete Slacker
Anheuser Busch
TALKING BASEBALL - BOSTON RED SOX
Terry Cashman
Composer: Terry Cashman
FOOTBALL vs. BASEBALL
George Carlin
HEADER
VEM2007
I knew you would be posting about Darryl Stingley. The article I read said that after the game, John Madden went to visit Stingley in the hospital daily and thereafter remained close to him. Madden told his players from then on Stingley was a Raider and that they should all treat him as one. Sounds like Stingley lived the remainder of his life courageously.
Love the classic Carlin bit. I must admit (with no fear of retribution from you) that I much prefer the season of "dying" and football to baseball.
That said, Go D-Backs!
I was at that game. The air literally went out of the stadium and 30k plus were dead silent. We didn't know he was paralyzed, but we knew the hit was hard and that he was injured.
I can still hear it.
But I maintain to this day that there was nothing viscious about that hit. It was a clean hit, by the rules.
Was it necessary during a pre-season game? Probably not. But Jack always played the game at a high level. How do you dial that competitiveness down?
You don't. My knees are destroyed, because you don't dial down that intensity. When you play the game, you play it. And sometimes a tragic injury will happen.
A receiver came over the middle, into Jack's zone. Jack laid the receiver out. That was Jack's job.
I did that many times. I followed the rules using the technique I was taught. Luckily I got up, and the guys I hit got up.
This is what then Patriot's coach Chuck Fairbanks said about the play:
“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.”
There will always be controversy about this play.
SONGBIRD: Madden is a class act, always has been. You didn't have to say it outloud, I know you prefer "dying" to "being safe at home"
I'll take the Boys of Spring
TRAVIS: Thanks for sharing your personal insight into this. You will notice I did not make any judgments on the hit. I am aware you need to not "dial it down" - that you can be injured doing so. That said, Tatum bragged that he looked to put hurt on other players during his career and I am not sure I am in agreement with that attitude.
I also am a bit shocked he never apologized. Maybe not while he was playing, but afterward.
We are now in Lake George... and the Chicklet can't wait to see Bug and Mary and TAYLOR!! WOOOOOOOO!!!
FOOTBALL!!!!!!
I LOVE George!
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!
Sudden death hehehehe!
The uniforms.. *rolls eyes*
go home...
be safe...
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!
This has always... always been one of my favourite Carlin rants!
SMOOCH!!!
Raider Nation has debated whether Jack needed to apologize since it happened. Most of the fans I know agreed that he should not.
Some of the younger guys in my office were discussing this yesterday, applying today's standards and 30 years of hindsight to it. They suggest that Jack should have been suspended and perhaps banned.
But they don't take into account that his hit was clean. They just look at his reputation, the result of the play, and apply today's rules to it.
Different time, different game. And Jack wasn't the only one who played it with a violent attitude. He's just one of the most famous faces because of Daryl's injury.
Lawrence Taylor played the game the same way...he is revered for it. He is not reviled for nearly ripping Joe Theisman's leg off and ending his career. And he should not be - it was an unfortunate and ghastly injury, but still part of the game.
If Daryl gets up from that hit, no one remembers it and it's just part of the game.
Thanks for writing about this without passing a judgment.
That pitcher is yet another Japanese who caught America by surprise. Bada Bing!!
great, now I miss football yet again.
Carlin does a great job without saying it of even showing the difference the way things are presented.
Vin Scully-Baseball
John Facenda-Football
One of my earliest football memories is watching that Stingley was back in New England. Funny what sticks in the brain of a kid.
If anyone but Tiger or Vijay wins this weekend, it will be a cinderella story.
I'm so not a sports follower, Bond, but I wanted to pop on to ask, HEY?! What *are* you doing to your old posts?? It's totally harshing on my feed reader! LOL
Have a great weekend!
Oh I bet those two Hoochies will have a blast!!
Have a good weekend Bondbaby
Smooch
Now that Peg has mentioned it, yeah, are you going back and tinkering some old posts? They're all popping up on the RSS feed and Google Reader. Not that I mind revisiting The Couch and old posts, but it gets a bit confusing.
I would agree with Travis that Tatum's hit was clean for the time, and no apologies needed to be made AT THE TIME for the clean hit, but then again, I would think that some remorse for the OUTCOME and Singley's injury would warrant an apology. Something along the lines of, "While I believe my hit was clean, I'm very sorry that Darryl was injured so severely." I think of it as something akin to my comment about respecting the office but not liking the man or woman who HOLDS the office. While some people don't agree that things like this are possible and are merely hair-splitting, I think it is possible for Tatum to know he was in the right AT THE TIME on how he delivered the hit, but could still be remorseful for the injury he inflicted.
Just sayin'...
I'll shut up now.
ANNDI: drive safely.. Why do you think I dedicated that rant to you??? I knew you would enjoy
TRAVIS: All excellent points, but if I am not mistaken, LT showed some remorse after the fact, for the injury to Joe. Jack never once did, up to and including the interview less then a year ago.
MATT-MAN: Wait until he takes on some real tough teams...
SPARKY- John and Vin, two of the best... Well Vijay had a horrible day yesterday, so I am not sure he will make any noise this weekend.
PEG & SONGBIRD & anyone else: Sorry, I am going back and adding labels to old posts that did not have any. This is in an attempt to then put a list of labels on the front page. Did not realize it would cause your readers to go wacko...please disregard...and i will be done this weekend.
TURN: They sure will...you also
TO ALL: NOT ONE WORD ON THE BUD LIGHT GENIUS BALL WASHER CLIP????
NOT EVEN YOU MATT??????
sheesh
That Carlin bit is a classic...I love it!
So sorry, Bond! I totally skipped that ball washing clip, but went back to it at your urging.
Yes, it's a wonderful thing that golfers can keep their dimpled balls all sudsy clean, hole after hole. Wouldn't want anyone walking around with dirty balls, would we?
[[snickering evilly]]
now this was all about sports, right bond? see i really tried to read it but i nodded off, the next time you have a sports one could you put a cruiseship in there somewhere to hold my attention? that would be nice...
happy easter bond.....
smiles, bee
Hi Bond...Billy Mac from Critique My Blog...I posted a story about Dr. Blogstein and mentioned you in the post...just wanted to let you know...hope all is well and happy easter!
I adore Carlin he's brilliant!
Happy Easter darling! mouaaaaah
Hee hee. Clean balls. This reminds me of one of my favorite television quotes said by Macauley Culkin to Karen Walker when he made a guest appearance on Will and Grace:
"Here's fifty bucks. Go get yourself a bikini wax.... I like a clean workspace."
HA HA!
My brother went to Purdue.
And.... diabetes is nothing to screw with. Poor guy.
Happy Easter to you and yours, Vinny - let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits!
xoXOxo,
Sanni-Bunny