He had a game-winning tackle of future Hall of Fame running back Jim Taylor in the closing seconds of the Eagles 17-13 win in 1960. Could someone please explain to me why Jim Marshall is not in the Hall of Fame? Yeah. We havent seen the worst yet.. One great performance, such as Joe Namaths for the New York Jets in Super Bowl III, can bring endless endorsements. I mean, if you played marbles against Mike Webster, he still would beat you. Family Life He married a woman named Sally and has a daughter named Jennifer. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. It has been 20 years since Otto retired after a Hall of Fame career. Former Pittsburgh Steelers defensive lineman Ernie Holmes once sat on a bridge and shot at passing trucks, and then was arrested for shooting a police officer in the leg before surrendering. This is FRONTLINE's old website. Jim Strub wrote from a mountainside in Colorado. 16. He endured torn-up knees, broken hands, broken ribs, and an acutely-painful hamstring tear but never missed a game. 25. Krueger now cant kneel and has problems walking on uneven surfaces. And then you have a guy like Junior Seau come along this last year. And you couldn't remember. Nearly two out of three retirees live with a permanent injury. So all of a sudden here comes Raymond into the game. He's beating people with it. Jack Tatum, Safety, Oakland Raiders & Houston Oilers (1971-1980), He was nicknamed The Assassin. He knocked out future Hall of Fame tight end John Mackey in the first game of his career.
THE BREAKS OF THE GAME OF THE GAME "Uh-uh, can't do it," you know? 13. And I'm sure there's a lot of studies going on with regard to what was going on with him prior to this. NFL tough guy was fined for: kicking fullback Larry Centers in the head (1995); breaking Kerry Collins' jaw on a preseason helmet-to-helmet hit (1997); throwing a football at linebacker Bryan Cox and hitting him in the groin (1999); punching tight end Tony Gonzalez (1999); and breaking the eye socket of teammate Marcus Williams in a scrimmage, forcing him to retire (2003). Jim Otto, center for the Oakland Raiders, poses on Aug. 15, 1970. But a lot of guys no longer get the "Hey, Joe, how you doing. "
The FRONTLINE Interview: Jim Otto | League of Denial: The NFL's Jim Otto is 6-2 (188 cm) tall. Doesn't say anything. I used to watch you play when I was a kid --. I realize that. That's the way Mike Webster would say it, too. He underwent surgery to have 30 inches of his intestines removed, and returned for the second game of the season. Below is a look at some of Jim Ottos career accomplishments and highlights. Raider, grew up in Wausau, Wisconsin, a medium-sized town in the central part of the state where he excelled as a hockey goaltender and as a football center at Wausau High. He maintained his streak despite pneumonia, an ulcer, and a shotgun wound to the side. Former Raiders internist Dr. Some play with injuries because they fear they might lose their job or position and their self-concept and identity. Johnny Unitas, Quarterback, Pittsburgh Steelers & Baltimore Colts & San Diego Chargers (1956-1974). I look at Dave Dalby, because he used to tell me he wanted to follow me in my footsteps. That is my complete and honest feeling.
New Columns From Your Class Correspondents - Cornellians We reserve the right to not post comments that are more than 400 words. Was there anybody that helped Mike Webster go through rehab at that time? He considered the 20-some broken noses as more nuisance than hindrance, along with a hip pointer, broken fingers, broken ribs, a broken jaw, neck stingers, numerous concussions, kicked-in teeth and a bout of double pneumonia. Longtime Raiders team doctor Robert Rosenfield, who died last January of cancer, diagnosed it as strained ligaments.
Jim Otto: The Pain of Glory by Jim Otto | Goodreads And I went, "Yay." If you get hit in the head and a little dizziness comes out of it, you've suffered a concussion. When Giants defensive tackle Jim Pietrzak wished him good luck in the playoffs, he punched him. Nobody is giving me any special help. In the 1968 regular season, Oakland scored 453 points (32.4 points/game), once again leading the AFL, beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round before losing to the Jets. Mr. But many former players are experiencing health problems after the spotlight dims, the celebrity fades and they cease to be larger than life. My first thoughts were, I got sick. 32. It would become so embarrassing that I stopped going out in public, said Otto, who had his knees drained and injected with painkillers four times a week during his last three playing years.
Jim Otto There was about 150 people come, and naturally I wanted to play well and everything. Flat-out refusedthat is, until the league made him.
Jim Otto: The Pain of Glory In the first sentence of his foreword for the book, Hall of Fame coach John Madden writes: If someone came from another planet and wanted to know what a football player looked like, youd show him a poster of Jim Otto. Madden goes on to call Jim the greatest center who ever played.. We'd attack the bunker, and the quarterbacks would be sitting in a tank with the general saying, 'Well, what kind of attack are you planning?' During the 1980s, Otto was involved in numerous business ventures. I can't perform like I used to for a lot of different things physically, but I don't think it's directly connected to the brain. Where are you?," you know, and I didn't know where the hell I was. Players were not allowed to get medical second opinions until 1982, according to the NFLPA. And then a year ago there were four suicides among not necessarily the best noted players but some players, and the Players Association claimed that it's been because of concussions and stuff like that. It becomes quite a shock..
27. Too many times we hear about the negatives because were former athletes, but the media ignores the players who make positive contributions, said Curtis, a D.C. commercial real estate broker. I'm over here, I had a couple dozen concussions or more, and I hurt. Once you leave the game, people forget about you quite quickly, said Drew Pearson, the former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver. Including pre-season, regular season and post-season games, Otto competed in 308 consecutive games. If anybody tells you anything different, then they are dumber than I think they are., Krueger replied: Oh yeah, wait till some of these guys turn 65, and they have a bad heart, crummy knees or a screwed-up personality. No one ever has been suspended for a second or third time. Double-zero recalls stories about all of his famous Raider teammates, his most memorable opponents, and the behind-the-scenes life of an NFL Hall of Famer. Krueger endured as many as 50 procedures in which bloody fluid was removed from his swollen knee and replaced with steroid compounds. I think a lot of it is related to the pain and the lack of ability that I have for doing certain things. Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, Sherman Oaks Notre Dame receives No. James Edwin Otto (born January 5, 1938 in Wausau, Wisconsin) is a former center for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League. In the opening chapter of his autobiography, Jim provides an accounting: 38 surgeries (a total now estimated to have doubled since the books 2000 publishing date), including 28 on his knees alone, both of which are artificial, as are both shoulders. He won eight rushing titles before abruptly retiring at the age of 30. Thats why I think Id come back and do it again.. When I retired I was down. Retirement affects athletes in different ways, said Fishelman, the Baltimore doctor. Is there something about Wisconsin, or is it something about how you just approached that position itself, the center? Bleier eventually played on four Super Bowl championships and earned a reputation as both a fearsome blocker and a powerful runner. Csonka was a bull in a china shop. I know that all of us guys I know in some way, shape or form have down times, when there's a certain amount of depression in our minds and our thoughts, in our heart, and it's not a very comfortable situation. Hall of Fame linebacker Dick Butkus had a similar situation with the Bears. Now, nobody in America knows that, like they know about the guy who had a concussion, like the guy who is in class-action suits, suing the National Football League because they had a concussion. But I'll tell you whathe had more knockouts than any of us. Brown fractured the face of an Eagles running back, broke another players vertebrae, and knocked a Steelers running backs eye out of its socket. Some players have catheterized themselves and replaced their own urine with clean samples before testing.. Grasping lifes highs and lows for Jim Otto his excellence on the football field and the lifelong physical toll achieving that excellence extracted requires little more than reading the first few pages of his aptly titled autobiography, The Pain of Glory.. WebJim Otto was an All-Star in the first 13 of his 15 seasons every year in the AFL from 1960 through 1969 and three of his five seasons in the NFL. And yet I'd be playing, you know? I think that everything that has caused my body to be a problem has been from football, you know? Enter and space open menus and escape closes them as well. Ronnie Lott was a cornerback who hit like a linebacker. and ankle injuries during his three years with the Hurricanes. Otto was one of only 20 players to play for the entire ten-year existence of the American Football League, and was selected as the Sporting News All-League center from 1960 through 1969. It's like the way that you used to do it. The desire of Ray Lewis to be the greatest linebacker in NFL history is fueled by an inner toughness that manifests itself on the football field. In his 14 seasons, Lilly never missed a game. Stillwell, who played only three seasons with the Bears, walks with a cane. Otto is also the subject of works by artist Matthew Barney.[3]. And then being in that position to hit the ball, the runner drops his head, the quarterback drops his head or whatever it might be, and you have head-to-head contact. A lot of things. If I had a graph I could show you it. Bill Romanowski, Linebacker, San Francisco 49ers & Philadelphia Eagles & Denver Broncos & Oakland Raiders (1988-2003).
Jim Otto Favre has earned three MVP awards and led the Packers to a championship in 1996. But you're saying there are issues? In 14 seasons of play for the Oakland Raiders, Jim Otto played had a punishing history of injuries. In a playoff game in 1972, Greene recorded five sacks, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and blocked a field goal in a 9-3 win vs. Houston. There's so many things psychologically that can affect each and every person in this world, not just football players.
Nobody is helping me. He chewed through the bars of his face mask and reportedly ate the window panes of the team bus. What is the result exactly? In 15 seasons, Otto played 210 consecutive games and made the AFL All-Star or Pro Bowl team 12 times. He has arthritis in his shoulders and neck. In one game, he knocked out the entire Washington Redskins backfield one by one. It's incredibly debatable, but here is my attempt to rank them in order for toughness.
Jim Otto Age, Bio, Personal Life, Family & Stats - CelebsAges He had his right leg amputated in 2007. Oh no. And Nitschke, it was right toward the end of his career, and he was I guess letting Carter get some time in there. In addition to playing offensive center at UM, he also played linebacker on defense. I have issues, yes, I have issues. But has suicide and those kind of mental traumas, extreme points like a suicide, has that always been a feature that you've known about that's been kind of the chatter of the backroom [among] players? Jim Brown, Running Back, Cleveland Browns (1957-1965), Arguably the greatest combination of power and speed the game has ever seen, Brown missed one game in his nine-year career. It's detailed, proudly, in his book, "The Pain of Glory" (ISBN 1-58261-066-5), published in 2000. FRONTLINE is a registered trademark of WGBH Educational Foundation. Trafton played before the NFL enforced late-hit, roughing, or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. It's more retirement I think than anything else. Walter Payton, Running Back, Chicago Bears (1975-1987). Minor injuries, therefore minor distractions, he called them. And that is something that I'm dealing with. We need people in the National Football League now, and I think we have various different projects going within the NFL -- the NFL Players Association, the NFL Alumni -- to help these guys now, because I did go to the Alumni, I did go to the Players Association and get monies from them for other rehabs for other players. 1. You don't mess with him. It just -- you know, maybe I choked a little bit and thought, oh, boy, I used to do that. It isn't long [before] there won't be a kickoff because oh, my goodness, that guy gets the ball in the end zone and he comes running out of there so fast, he could hurt somebody, you know? Rob Huizenga, in his book Youre Okay, Its Just a Bruise, suggests that some team doctors were involved in a silent conspiracy with management to put players back on the field at any cost. Few occupations can provide the riches and fame, yet simultaneously the danger, of pro football. He suffered a cracked vertebra, a concussion, and crushed intestines during a car crash before his senior year of college. He led the Eagles to championships in 1949 and 1960. During the 1980s, Otto was involved in numerous business ventures. He owned numerous Burger King Restaurants near Sacramento, California until the early 1990s. In 1997, Otto's daughter, Jennifer, a 39-year-old mother of four, died from a blood clot. Injuries and operations During one six-month stretch, he was without a right knee joint because he had to wait for an infection to heal before another artificial knee could be implanted. Left and right arrows move across top level links and expand / close menus in sub levels. Unitas also has an artificial knee and will have a hip replacement soon. The site navigation utilizes arrow, enter, escape, and space bar key commands.
Jim Otto As a rookie, he was notorious for threatening veterans and starting fights in training camp. By submitting comments here, you are consenting to these rules:Readers' comments that include profanity, obscenity, personal attacks, harassment, or are defamatory, sexist, racist, violate a third party's right to privacy, or are otherwise inappropriate, will be removed. Let them play it the way it's supposed to be played, the way the rules are, and don't keep changing the rules. There's the toughness of getting the snot knocked out of you, and the can't-be-intimidated, never-quit kind of tough.
He ended the career of MVP quarterback Joe Theismann with a compound leg fracture in a Monday Night game in 1985. Perhaps the most painful of Jim Ottos 23 surgeries occurred five years ago.
Jim Otto - Injuries and Surgeries | Injuries Surgeries I mean, in the line it's war. Butkus was a turnover machine and earned eight Pro Bowl selections in his nine seasons. It came from the game. In 1997, he spit in the face of wide receiver JJ Stokes. As a rookie in 1920, he angered the Rock Island Independents so bad that they sent four players into the game on a mission to destroy Trafton. Oftentimes you'll see the contact where a tackler will tackle a runner or the quarterback, and right away they flag him, and it's going to cost them $20,000, $50,000, whatever it is for that hit. Now, I don't think that's fair. Now, you were talking about Webster and how he would approach the game. And --. Editors note: Sadly, Class of 52 correspondent Joan Boffa Gaul passed away on April 11, 2023.This column, her final one, was written in February. Yeah, I think it was in -- I'm not exactly sure what year; it was '72 or something. After the game, we go into the locker room and he says, Hey Doc, I think I got a problem. Andy Russell, linebacker, 36. And if you cant take the injuries, get the hell out. Lewis is one of the greatest playmakers and natural team leaders the game has ever seen. Do you feel like that's associated with football, too? If you want to get into something else, play with the girls., 2. Privacy Policy No. Utleys injury received a lot of media attention because it happened during a game. His head still down, Nagurski ran full speed into the brick outfield wall there at Wrigley Field. He has played through numerous injuries such as a separated right clavicle, an infected right shoulder, a dislocated ring finger on his right hand, torn cartilage in his right knee, a strained calf, a hip pointer, a ruptured disk, back spasms, strained rib cartilage, severely bruised ribs, a left knee sprain, an MCL sprain, a left ankle sprain, severe turf toe, a cracked bone spur in his left ankle, a bone spur in his toe, and a severely bruised sternum. I mean, we battled in there, and this is the result of it right here, sitting here, looking at you. Former Chicago Bears tight end and head coach Mike Ditka waddles like a wooden toy soldier because of an artificial hip. I've had scans of my brain, and it's been explained to me what is really wrong with my brain. Otto punished his body greatly during his NFL career, resulting in nearly 40 surgeries, including 28 knee operations (nine of them during his playing career alone) and multiple joint replacements. George Trafton, Center, Chicago Bears (1920-1921, 1923-1932). His right leg was eventually amputated in 2007. PBS Privacy Policy Injuries and Surgeries Otto punished his body greatly during his NFL career, resulting in nearly 40 surgeries, including 28 knee operations (nine of them during his WebJim Otto is generally recognized as one of the greatest and most durable centers the game of football has ever seen. I don't want to make an excuse. He soon was established as the Raiders center. FRONTLINE Watch FRONTLINE I was proud that the NFL started the random drug testing, and Im sure use has decreased, said Huizenga, the former Raiders doctor, but its still there. I don't like to think about what these guys are talking about with regards to concussions and how it could affect our lives. But in the final five years he began to suffer The Pro Football Hall of Fame recently received new artifacts from Super Bowl LV. Tommy McDonald, Wide Receiver, Philadelphia Eagles & Dallas Cowboys & Los Angeles Rams & Atlanta Falcons & Cleveland Browns (1957-1968). These guys constantly live on the edge, and the same behavior they once used to achieve notoriety on the field they exhibit off the field.. Larry Csonka, Fullback, Miami Dolphins & New York Giants (1968-1974, 1976-1979). Hall of Fame linebacker Sam Huff said, Hardy Brown was a designated hitter. Double-zero recalls stories about all WebIn addition to his football injuries, Otto also had two strokes, three heart attacks, and diabetes which caused blindness in one eye. He waited six months between artificial knees 5 and 6 after fighting off an infection that nearly took his life. 22. Then there's the toughness a person has, an aura, that he can intimidate other people by his play or his toughness.. The doctors have led me to believe that yes indeed, due to using my head and the number of concussions I have had, taken me down this road to where I do have some problems with memory [and] that I will have more, but I'm not worried about it. Mark Bavaro, Tight End, New York Giants & Cleveland Browns & Philadelphia Eagles (1985-1990, 1992-1994). Right. Corporate Sponsorship In 1974, he used a cast on his broken left hand as a weapon. The 2003 NFL MVP, McNair has never missed a playoff start and led the Titans to the Super Bowl in 1999. He counts three near-death experiences directly related to infections or septic shock from football-related surgeries. Journalistic Guidelines I love everybody, and I love to know them; I love to remember their names, but sometimes if I can't remember a name, I'm not going to fret over it and get upset. Don Meredith, Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys (1960-1968), Meredith was really tough.