Darryl Stingley
Encyclopedia
Darryl Floyd Stingley was an American
professional
football
wide receiver
whose career was cut short by an injury. He played his entire career with the New England Patriots
of the National Football League
. He died from heart disease
and pneumonia
complicated by quadriplegia
.
at John Marshall High School
. He was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Purdue University
, where he was converted into a wide receiver. He was a first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 1973, along with John Hannah of the University of Alabama
and Sam Cunningham
of the University of Southern California
.
. He also had 28 carries for 244 yards and two touchdowns, 19 punt returns for 136 yards and eight kickoff returns for 187 yards. He had over 500 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punt and kickoffs in 1973 and 1975. He finished his career with 2,450 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punts and kickoffs. He ran for a 23-yard touchdown in the Patriots' 42-3 win over the Baltimore Colts
on October 6, 1974. Stingley both ran for a 34-yard touchdown and caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in their 21-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs
on September 18, 1977, his 26th birthday. He is one of only three Patriots players who has caught a touchdown pass on his birthday, and is the only wide receiver to run for a touchdown and have a touchdown reception on his birthday.
at Oakland Coliseum
on August 12, 1978
, Stingley was hit by Raiders defensive back
Jack Tatum
. As Stingley and Tatum collided, Stingley lowered his helmet, which collided with Tatum's shoulder pad. The hit compressed Stingley's spinal cord
, breaking his fourth and fifth cervical
vertebrae. He eventually regained limited movement in his right arm, but spent the rest of his life as a quadriplegic. 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.
Although controversial, the hit was not, and still is not, against NFL rules as it was not head-to-head contact (it was a shoulder-to-head hit). No penalty was called on the play.
The incident became a symbol of violence in football. Stingley reportedly described it as a "freak accident". Because Stingley was a young player at the height of his career, his horrific injuries attracted significant public attention. Partly in response to Stingley's injuries, the NFL changed its rules and conventions to curtail aggressive plays. Stingley told the Chicago Tribune
that he approved of more restrictive officiating, saying "It has opened the game up to allow receivers to get downfield. And it has made the game more exciting."
Tatum's coach, John Madden, and many of his teammates extended their sympathies to Stingley. Madden's post-game rush to the hospital was the beginning of a close friendship. In fact, during his visit Madden found himself the lone visitor in the hospital. No one from the Patriots was there, until Madden called their team and the team's charter plane, in takeoff mode, finally returned to the gate. Raiders offensive guard Gene Upshaw
also befriended Stingley, and later was instrumental in securing benefits for disabled players through the NFL Players' Association.
A settlement was reached with the NFL, under which 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.
Stingley and Tatum never reconciled. Tatum contacted Stingley while writing his own autobiography, and HBO invited both men to appear on the 25th anniversary of the accident. Stingley refused after he learned of the title of Tatum's book: Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum. Stingley believed Tatum's efforts to contact him were nothing more than profit-motivated publicity stunts. However, in a 1992 article in Jet
, Darryl said that he had forgiven Jack a long time ago. But he also said that Jack had had opportunities to contact him over the years and never really made an effort. As might be expected, the situation was complicated.
Stingley later served as executive director of player personnel for the Patriots. Stingley co-authored a 1983
memoir, Happy to Be Alive, with Mark Mulvoy. In 1993 he started a nonprofit organization to help troubled youths in west Chicago. Stingley raised three sons - Darryl Jr., John S., and Derek Stingley, who played defensive back for the Albany Firebirds
in the Arena Football League
in Chicago after being discovered unresponsive in his home. His death was attributed to heart disease
and pneumonia
complicated by quadriplegia. The Cook County
Medical Examiner listed Stingley's cause of death as an accident.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
professional
Professional sports
Professional sports, as opposed to amateur sports, are sports in which athletes receive payment for their performance. Professional athleticism has come to the fore through a combination of developments. Mass media and increased leisure have brought larger audiences, so that sports organizations...
football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
wide receiver
Wide receiver
A wide receiver is an offensive position in American and Canadian football, and is the key player in most of the passing plays. Only players in the backfield or the ends on the line are eligible to catch a forward pass. The two players who begin play at the ends of the offensive line are eligible...
whose career was cut short by an injury. He played his entire career with the New England Patriots
New England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
of the National Football League
National Football League
The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...
. He died from heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
complicated by quadriplegia
Quadriplegia
Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is paralysis caused by illness or injury to a human that results in the partial or total loss of use of all their limbs and torso; paraplegia is similar but does not affect the arms...
.
Early life
Stingley was born to Hilda M. Stingley and raised on Chicago's West Side. He was a standout running backRunning back
A running back is a gridiron football position, who is typically lined up in the offensive backfield. The primary roles of a running back are to receive handoffs from the quarterback for a rushing play, to catch passes from out of the backfield, and to block.There are usually one or two running...
at John Marshall High School
John Marshall Metropolitan High School
John Marshall Metropolitan High School is a public 4-year high school located on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. It serves the students of the East Garfield Park, West Garfield Park, North Lawndale and Humboldt Park neighborhoods. Marshall's principal is Kenyatta Butler...
. He was offered and accepted a football scholarship to Purdue University
Purdue University
Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...
, where he was converted into a wide receiver. He was a first-round draft pick of the New England Patriots in 1973, along with John Hannah of the University of Alabama
University of Alabama
The University of Alabama is a public coeducational university located in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, United States....
and Sam Cunningham
Sam Cunningham
Samuel Lewis "Sam" Cunningham, Jr is a retired American football fullback. The media referred to him as Sam "Bam" Cunningham.-College career:...
of the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
.
Professional career
Stingley had 110 receptions for 1,883 yards and 14 touchdowns in 60 regular-season games for the New England PatriotsNew England Patriots
The New England Patriots, commonly called the "Pats", are a professional football team based in the Greater Boston area, playing their home games in the town of Foxborough, Massachusetts at Gillette Stadium. The team is part of the East Division of the American Football Conference in the National...
. He also had 28 carries for 244 yards and two touchdowns, 19 punt returns for 136 yards and eight kickoff returns for 187 yards. He had over 500 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punt and kickoffs in 1973 and 1975. He finished his career with 2,450 combined yards rushing, receiving and returning both punts and kickoffs. He ran for a 23-yard touchdown in the Patriots' 42-3 win over the Baltimore Colts
History of the Indianapolis Colts
The Indianapolis Colts are a professional football team based in Indianapolis, Indiana. They play in the AFC South division of the National Football League. They have won 3 NFL championships and 2 Super Bowls....
on October 6, 1974. Stingley both ran for a 34-yard touchdown and caught a 21-yard touchdown pass in their 21-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
on September 18, 1977, his 26th birthday. He is one of only three Patriots players who has caught a touchdown pass on his birthday, and is the only wide receiver to run for a touchdown and have a touchdown reception on his birthday.
Injury
In a preseason game against the Oakland RaidersOakland Raiders
The Oakland Raiders are a professional American football team based in Oakland, California. They currently play in the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
at Oakland Coliseum
McAfee Coliseum
O.co Coliseum is a multi-purpose stadium, located in Oakland, California, in the Coliseum Industrial area...
on August 12, 1978
1978 NFL season
The 1978 NFL season was the 59th regular season of the National Football League. The league expanded the regular season from a 14-game schedule to 16. Furthermore, the playoff format was expanded from 8 teams to 10 teams by adding another wild card from each conference...
, Stingley was hit by Raiders defensive back
Defensive back
In American football and Canadian football, defensive backs are the players on the defensive team who take positions somewhat back from the line of scrimmage; they are distinguished from the defensive line players and linebackers, who take positions directly behind or close to the line of...
Jack Tatum
Jack Tatum
John David Tatum was an American football defensive back who played ten seasons from 1971 through 1980 for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League...
. As Stingley and Tatum collided, Stingley lowered his helmet, which collided with Tatum's shoulder pad. The hit compressed Stingley's spinal cord
Spinal cord
The spinal cord is a long, thin, tubular bundle of nervous tissue and support cells that extends from the brain . The brain and spinal cord together make up the central nervous system...
, breaking his fourth and fifth cervical
Cervical
In anatomy, cervical is an adjective that has two meanings:# of or pertaining to any neck.# of or pertaining to the female cervix: i.e., the neck of the uterus.*Commonly used medical phrases involving the neck are**cervical collar...
vertebrae. He eventually regained limited movement in his right arm, but spent the rest of his life as a quadriplegic. 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.
Although controversial, the hit was not, and still is not, against NFL rules as it was not head-to-head contact (it was a shoulder-to-head hit). No penalty was called on the play.
The incident became a symbol of violence in football. Stingley reportedly described it as a "freak accident". Because Stingley was a young player at the height of his career, his horrific injuries attracted significant public attention. Partly in response to Stingley's injuries, the NFL changed its rules and conventions to curtail aggressive plays. Stingley told the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
that he approved of more restrictive officiating, saying "It has opened the game up to allow receivers to get downfield. And it has made the game more exciting."
Tatum's coach, John Madden, and many of his teammates extended their sympathies to Stingley. Madden's post-game rush to the hospital was the beginning of a close friendship. In fact, during his visit Madden found himself the lone visitor in the hospital. No one from the Patriots was there, until Madden called their team and the team's charter plane, in takeoff mode, finally returned to the gate. Raiders offensive guard Gene Upshaw
Gene Upshaw
Eugene Thurman Upshaw, Jr. was an American football player for the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League and later the NFL, later the executive director of the National Football League Players' Association...
also befriended Stingley, and later was instrumental in securing benefits for disabled players through the NFL Players' Association.
A settlement was reached with the NFL, under which 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.
Post-football activities
On May 9, 1992, having completed his remaining 24 credit hours through a correspondence course program, Darryl Stingley received his bachelor of physical education from Purdue University.Stingley and Tatum never reconciled. Tatum contacted Stingley while writing his own autobiography, and HBO invited both men to appear on the 25th anniversary of the accident. Stingley refused after he learned of the title of Tatum's book: Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum. Stingley believed Tatum's efforts to contact him were nothing more than profit-motivated publicity stunts. However, in a 1992 article in Jet
Jet (magazine)
Jet is an American weekly marketed toward African-American readers, founded in 1951 by John H. Johnson of Johnson Publishing Company in Chicago, Illinois...
, Darryl said that he had forgiven Jack a long time ago. But he also said that Jack had had opportunities to contact him over the years and never really made an effort. As might be expected, the situation was complicated.
Stingley later served as executive director of player personnel for the Patriots. Stingley co-authored a 1983
1983 in literature
The year 1983 in literature involved some significant events and new books.-Events:*Ironweed by William Kennedy is published.*Salvage for the Saint by Peter Bloxsom and John Kruse is published. This is the final book in a series of novels, novellas and short stories featuring the Leslie Charteris...
memoir, Happy to Be Alive, with Mark Mulvoy. In 1993 he started a nonprofit organization to help troubled youths in west Chicago. Stingley raised three sons - Darryl Jr., John S., and Derek Stingley, who played defensive back for the Albany Firebirds
Indiana Firebirds
The Indiana Firebirds were a team in the Arena Football League.The team was based in Indianapolis, Indiana. Home games were played at the Conseco Fieldhouse, also the home of the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association and Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball...
in the Arena Football League
Death
On April 5, 2007, Stingley died at Northwestern Memorial HospitalNorthwestern Memorial Hospital
Northwestern Memorial Hospital is one of the nation's preeminent academic medical centers and is the primary teaching hospital for Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine. It is the second tallest hospital in the United States and the fourth tallest hospital in the world...
in Chicago after being discovered unresponsive in his home. His death was attributed to heart disease
Heart disease
Heart disease, cardiac disease or cardiopathy is an umbrella term for a variety of diseases affecting the heart. , it is the leading cause of death in the United States, England, Canada and Wales, accounting for 25.4% of the total deaths in the United States.-Types:-Coronary heart disease:Coronary...
and pneumonia
Pneumonia
Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung—especially affecting the microscopic air sacs —associated with fever, chest symptoms, and a lack of air space on a chest X-ray. Pneumonia is typically caused by an infection but there are a number of other causes...
complicated by quadriplegia. The Cook County
Cook County, Illinois
Cook County is a county in the U.S. state of Illinois, with its county seat in Chicago. It is the second most populous county in the United States after Los Angeles County. The county has 5,194,675 residents, which is 40.5 percent of all Illinois residents. Cook County's population is larger than...
Medical Examiner listed Stingley's cause of death as an accident.
External links
- Statistics at Pro Football ReferencePro Football ReferencePro-Football-Reference.com is a website providing a variety of statistics for American football. It is notable for being one of the only sites that provides information on both active and retired players. The site provides statistics for teams dating back to the pre-Super Bowl days...
- Video of Tatum's hit