He said this hit, by Jack Tatum in 1979, sent a shock down his legs. Jones told ESPN, after looking at the Tatum hit, Campbell is lucky. "The competitor in him never goes away," Christian said. When I was standing on my head in my end zone, nobody knew this, but I was thinking, 'Something's wrong.'". 4 1 of 4 Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raider circa 1980. Something like that.". 1 overall pick who had worked in pro football for 20 years, stunned Wade again. And by night, they could see the stars through the holes in their roof. In 2008, Campbell’s former Houston Oilers coach Bum Phillips introduced him to his own spinal doctor, Stan Jones, who removed much of the hardware inserted in the previous surgeries that had become loose and caused pain touching his nerves. I can't do anything.'". ... snapped both the tibia and fibula of Theismann’s leg and is remembered by fans of the game as one of the most painful hits in football history. However, those violent collisions that Campbell invited and became a trademark of his career came with a price. He lived the next 30 years in a wheelchair before dying at 55 from complications from his condition. People really don't know the truth about it.". MRIs revealed Campbell had metal rods, along with 12 screws, in his vertebrae from the previous procedures. He retired from football last December before ever playing a game for the Longhorns. Despite the dire warnings, Floyd begged to keep playing but finally had to relent. Remarkably, he feels better than he has for much of his life, an uncommon case among retired NFL running backs. The hit came on Campbell's fourth carry of the game. Discover (and save!) I never had experience with cocaine," Campbell said. Team doctors looked after Campbell once he arrived in Texas and then in the NFL. Campbell now speaks openly about the dangers of painkillers and his addiction. "If I got hit a certain way and something tapped my diaphragm, I could just stop breathing and die, on the field," Floyd said. Fortunately, the surgery performed by Jones was the Hall of Famer’s last. He was hurt and embarrassed, but said he'd do anything for them. (0:47). "Earl don't get up.". During his time in Austin, he averaged 5.8 yards per carry. “It was real football when Jack Tatum (a Hall of Fame safety for the Oakland Raiders) and I hit each other on the 2-yard line and I backed into the end zone. So did the constant agitation for painkillers, which he would wash down with Budweiser. These hard football hits have become legendary in NFL lore, and the tacklers who delivered them are remembered as some of the scariest men in the sport of football. The family that helped pull him back from the brink got a new man in return. Following the death of Michael Jackson from physician-administered painkillers, Jones became introspective about his role in Campbell's abuse and the likelihood that Campbell, too, could die. But amid a conversation about social justice led by Texas players on campus following George Floyd's death in police custody in Minneapolis, Jamail's three sons asked the university to remove their late father's name and replace it with the names of the two Longhorns legends, replacing a wealthy booster's name with two of the most prominent Black athletes in school history. "Because if that right lick had ever hit me, I would've permanently been in a wheelchair.". He finished with 32 rushes for 107 yards. Earl Campbell’s first three seasons in the NFL are still considered one of the most impressive periods for a running back in the game’s history. Mr. Tatum said he tried to visit Stingley at an Oakland hospital shortly after the hit but was turned away by Stingley's family. Earl Campbell is a hero of Texas football. Texas' doctors did multiple MRIs until they were able to find the exact positioning of his neck, and then they saw it: spinal stenosis. He became a two-time All-American for the Longhorns, leading the nation with 1,744 rushing yards as a senior in an undefeated 1977 regular season on his way to winning the Heisman. Join Facebook to connect with Earl Campbell and others you may know. In the late 1990s, at a benefit 30 miles away from his East Texas hometown of Tyler, Earl Campbell sat at a table while the party's host, a colorful businessman and one of Campbell's best friends, summoned sheepish onlookers to come say hello to the legend. On doctor’s recommendations, he started taking painkillers. Campbell said he followed their advice then, too. From 1999 to 2008, he had five different back surgeries. "In college and pro football, I never had nothing but a doctor telling me to turn your head to the right and cough," Campbell said. "The person that we'd known, up until that point, he wasn't sober. He became the most coveted recruit in the country, a mythical, out-of-nowhere phenomenon who former Oklahoma coach Barry Switzer famously said was the only high school player he'd ever seen who could've gone straight to the NFL. "Earl don't get up" because he couldn't. "A shock went down to the heels on my feet. From Chronicle library filesJack Tatum of the Oakland Raider circa 1980. I felt nearly invincible," Floyd said. The horror! “The lick I took from Jack Tatum, that’s the only time I ever felt somebody hit me,” Campbell told ESPN. Earl Campbell's undiagnosed spinal condition was particularly dangerous for the type of power runner he was. But even the general doctors on the sidelines and the trainers are much more attuned to that, where they would probably keep the player off the field after that play for further evaluation.". 1 pick in the 1978 draft to select him. Earl Campbell was one total badass-that Ram linebacker he flattened was Isaiah Robertson 230 lbs and ran pro track. In 1978, Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum ended the career of New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley in one of the NFL's most tragic injuries. Jack Tatum dies at 61; ... “One of his greatest hits I ever saw was him hitting Earl Campbell at the goal line,” Lott said, about the Oilers running back. “Well, football is not played like it was when I played,” Campbell told USA Today. I never dreamed about all this s--- about my spine, and cutting bone spurs the size of your thumb off my back. Off the field, he wore Wranglers and giant belt buckles and did Skoal commercials. 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"Most of the people playing against him were worried about getting hurt, him running over them," Wade Phillips said. 6 – Earl Campbell Headbutts Jack Lambert Into Next Week! He left tacklers and pieces of his tearaway jersey on the field behind him. ", "Earl has been very lucky that he didn't have any catastrophes when he was playing," said Dr. Stan Jones, a spinal surgeon in Houston who performed Campbell's fifth, and he hopes, final, back procedure in 2008. And it burned. What he did on the football field is the stuff of legend. "My body felt the greatest I've ever felt.". In 1977, his senior season, he averaged 6.5 yards, gained 1,744 yards, and won the first Heisman Trophy in Texas football history. There was the 104-yard interception return against the Green Bay Packers and the goal-line hit on Earl Campbell. "That's the worst-case scenario. jack tatum hits earl campbell. It's the same diagnosis that caused Michael Irvin to retire midseason and caused Cooper Manning to give up football at Ole Miss before his brothers went on to the NFL. He was Offensive Player of the Year as a rookie and the NFL MVP in his second season. Big Earl isn't the center of attention at parties or holding court at country music shows in Austin anymore. After a decade-plus, it's still taking time for us to really get to know him again.". Campbell was once seen as the baddest man on the planet. He still prefers to be careful and use a scooter or golf cart, "but I still drive a car. "He pulled it together and went and got the help that he needed.". The wheelchair suddenly made sense. Former Raiders defensive back Jack Tatum may have died Tuesday at the age of 61, but he leaves behind a highlight reel of hits and a … Today, he’s a member of Alcoholics Anonymous and speaks candidly about the dangers of painkillers and his own addiction. "I think if people had known -- the doctors he was seeing at the time and the team doctors -- that he was really significantly stenotic, they wouldn't have let him play. "Even if I would've known, I would've been truly completely happy playing. "I never took pills. Campbell didn't do anything to dissuade the notion. "He put a hit on me I will never forget. RELATED: Sam Ehlinger and Texas Longhorns Have Confirmed Fans’ Worst Fears. The source of the pain might have been eliminated, but the addiction remained. There was good reason for him to be so miserable.". The big running back won the battle, an oft-cited, celebrated moment of Campbell's superhuman strength. The other one would just be like paralyzed from the neck down. As Stingley reached for a pass, Tatum's helmet slammed into his shoulder pad. Campbell has endured great pain since his playing days ended in 1985. He was 61. But he never told doctors about what he felt on the play or mentioned it until now. When Earl Christian Campbell was leaving for Austin, Dr. Earl Christian Kinsey performed his physical. Dr. Mark Spoonamore, who works with college and pro athletes at the USC Spine Center in Los Angeles, said Campbell's back condition was more dangerous for him than most anyone else who might have played with stenosis. PL: You're known for delivering big hits, but who delivered some big hits to you? 6 linebacker in the country. Jack Tatum, the All-Pro safety for the Oakland Raiders best known for his hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley in an NFL preseason game in 1978 died on July 27. "[Former Texas defensive coordinator Todd] Orlando told me to my face, 'We're trying to save you from you. "It's really dangerous. There, Jones was surprised to see the man who had captivated the city with the Oilers arrive in a wheelchair. After a family intervention, Campbell checked into rehab. And even more incredibly, he now realizes it's possible the career that changed the trajectory of his life might not have even happened if he were playing today. You don't even have to look elsewhere to consider how Campbell's condition might have been handled today. Another Big 12 team makes Bottom 10's latest list, The 150 greatest players in college football's 150-year history. In 1979, Campbell was on the receiving end of a hit from Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum and it was the first indication something was seriously wrong. your own Pins on Pinterest "We make four sizes of thigh pads," he said. In 1999, he was diagnosed with a spinal condition where doctors said it’s a miracle he was never paralyzed during his playing days, and by today’s medical standards, he would have never been allowed to play the game. Sam Ehlinger and Texas Longhorns Have Confirmed Fans’ Worst Fears, University of Texas Longhorn Athletes Demand Dumping School Song and Renaming Campus Buildings, Vince Young Once Bought Every Seat on a Southwest Flight Just to Travel Alone. Earl Campbell ran from the rose fields of Tyler to become one of the greatest running backs of all time, only to discover that the same body that made him a superhero contained its own kryptonite. It's a narrowing of the space inside the spine, leading to pressure on nerves, and causes pain, weakness or numbness. Campbell underwent the first of five back surgeries in 1999. As Campbell lay unconscious, his massive legs would jump on the operating room table when Jones would try to remove the screws, which had begun poking into nerves. Jack Tatum, the storied Oakland Raiders safety best known for landing the hit that paralyzed New England receiver Darryl Stingley, has died. Former Oklahoma University head coach Barry Switzer said in his book that Earl Campbell was a rarity and was good enough to play in the NFL when he arrived at the University of Texas. "I'm not in none of that pain," Campbell said. Huge Earl Campbell running full speed, turning the corner 1 yard away from the endzone, head down, shoulders parallel to the ground ready to bulldoze anyone in his way. He is a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous, even going to meetings in Times Square during his trip for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Campbell had one doctor from birth to college. Campbell inches the glass toward the nuts. As time went on and he was out of public view, Campbell broke down. They were giving me pain medication and doctorin' on me and next thing I know I'm hooked.". Jack Tatum of the Oakland Raider circa 1980. I travel. pic.twitter.com/O9goi6mEeJ, RELATED: University of Texas Longhorn Athletes Demand Dumping School Song and Renaming Campus Buildings. "The amazing thing to me about Earl Campbell, this exceptional athlete I'm looking at, is that you weren't paralyzed.". That’s a severe whiplash, which can cause spinal cord injury, especially with spinal stenosis.”. "That's essentially a spinal cord inflammation, a transient inflammation usually, where it jolts the spinal cord and it usually happens because you've got some preexisting stenosis and narrowing," Spoonamore said, noting that there are now medical staffers who would check a player after a hit like that rather than just taking their word for it. But during his senior year of high school in California, Floyd was having the game of his life with more than 30 tackles when he collided with an offensive lineman, pinning his chin against his chest. Tatum, a safety who embodied the Oakland Raiders mystique and was called "The Assassin" for his brutal hits, died of a heart attack at 61. He finished with 32 rushes for 107 yards.) First, for how it happened: The field was previously named for Joe Jamail, a billionaire attorney and Texas mega-booster who was a close friend of Campbell's. All rights belong to the Tennessee Titans and the National Football League. The jolt sent a tingling sensation down his fingers and into his right leg. He said this hit, by Jack Tatum in 1979, sent a shock down his legs. In 1979, Campbell was on the receiving end of a hit from Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum and it was the first indication something was seriously wrong. The self-professed country boy who had avoided the temptations of the 1980s as a football star didn't foresee the danger of prescription painkillers. He is a proud member of Alcoholics Anonymous, even going to meetings in Times Square during his trip for the Heisman Trophy ceremony. He played seven more games that season, saying he felt fine. He escaped a horrible possible situation.". Similarly, our understanding of Campbell's story is changing. Where to vote. Fans would pity him, muttering "Poor Earl," as they tried to reconcile their love of football with Campbell being seen as a cautionary tale of its ravages. "Those screws were much more mobile than I have ever seen and were irritating the nerves badly," Jones said. He also became addicted to drugs popping 10 pills and a Budweiser a day to cope with the pain. In his first three years, he became the first NFL running back other than his hero, Jim Brown, to lead the NFL in rushing for three straight seasons, being named first-team All-Pro each year. '”, RELATED: Vince Young Once Bought Every Seat on a Southwest Flight Just to Travel Alone. Mr. Tatum grew up in Passaic, N.J., and was a part of the "super sophs" class that led Ohio State to an unbeaten season and the national championship in 1968. Campbell considers it the greatest honor of his career, both because of his love for "The University," as he respectfully calls it, and for his appreciation for Dahr, Randall and Rob Jamail, who Campbell says made a statement that change is possible at Texas, a school that was notoriously slow to integrate both on and off the football field. Earl probably had a contusion of the spinal cord at that time, which would explain the burning. © Copyright 2021 Endgame360 Inc. All Rights Reserved. At Texas football games, he was always in a golf cart or riding on a scooter. At the Heisman Trophy ceremony, he remained in his seat while his fraternity brothers lined up on stage behind the winner. Hell, I didn't know no better, I thought you go to a doctor and that's somebody that's gonna save your life. It is remarkable for several reasons. When I was standing on my head in my end zone, nobody knew this, but I was thinking, ‘Something’s wrong. Just to run full speed into another player running full speed in the opposite direction named Jack Tatum. "Texas took me and put 30-40 more pounds of muscle and had me running 21 miles an hour at 260. Tatum, who was known for his devastating hits, including one a year earlier that ended the career of Darryl Stingley and left him paralyzed, delivered a blow to Campbell that he never saw coming. After his abrupt retirement from the NFL in 1986 at age 31, Campbell spent years of trying to unravel what he thought was damage inflicted by football, mostly to address severe back pain. "I know you were this great athlete that everybody knows -- Heisman Trophy winner, all this stuff -- but you probably should've never played football," Campbell said the doctor told him. But after retirement, he started out on his own and followed whatever advice was offered. He might have just escaped that one fateful blow. Floyd was told by doctors that his injury was connected to his diaphragm. Campbell never saw Tatum, who was obscured by his linemen and arrived at full speed, meeting him at the goal line with the crown of his helmet delivering a brutal blow right under Campbell's chin. Campbell had one doctor from birth to college. He was named the AP Rookie of the Year, AP Offensive Player of the Year, and was named to the All-Pro and Pro Bowl teams. “It was real football when Jack Tatum and I hit each other on the 2-yard line and I … In 1978, Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum ended the career of New England Patriots receiver Darryl Stingley in one of the NFL's most tragic injuries. "Not just myself as a spine specialist. And with every standard physical, Campbell said, everything checked out. I mean I've gotten cut in my throat. Hell, I didn't know no better, I thought you go to a doctor and that's somebody that's gonna save your life. You can see Tatum's greatest hits on Earl Campbell, Sammy White and Riley Odoms on YouTube, but the one that pro football still wishes would go away is … He’s really lucky he was not injured severely with that hit, the way his head snaps back and then the way he falls. "They do, even on legal hits. Dec 6, 2015 - This Pin was discovered by Ken. With the medical technology available at the time, there certainly weren't any reasons to suspect any physical imperfections for Campbell. I went and got help for that and I'm not ashamed of it.". "But, I mean, playing ball ...". "Jack was the type of guy who was very smart," Brown said. After years of playing the game like a battering ram, Earl Campbell was diagnosed with spinal stenosis, the same injury that ended Michael Irvin’s career. Campbell learned he had played with spinal stenosis all his life. Earl Campbell is on Facebook. The turf was the place that changed his life. That's where you're going to meet Jack Tatum.' Jones enlisted Campbell's sons, Christian and Tyler, to confront him, knowing they had the best chance of getting his ear. And old Jack says, 'Nah, I ain't fallin' for that.' Christian said nobody knew how serious the addiction was except for the two sons and their mom, Reuna, who hadn't had much luck getting through to her husband on her own. I go places. There's no problem with me. "He said he couldn't walk," Jones said. "Dr. Jones took that away from me and I learned how to live my life without drugs and alcohol and pain pills. With Houston at the 1-yard line, the entire building knew Campbell would get the ball. You know, like, Earl Campbell played.". Campbell wasn't aloof, wasn't too cool to get up, despite the darkened Wayfarers that made him look cool. 6 – Earl Campbell Headbutts Jack Lambert Into Next Week! I still wonder if former Oakland Raiders great Jack Tatum really wanted to kill opposing offensive players. He was shocked by Bum's question to the coaches and scouts the first time they met to discuss potential prospects. John David Tatum (November 18, 1948 – July 27, 2010) was an American football safety who played 10 seasons from 1971 through 1980 for the Oakland Raiders and Houston Oilers in the National Football League (NFL). A year after the Stingley hit, Tatum and Campbell met in the Astrodome in the first quarter of a November game between the Oilers and the Raiders. "They look at me and they think, 'Oh, poor Earl.' He was popularly known as "The Assassin" because of his playing style.Tatum was voted to three consecutive Pro Bowls (1973–1975) and was a member of one … "So you can imagine every time he would move, sure enough, it would send him sky-high with pain. He says he would've listened, knowing what he knows now and understands the sense of loss Floyd must be feeling. But this doctor started me and I don't know, hell, it just happened so fast with the surgeries. "At least Earl Campbell can walk," he said, although his balance is a problem from the surgeries. 55 overall recruit in the ESPN 300 and the No. Unfortunately, he was addicted to the painkillers. The force compressed Stingley's spinal cord and fractured two vertebrae, leaving him paralyzed and a quadriplegic. pic.twitter.com/O9goi6mEeJ, "The lick I took from Jack Tatum, that's the only time I ever felt somebody hit me," Campbell said. Take a look back at the dominance of Longhorns icon and Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell. He was 61. After watching Campbell brutalize the Southwest Conference for four years, the Houston Oilers traded up to get the No. Tatum, who lost his left leg because of circulation problems, began a charitable group to help kids with diabetes and helped raise more than $1.4 million to fight the disease in the Columbus, Ohio area. EC: I think one game we played the Oakland Raiders and Jack Tatum and I had an accident on the one-yard line. 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