When we talk about a man who has recently died, we tend to focus on the positive aspects of the life he lived, and we try to look past his faults. That has been the case with Jack Tatum, who has been largely remembered this week as a good man who didn’t deserve to be known solely for the hit that left Darryl Stingley paralyzed, and who felt far more remorse than he showed.
But Steve Grogan, the Patriots quarterback who threw the pass on the infamous play in 1978 that would leave Stingley in a wheelchair for the rest of his life, can’t join in with those who are remembering Tatum fondly.
“There’s not too many people that I can’t find something nice to say about when this kind of situation arises,” Grogan said on 98.5 The Sports Hub, via Sports Radio Interviews. “But unfortunately Jack Tatum is one guy that I just can’t find anything nice to say about. Just the way he handles the whole situation - it bothers me that I feel that way, but to never apologize to Darryl, to try to make money off the whole situation, never showing any regret or remorse. This is a man that wasn’t a good person.”
Tatum, who died this week of a heart attack, said publicly that he had nothing to be sorry about. Grogan says he doesn’t understand why Tatum never apologized to Stingley, who died in 2007.
“I know Darryl was a great guy and I’m sure if Tatum had extended a hand to him and reached across the aisle and tried to at least apologize, Darryl probably would have accepted that,” Grogan said. “But that never happened, and as far as I know, Darryl resented the fact that Tatum never talked to him.”
Grogan said other members of the 1978 Raiders, including their coach, John Madden, were kind to Stingley, and the Patriots appreciated that. But the Patriots couldn’t accept Tatum’s inability to express regret.
“Our experience with him is that he was just not a nice person, and did something to one of our players that could have been avoided, and never showed any remorse for it,” Grogan said. “And it’s hard to forgive that.”
