NFL Career
| "I like to believe that my best hits border on felonious assault." |
| Jack Tatum |
Tatum was drafted by the Oakland Raiders as the 19th pick in the first round of the 1971 NFL Draft to replace former Oakland safety Dave Grayson, who retired after the 1970 season. A few weeks later, Tatum signed a three-year, six-figure contract with a $50,000 signing bonus. Tatum was nicknamed "The Assassin", a name he embraced and relished. The origin of the nickname is unclear. Some references indicate that he was already known as "the Assassin" as a hard-hitting safety at Ohio State. Others indicate that the name came from the hit that paralyzed Darryl Stingley. Tatum played his first professional game against the Baltimore Colts, in which he tackled and knocked out Colts tight ends John Mackey and Tom Mitchell. Soon after the game, sportswriters started to compare him to Chicago Bears linebacker Dick Butkus because of his hard-hitting skills, and he became the starting free safety in his rookie year.
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“It is a great many years since at the outset of my career I had to think seriously what life had to offer that was worth having. I came to the conclusion that the chief good for me was freedom to learn, think, and say what I pleased, when I pleased. I have acted on that conviction... and though strongly, and perhaps wisely, warned that I should probably come to grief, I am entirely satisfied with the results of the line of action I have adopted.”
—Thomas Henry Huxley (1825–95)