jim otto injuries

That's the way Mike Webster would say it, too. Emmitt Smith, Running Back, Dallas Cowboys & Arizona Cardinals (1990-2004), Emmitt Smith transformed the epitome of toughness on national television in the last game of the season in 1993. and ankle injuries during his three years with the Hurricanes. 1. He has played through numerous injuries, including a broken bone in his back. Lewis missed two games, returned wearing a heavy brace, and registered 11 tackles against Pittsburgh. Doesn't say anything. ), At Willie Nelson 90, country, rock and rap stars pay tribute, but Willie and Trigger steal the show, Kentucky Derby storylines: Training death puts early pall over Churchill Downs, Dodgers vs. Philadelphia Phillies: How to watch, start times and betting odds, Elliott: Pissed off Kings must improve in key areas to break Oilers playoff stranglehold, Shohei Ohtanis seventh home run of the season helps Angels avoid sweep, Florida Panthers upset record-setting Boston Bruins in Game 7 OT thriller. Otto eventually had to have his right leg amputated on August 1, 2007. Well, football today is still very tough, but I think in the day that I played and several other players that are my vintage will concur that it was a battle out there; it was a war. If they don't enjoy it, then they should play soccer or they should play something else. Deacon Jones, Defensive End, Los Angeles Rams & San Diego Chargers & Washington Redskins (1961-1974), The NFL's unofficial record-holder with 26 sacks in the 1967 season, Deacon coined the term sack. Jones said that toughness is defined not by playing through pain, but by avoiding pain in the first place. Tell me about that. WebHe 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 He also fought off three life-threatening bouts of infections due to his artificial joints, and during one six-month stretch, was without a proper right knee joint because he had to wait for the infection to clear up before another artificial one could be implanted. The Baltimore Ravens placed a bounty on Ward, to which the former Super Bowl MVP responded, Bring it on. He was voted the smartest offensive player in the NFL (non-quarterbacks) and is considered the best blocking receiver in the NFL. And that is the bad thing. But no, amnesia, it's a serious thing. We'd go hunting together; we did a lot of different things together, Dave and I. During his fifth training camp, he suffered the injury that ultimately led to amputation. Let's play football. . Does that take a certain temperament? 38. During the 1980s, Otto was involved in numerous business ventures. Where are you?," you know, and I didn't know where the hell I was. If you get hit in the head and a little dizziness comes out of it, you've suffered a concussion. It's detailed, proudly, in his book, "The Pain of Glory" (ISBN 1-58261-066-5), published in 2000. I got upset. Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis made the announcement Wednesday as part of a wide-ranging news conference touching on the state of the team, the recent death of Bill Walsh and pensions for former NFL players. Thats why I think Id come back and do it again.. As a 248-pound defensive end, he played in 282 consecutive games. He then went on to play collegiate football at Miami. -- but we never associated that and concussions or hits with long-term brain trauma. It has been 20 years since Otto retired after a Hall of Fame career. 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. Unitas could intimidate without being one of the physical players. But when you say you don't want to make that connection, it's because you just don't want to believe that there is that connection? Brett Favre, Quarterback, Atlanta Falcons & Green Bay Packers & New York Jets (1991-present). It's incredibly debatable, but here is my attempt to rank them in order for toughness. Five years later, in 2002, Otto was stricken with prostate cancer, though the cancer is currently in remission. Every game. He waited six months between artificial knees 5 and 6 after fighting off an infection that nearly took his life. I look at Dave Dalby, because he used to tell me he wanted to follow me in my footsteps. 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.. And it was about two days after the football game in high school my senior year. He played in an era when quarterbacks did not receive much protection, specifically on late hits. It came from the relations with the game, yes. It was a matter of pride in the way we did things. I was paid to play football, not hang out in the training room.. There's the toughness of getting the snot knocked out of you, and the can't-be-intimidated, never-quit kind of tough. But I don't think you can blame it -- I don't know. Namaths famously fragile knees are so painful that he cant carry his children down steps. In 1997, Otto's daughter, Jennifer, a 39-year-old mother of four, died from a blood clot. Over his 14-year career, which included Pro Bowl selections at safety, cornerback, and linebacker, Lott endured many injuries, including a broken leg and torn knee cartilage. Yes, Id do it all again. He was named the AFC Defensive Player of the Year in 1970 and once knocked unconscious a fan who entered onto the playing field during a game. How tall is Jim Otto? After a few days, Otto gave out a press conference telling the nation that he had retired from the game of football. Hell no, I wouldnt do it all over again, said Krueger. Corporate Sponsorship The scouts also found out that Otto had suffered some shoulder injuries, and that Otto loved the contact that football provided and destroyed anyone on the opposing team looking to get past him. 8. WebAs a result of injuries sustained during his playing career, he has endured more than 70 surgeries, including nearly 30 knee operations. Prep Rally is devoted to the SoCal high school sports experience, bringing you scores, stories and a behind-the-scenes look at what makes prep sports so popular. Dick Butkus, Linebacker, Chicago Bears (1965-1973), Dick Butkus was the angriest, most ferocious, menacing, and yes, toughest player to ever play the game of football. They would worry about the consequences later., Huizenga said: I would say most of the doctors are first-rate professionals, but they can fall into a trap from the huge pressures of owners and the millions of dollars involved, especially in big games. Well, in being taught to lead with your head and shoulders to make a tackle, and basically place your head to where it's going to hit the ball, because you get some good fumbles that way when you tackle and place your head and shoulders to where you're going to hit the side where he's carrying the ball. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation, the John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, the Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, 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. In Otto's final year, 1974, Oakland scored 355 points (25.4 points/game), leading the NFL, and then avenging their loss to the Dolphins during 1974-75 NFL playoffs before losing to the Steelers again. And so these thoughts that have come through your head are fairly recent then? Over his 14-year career, which Maybe part of it was Wisconsin and kids from a small town: Mike Webster from Rhinelander [High School], Wis., wanting to prove that he was a great, Jim Otto from Wausau who wanted to prove that he was the greatest. I think a lot of it is related to the pain and the lack of ability that I have for doing certain things. There have been times when Ive said, Whyd I do this?, But I wasnt going to lay there and whine. He won eight rushing titles before abruptly retiring at the age of 30. 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. And over here these guys are wanting the world. [1] In the 1967 regular season, Oakland scored 468 points (33.4 points/game), leading the AFL, but lost Super Bowl II to the Vince Lombardi-led Green Bay Packers. Romanowski played in 243 consecutive games, a record for a linebacker, and played for four Super Bowl champions. His last game, up in Cleveland, he came out of the hospital to play with a broken rib, a punctured lung, and pneumonia. He was middle linebacker for the Packers. No. Right. And then tell me about a good solid head hit that you remember from the NFL as well. For the next 15 years, he was a fixture at center for the Oakland Raiders, never missing a single game due to injury. Coaches had a way of making you feel less manly if you didnt play. WebIn addition to his football injuries, Otto also had two strokes, three heart attacks, and diabetes which caused blindness in one eye. Longtime Raiders team doctor Robert Rosenfield, who died last January of cancer, diagnosed it as strained ligaments. Most current players feel they have more leverage since Butkus filed a $1.6 million suit against the Bears in 1974 and came away with a $600,000 settlement. Players rarely give much thought to life after football. Contact FRONTLINE Hitting harder than anyone else was very important to us. Do you associate Dalby and Webster's post-career declines and troubles with the hard-hitting nature of the game? He spit in the face of Eagles safety Bill Bradley as he lay injured on the ground. They're no longer heroes. I mean, they used to tease me that instead of having the quarterback go "Hut one, hut two," they'd have a little bell, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, you know, and Otto, you go on the third ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, ding-a-ling, like a punch-drunk fighter or something --. No. Team doctors injected his knees with cortisone and other high-powered drugs in 1972 and 1973, causing permanent damage, he said. 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. When you have a blow like that, it's a concussion; there's no doubt about it. They didn't do that to me, but they would, they would always accuse me of that and they would razz me about it, you know? And my amnesia that I had happened in high school and college. I was at a gathering in August, I guess it was, and Jim Brown was there, and he was saying the same thing, that it was different back then. When players retire, they cite feelings of abandonment, loneliness, paranoia, helplessness, despair and loss of self-esteem. They all have the crab-like walk, and its hard to believe they were once these feared gladiators. You wouldnt believe the number of divorces when the big money stops coming in. With the Raiders, he won 1 AFL/AFC championship in 1967 against the Houston Oilers, but lost 5: in 1968, 1969, and 1970, 1973, and 1974 to the New York Jets, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Colts, Miami Dolphins, and Pittsburgh Steelers, respectively, all 5 teams winning the Super Bowl of their respective years, playing alongside Gene Upshaw, a Hall-of-Famer, at left guard from 1967 until Otto's final year in 1974. Do you feel like the suicide thoughts are related to the pain or related to retirement? He has arthritis in his shoulders and neck. It all swelled up, and I couldn't see, but I kept playing. And then in college, once again there was a period of time I didn't have a face mask, and I got hit in the head. It's more retirement I think than anything else. He played with pain and didn't come out. We're not the only guys. That's the way football is, and if you don't want to play it that way, we can get you playing some girls' games. Some things couldnt be measured, however, like Jims self-motivation, commitment and pride. He was double-teamed, every play, for his entire career. Yeah, just on the line, hitting each other. I'm hurting like a son of a gun. They blame these problems for failed relationships, unemployment and drug or alcohol addictions. One time, Otto nearly died on the operating table. WebInducted 1998. PBS Privacy Policy And that's why Sally and I came to the forefront Did anybody do anything for Mike Webster with Pittsburgh? 7. Don Meredith, Quarterback, Dallas Cowboys (1960-1968), Meredith was really tough. In order to foster a civil and literate discussion that respects all participants, FRONTLINE has the following guidelines for commentary. 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. Is there something about Wisconsin, or is it something about how you just approached that position itself, the center? You couldn't be upset about the hit; it was clean and legal. --Sam Huff, Bednarik was the last NFL player to play offense and defense. I said why isn't there somebody taking care of him? I forget words. Journalistic Guidelines And that is something that I'm dealing with. Otto worked diligently to build his body up to his playing weight of 250 pounds. It's like cutting their leg off, let's say. He has had two major back surgeries, 16 knee operations and five artificial knees. Maybe probably more so in my life is the pain that I'm going through. He said, Football is tough. Nothing dirty about it. WebThe official source for NFL news, video highlights, fantasy football, game-day coverage, schedules, stats, scores and more. Jerry Kramer, Guard & Kicker, Green Bay Packers (1958-1968), Kramer endured 23 operations and required over 500 stitches in his NFL career, including a colostomy, which he described as a horror movie that hasn't been made yet., 26.

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