Otto paid the price, as he has had 74 surgeries, including 28 knee operations, and in 2007 his lower right leg had to be amputated but has said that he Hall of Fame quarterback Bobby Layne has called Wilson pound for pound the toughest player in the NFL., 31. But you're talking about a different kind, the much more common, everyday, every play? They dont want to believe that someone put them in a position to make them look like idiots., Former Colts quarterback Bert Jones, 45, said: Everybody goes into the game realizing that two things are going to happen: Either one day youre going to be cut because youre no longer good enough, or an injury is going to cut short your career. Raiders legend Otto undergoes right leg amputation - ESPN His claim to fame occurred in 1985 when his left pinkie was caught between the shoulder pads and helmet of Cowboys running back Timmy Newsome, shattering the bone. Below is a look at some of Jim Ottos career accomplishments and highlights. He was an All-Star in the first 13 of his 15 seasons (every year in the AFL from 1960 through 1969) and three of his five seasons in the NFL. Kilroy denied the charge. I don't like concussions. Otto played high school football at Wisconsin's Wausau High School, under coach Win Brockmeyer. These are young people who have achieved a lot of emotional and economic success at an early age, but they never think about their careers ending. While an encore performance on the field isnt possible, Jims glorious playing career can be appreciated again this week in the Gold Jacket Spotlight. WebAs a result of injuries sustained during his playing career, he has endured more than 70 surgeries, including nearly 30 knee operations. Bronko Nagurski, Running Back, Chicago Bears (1930-1937, 1943), As Giants linebacker Johnny Dell Isola said during their playing days years ago, I had heard a lot about him, but I thought most of it was exaggerated. 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. Former offensive lineman Steve Courson, who played eight seasons for the Steelers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, has blamed alcohol and steroids for his dilated cardiomyopathy, a weakened heart muscle. Website design & development by americaneagle.com copyright 2021 Pro Football hall of fame all rights reserved, Enshrinement Week Powered by Johnson Controls, Black College Football Hall of Fame Classic. [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. Was there anybody that helped Mike Webster go through rehab at that time? There's a battle, and that battle is going on. But in the final five years he began to suffer 1952. Otto used to collapse in the early years of his retirement, even though he walks without difficulty now. There was about 150 people come, and naturally I wanted to play well and everything. He turned The NFL Hall of Famer recounts his legendary career with the Oakland Raiders, his many injuries, and the terrible cost of playing through the pain.From 1960 to 1974, Jim Otto played center for the Oakland Raiders, leading the team to historic AFL and NFL victories. In 1995, Nagurski was honored when the Football Writers Association of America voted to have his name attached to college footballs Defensive Player of the Year trophy. Jim Otto Lewis is one of the greatest playmakers and natural team leaders the game has ever seen. It was a good, clean hit. The symptoms are nightmares and cold sweats. In the 1969 regular season, Oakland scored 377 points (26.9 points/game), once again leading the AFL, beating the Houston Oilers in the divisional round before losing to the Chiefs. What is the result exactly? Never misses a down. Runyan has started 180 consecutive games at right tackle, and has played in the postseason on seven occasions. I think that everything that has caused my body to be a problem has been from football, you know? Its not for whiners.. And then the next game you did that snap that you're --. 11. Today, he tours the country giving motivational speeches. And over here these guys are wanting the world. He was also named the starting center on the AFL All-Time Team. Wausau High School and University of Miami, American Football League All-Star players, American Football League All-League players, http://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/U/UpshGe00.htm, Hall of Famer Jim Otto recovering after having right leg amputated, Jim Otto profile at the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information, 10 All-AFL selection (1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969). He is regarded as the second dirtiest player in the NFL and a 2008 poll revealed that one of the scariest things in the NFL is being blocked by Runyan on a screen pass. After no National Football League team showed interest in the undersized center, Otto signed with the Oakland Raiders of the new American Football League. As a show of respect, he always calls Raiders' owner Al Davis "Mr. Former Los Angeles Raiders offensive lineman Curt Marsh, who retired in 1987, had his right foot and lower leg amputated Sept. 21. His last game, up in Cleveland, he came out of the hospital to play with a broken rib, a punctured lung, and pneumonia. I don't know that much about other players regarding suicide. It was Dave Dalby. He hasnt jogged since January 1989. Jim Otto: The Pain of Glory is the story about a man who fought through numerous injuries, frequent surgeries, and a myriad of other maladies. Gold Jacket Spotlight: Jim Otto's Pain & Glory - pfhof You got hit in the head, and you had amnesia. 12. Additional funding is provided by the Park Foundation, the John and Helen Glessner Family Trust, the Ford Foundation, Wyncote Foundation, NAPA, Calif. -- Hall of Fame center Jim Otto recently had his right leg amputated and is recovering in a hospital in Utah. But that didn't bother me that much. Maybe probably more so in my life is the pain that I'm going through. We invariably would attack a bunker from where the enemy is shooting machine guns. And sure, this hurts, but, you know -- and it can hurt somebody, but I don't think a guy should get fined for doing something he was taught to do all through high school, in college and now in the pros. And so yes, he broke my helmet; he broke my face mask in here, which broke my nose and set it over here. And then you have a guy like Junior Seau come along this last year. This interview was conducted by FRONTLINEs Tom Jennings on Dec. 22, 2012. Family Life He married a woman named Sally and has a daughter named Jennifer. New Columns From Your Class Correspondents - Cornellians "I'm not out there crying" over concussions, "I would walk off the field and my eyes would be crossed", "Hitting harder than anyone else was very important to us.". Team doctors injected his knees with cortisone and other high-powered drugs in 1972 and 1973, causing permanent damage, he said. Tab will move on to the next part of the site rather than go through menu items. There were two times. The first time in high school, I can't really remember anything other than coming out of amnesia and thinking, where have I been? Even as the surgeries mounted and routine elements of daily living became more and more challenging Waking up is the best part of my day, he wrote Jim has repeated in many interviews since his retirement that we wouldnt change history. Is he in the Hall of Fame? It's a tough sport. To this day, Otto embodies the toughness and determination the Raiders began to ferment in the mid-1960s, after Al Davis took control of the team and later hired John Madden as head coach. And I've refused at this point yet to give them that. He ended the career of MVP quarterback Joe Theismann with a compound leg fracture in a Monday Night game in 1985. You seem completely with it and pulling up words and memories and having no problems at all. Raider played and played and played constantly proving wrong several coaches who in high school, college and the pros considered him undersized to hold up against defensive linemen and linebackers. I bit his ear. Kilroy, who played back in the days when offensive linemen weren't allowed to extend their arms to block, was considered the dirtiest player in the NFL, and he helped Philadelphia win back-to-back NFL championships. NAPA, Calif. -- Hall of Fame center Jim Otto recently had his right leg amputated and is recovering in a hospital in Utah. He played three games with a fractured tibia. If I had a graph I could show you it. In 1997, Otto's daughter, Jennifer, a 39-year-old mother of four, died from a blood clot. That's the way Mike Webster would say it, too. Raider," Jim Otto - Sports There was recently a Washington Redskins player who got cut and shot his bed full of bullet holes, said Yaras-Davis, who declined to name the player. Do you feel like the suicide thoughts are related to the pain or related to retirement? 15. During the 1980s, Otto was involved in numerous business ventures. Lawrence was Dick Butkus, but with speed and range, said John Madden, analyst for Fox television. It was really bad. They blame these problems for failed relationships, unemployment and drug or alcohol addictions. I would say that suicide has been in the past one of the least spoken about things among players, among owners, among the NFL of anything. 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. Why isn't there somebody that can help him? Let's play football. And yet I'd be playing, you know? He has fought off three life-threatening bouts of infections to his arthritic joints, and almost died on the handicapped table once. He is famous for his crack-back blocks, and broke the jaw of Cincinnati rookie Keith Rivers in a 2008 contest. I mean, it's affected my life; it surely has. If you want to get into something else, play with the girls., 2. Nagurski once knocked unconscious four would-be tacklers on a kickoff return touchdown in his rookie season. 1. He helped the Steelers win four Super Bowl titles in a six-year span in the 1970's and is probably the most important player in team history. Ive heard guys like Jim Otto and Dan Hampton say they would do it again. In the first sentence of his foreword for the book, Hall of Fame coach John Madden writes: If someone came from another planet and wanted to know what a football player looked like, youd show him a poster of Jim Otto. Madden goes on to call Jim the greatest center who ever played.. Jack Youngblood, Defensive End, Los Angeles Rams (1971-1984). Funding for FRONTLINE is provided through the support of PBS viewers and by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. But I don't think you can blame it -- I don't know. Well, I'm very fortunate that I can do that, because there are times that I can't remember people's names. The FRONTLINE Interview: Jim Otto | League of Denial: The NFL's The impact and velocity of some collisions, normal Americans cant appreciate because they are not on the field, said John Lopez, head of Towson Sports Medicine and former trainer with the Baltimore Colts. 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. Otto's body was punished greatly during his NFL career, resulting in nearly 74 operations, including 28 on his knee (nine of them during his playing career) and multiple joint replacements. He endured torn-up knees, broken hands, broken ribs, and an acutely-painful hamstring tear but never missed a game. Minutes later, he set up the winning touchdown with a fake handoff. So all of a sudden here comes Raymond into the game. He plays the entire game. Web Site Copyright 1995-2016 WGBH Educational Foundation If we were fighting a war, the linebackers would be the first guys to get killed. And that happened to me in college, too, so it -- each time [I] had a very sickly feeling after it had happened, you know? We dont keep records, but were seeing greater numbers of psychological problems when theyre finished playing.. He won eight rushing titles before abruptly retiring at the age of 30. It's like the way that you used to do it. He suffered from chronic back pain due to Otto eventually had to have his right leg amputated on August 1, 2007. WebAs a result of injuries sustained during his playing career, he has endured more than 70 surgeries, including nearly 30 knee operations. Or Boston, one of those, or North Carolina. Hardy Brown, Linebacker, Brooklyn Dodgers & Chicago Hornets & Baltimore Colts & Washington Redskins & San Francisco 49ers & Chicago Cardinals & Denver Broncos (1948-1956, 1960). 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. Dobler swore that he would never intentionally blind someone, only blur their vision. Jim Otto I mean, he'd figure out a way to beat you, and so would Jim Otto. But you're saying there are issues? I can't really explain it to you here. When other coaches started seeing what a guy that size could do, they all wanted monster players with speed. The 2003 NFL MVP, McNair has never missed a playoff start and led the Titans to the Super Bowl in 1999. Jim Otto For the next fifteen years, Otto became a fixture at center for the Raiders, never missing a single game due to injury. In 14 seasons of play for the Oakland Raiders, Jim Otto played had a punishing history of injuries. Garrison wrapped his thumb in tape and played the next day, rushing for over 100 yards. So he stayed there for the rest of the series, and then we came off, and I'm watching him because I'm the only guy who saw that he had a compound fracture. 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. What about these memory issues or anything like that involving your thinking? And it bothers me. Csonka was a bull in a china shop. I've had 74 surgeries all told throughout my body, all over my body. And anything that we would do, it was part of our lineage, part of our genes, part of what our family had given us, the will to be the best. Longtime Raiders team doctor Robert Rosenfield, who died last January of cancer, diagnosed it as strained ligaments. I'm not complaining about it. Rob Huizenga, in his book Youre Okay, Its Just a Bruise, suggests that some team doctors were involved in a silent conspiracy with management to put players back on the field at any cost. Wilson intercepted 52 passes in his career, but the one that stands out is the 91-yard interception touchdown from 1965a pass he intercepted despite casts on both of his broken hands. Otto He also had a ramp to enter the bathtub. He 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 concussions, kicked-in teeth and a bout of double pneumonia. My wife is starting to try to convince me to do it. Otto But many former players are experiencing health problems after the spotlight dims, the celebrity fades and they cease to be larger than life. That was the most important thing to me. Flat-out refusedthat is, until the league made him. Mr. He bit one tackle so many times that the player requested a rabies shot. Giants lineman Al DeRogatis once accused Kilroy of biting him on the nose. He was double-teamed, every play, for his entire career. I wanted to help Dave Dalby and Sally did to because we loved him and I didn't see that happening in Pittsburgh with Mike Webster. And she says, "I didn't marry you for that leg anyway." I wanted people to respect me.. He missed the whole next year of football. All that action in the trenches nearly every offensive and special teams snap for a decade and a half came with a high price, however. Teammate Hugh Gallarneau claims that, He had a piece of cement for a head. He once dove into a brick wall attempting to catch a pass, busted open his head, and was carried off semiconscious. OK. FactSnippet No. But I'll tell you whathe had more knockouts than any of us. Brown fractured the face of an Eagles running back, broke another players vertebrae, and knocked a Steelers running backs eye out of its socket. As the size increases, so does the force of the collisions. In a playoff game in 1972, Greene recorded five sacks, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble, and blocked a field goal in a 9-3 win vs. Houston. Rocky Bleier, Running Back, Pittsburgh Steelers (1968, 1971-1980). After the game, we go into the locker room and he says, Hey Doc, I think I got a problem. Andy Russell, linebacker, 36. This is FRONTLINE's old website. What is it about the idea for you -- I mean, do you feel like this stuff about brain research and NFL players is kind of hogwash, or do you think there's something to it? He said, Football is tough. George Trafton, Center, Chicago Bears (1920-1921, 1923-1932). Let them play it the way it's supposed to be played, the way the rules are, and don't keep changing the rules. Well, a huge hole opened, and I saw him coming. Nothing dirty about it. According to several experts, the emphasis on size in the mid-1980s led to a peak use of steroids, which increase strength, muscle definition and aggressiveness. Losing my leg didn't bother me one bit other than I wanted to make sure that my wife still loved the guy with one leg. But I'm not out there crying about it. You don't mess with him. Jim Otto, center for the Oakland Raiders, poses on Aug. 15, 1970. The highs an athlete gets from the highly selective field makes it hard for them to settle into another pursuit. There's the toughness of getting the snot knocked out of you, and the can't-be-intimidated, never-quit kind of tough. And that's what I'm doing. Nicknamed The Brute, Trafton broke the leg and ended the career of halfback Fred Chicken by throwing him into a fence. It is filled with sights and sounds of collisions that are sometimes startling and other times frightening. League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, New: 87 Deceased NFL Players Test Positive for Brain Disease, Study of Former NFL Players Shows Risks for Brain from Youth Football, NFL Concussion Settlement Wins Final Approval from Judge, In Fight Against ISIS, a Lose-Lose Scenario Poses Challenge for West. Jim Strub wrote from a mountainside in Colorado. He underwent surgery to have 30 inches of his intestines removed, and returned for the second game of the season. Butkus's opponents claimed that Butkus was like an odor that you could feel or sense on the field. His joints became riddled with arthritis, and he developed debilitating back and neck problems. Before his death in 1992, Raiders defensive lineman Lyle Alzado said long-term steroid use was the cause of the brain tumor that eventually killed him. When Lotts finger didnt heal properly, he told the doctors to cut it off, and they amputated his pinkie at the third knuckle. Otto now suffers from arthritis, and severe neck problems. Are you saying that even if you had the information you would have played? But in this particular case, it was pretty good blows he was hitting me with to break my nose, break my cheekbone and my zygomatic arch bone up here. I haven't necessarily told them what I'm thinking. If they don't enjoy it, then they should play soccer or they should play something else. Minor injuries, therefore minor distractions, he called them. Jim Otto Jim Otto 33. In order to foster a civil and literate discussion that respects all participants, FRONTLINE has the following guidelines for commentary. Marsh played with the Raiders seven years, during which he was hospitalized 18 times and had 13 surgeries. 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. Anything loosea knee pad, a shoe, a chin strapwould be ripped off by a Butkus tackle. In the 1970 regular season (1st year of the NFL-AFL merger), Oakland scored 300 points (21.4 points/game), 9th of 26 teams in the NFL, beating the Miami Dolphins in the 1970-71 NFL playoffs before losing to the Colts. I don't know, but I only know basically what's in my mind and in my heart, and what I told you about what I was thinking. A Living Raider Legend, "Mr. Some players have catheterized themselves and replaced their own urine with clean samples before testing.. Otto punished his body greatly during his NFL career, resulting in nearly 40 surgeries, including 28 knee operations (nine of them during his playing career OK, you started by saying that suicide is not something that people talk about in the NFL, or have [not] until fairly recently anyhow. He spent the week prior to a game building up his hatred over the opponent. 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. Hein played fifteen seasons with the Giants and never missed a play. Sam Huff, Linebacker, New York Giants & Washington Redskins (1956-1969), A pro football linebacker is just naturally tough. 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. And so these thoughts that have come through your head are fairly recent then? My nose was broken pretty, pretty good. They've asked for my brain. In the 1968 regular season, Oakland scored 453 points (32.4 points/game), once again leading the AFL, beating the Kansas City Chiefs in the divisional round before losing to the Jets. Now, the amnesia one, that was before the NFL, is that right? He played a game against the Saints with a dislocated shoulder. He was a football and ice hockey star at Wausau High and had no knee trouble, although he says he did play a season on a severely injured ankle. WebLatest on C Jim Otto including news, stats, videos, highlights and more on NFL.com But a knee injury that was treated with repeated shots of cortisone and steroids forced him to end a 15-year playing career after 1973. He played with pain and didn't come out. It came from the game. 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? Hitting harder than anyone else was very important to us. In one game, he was knocked unconscious by a 49er defender. Raiders All-Time Top Five: Centers - Sports Illustrated Jim Otto was a Raiders ironman. It actually has to do with Junior Seau this past year and other recent events. 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. Im not out for revenge or anything, but I do think they took advantage of my loyalty.. Of those who did not leave because of injury, 56.2% reported similar emotional problems. And Nitschke, it was right toward the end of his career, and he was I guess letting Carter get some time in there. He finally returned after a three-year absence. It's strange; it's really strange. 30. He suffered a cracked vertebra, a concussion, and crushed intestines during a car crash before his senior year of college. 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. We were at the Polo Grounds when I first ran up against him. Butkus has bitten officials, bitten opponents in the groin, scratched, punched, everything. Ronnie Lott was a cornerback who hit like a linebacker. Graves experience spans over 37 years as a football administrator of the NFL. There's a tear near the break, and his bone is sticking out. And I think it's very unfair. He would come and help me put up hay for my horses and stuff like that. In 1951 alone, he knocked out 21 players. Unitas missed most of the 1968 season due to injury but returned in the Super Bowl to lead Baltimore on its only touchdown drive in a 16-7 loss to the Jets. 7. Jim Otto starred for the Oakland Raiders, but his roots were in Wausau, Wisconsin. When Lotts finger didnt heal properly, he told the doctors to cut it off, and they amputated his pinkie at the third knuckle. In addition to playing offensive center at UM, he also played linebacker on defense. Do you feel like that's associated with football, too? Coaches had a way of making you feel less manly if you didnt play. You want to spell football: T-U-F-F. The content here may be outdated or no longer functioning. He has a compound fracture of the thumb. It's not for weak-hearted guys. And boy, the rest of the day was hell for me. The ironic part? It's incredibly debatable, but here is my attempt to rank them in order for toughness. You wouldnt believe the number of divorces when the big money stops coming in. Its like someone putting your body on I-695 at 6 p.m. and letting it get bounced around by the traffic.. Jim Otto Is that what you're saying? Over the course of his career, Jim Steve McNair, Quarterback, Houston/Tennessee Oilers & Titans & Baltimore Ravens (1995-2007). But has it always been one of those things that's been in there that players have known about other players? I know that in my mind, in Jim Otto's mind -- and I'll be honest with you right now -- that thoughts of suicide have gone through my head at different times. Garrison has also played through a separated shoulder, a severely broken nose and a broken collarbone. They're no longer heroes. And even in soccer, you have problems with your head hitting the ball, two heads coming together or whatever. Bavaro's play inspired the Giants, who went on to win the game, and the Super Bowl. "If you want Otto to respond, just ring a bell. After a few days, Otto gave out a press conference telling the nation that he had retired from the game of football. Ray Lewis, Linebacker, Baltimore Ravens (1996-present). I got upset. In 1999, he was ranked number 78 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. That is my complete and honest feeling. Hall of Fame center Jim Otto recently had his right leg amputated and is recovering in a hospital in Utah. It is, because there's some people who think there's a connection between all those hits that you take and suicide, like there's a physiological connection there, you know? Damn fools. Former San Francisco 49ers defensive lineman Charlie Krueger was a tough guy. WebJim Otto, Mr. Gary Fencik: I had the displeasure of tackling, by accident, Walter only once in my 12-year career. The NFLPA report found that of the players leaving the game because of injury, 70.6% had emotional problems some time during the sixth-month transition period after football. Retirement affects athletes in different ways, said Fishelman, the Baltimore doctor. The AFL permitted the unusual number because it was a pun on Otto's name (aught-oh). I don't know what they were taking. It has been 20 years since Otto retired after a Hall of Fame career. I have issues, yes, I have issues. Brett Favre, Quarterback, Atlanta Falcons & Green Bay Packers & New York Jets (1991-present). He played five more games before the loose bone mass was removed. The psychological high and its addiction is parallel to people who become addicted to cocaine or a smoker who has a dependency on cigarettes.