Aug. 12, 1978

New England Patriots wide receiver Darryl Stingley suffers a broken neck and is paralyzed from the chest down after taking a savage hit from Oakland Raiders safety Jack Tatum in an exhibition game.

"There's been a fracture and dislocation of the fourth and fifth vertebrae," says a Patriots team doctor, "and a subsequent compression of the spinal cord that immediately rendered Darryl quadriplegic."

Stingley is hurt while running a crossing pattern over the middle in the second period. Tatum knocks Stingley out cold with a forearm and doesn't think he has done anything wrong.

Tatum, who had met Stingley once or twice, says he regrets the incident, "but you can't get emotional about it. You don't like to see any player get hurt, but football is a contact sport and that's a real dangerous pattern. We don't even run it in practice. But I had to do what I had to do. It was my job, and he was doing his job."