Jim Otto, who never missed a game as the Oakland Raiders center from 1960-1974, has died at 86. (Associated Press)
Jim Otto, the Hall of Fame center who never missed a game during his 15 seasons with the Raiders in the 1960s and 1970s, has died at 86, the team announced Sunday night. No cause of death was given.
“The Raiders Family is in deep mourning following the passing of Jim Otto,” the Las Vegas Raiders said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter). “The Original Raider. The personification of consistency, Jim’s influence on the American Football League and professional football as a whole cannot be overstated. His leadership and tenacity were a hallmark of the dominant Raider teams of the 1960s and 70s.”
Jim Otto poses with his bust after being enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Aug. 2, 1980, in Canton, Ohio. (Associated Press)
Otto was enshrined into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980, his first year of eligibility, with a speech by late Raiders owner Al Davis.
“For more than a decade he was the standard of excellence by which centers were judged in professional football,” Davis said of Otto during his speech. “He was the most honored offense lineman in the history of professional football. But statistics are just a measure of accomplishment, not really the measure of a man. If it is true that great men inspire in others the will to be great, that alone qualifies Jim to be a great man.”
On Sunday night, the Raiders tweeted a video of current owner Mark Davis lighting his father’s memorial torch at Allegiant Stadium in Otto’s honor.
An undrafted rookie out of the University of Miami in 1960, Otto was the first person to snap the ball for the Oakland Raiders, a first-year team in the new American Football League that competed with the NFL until the leagues merged in 1970. He was a 10-time All-AFL selection, making him the only center to earn that honor, and was named to 12 Pro Bowls before retiring after the 1974 season.
He is one of…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/jim-otto-hall-fame-raiders-184710937.html
Author : LA Times
Publish date : 2024-05-20 18:47:10
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