A member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 1980, Otto died on May 19, 2024, in his first year of eligibility, according to the Las Vegas Raiders. He was 86 years old.
“Jim Otto personified the aura and mystique of the Raiders. He was ‘The Original Raider,’ who led a new franchise from its founding through its first glory years in the late 1960s and early 1970s,” said Jim Porter, president of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. “His legendary credentials – with 210 consecutive starts in the AFL and NFL – and the accolades he has received serve as a testament to his dedication to the organization and the game.
“The Pro Football Hall of Fame will protect his legacy with the same diligence and tenacity that he protected his teammates.”
Otto regularly described himself as a “gladiator” and he refused to succumb to any injuries – and there were many – he accumulated over 15 seasons in the AFL and NFL. They played 210 consecutive regular season games, answering every bell of the season from the opening game of the season in 1960 to the last game of the 1974 season, with a tough loss in the AFC Championship depriving them of a much-anticipated return to the Super Bowl. ,
When adding the preseason, postseason, and All-Star Games, all of which Otto played without failure, the number of consecutive games played exceeded 300.
“When I think of all the wear and tear on my body, I use the number 308,” Otto said in his appropriately titled autobiography, “The Pain of Glory.”
The Hall of Fame coach said, “His skills as a center were perfect.” john madden Said in a February 2021 interview with Tom LaMarre for SI.com’s Raiders Maven page. “He was one of those guys who never wanted to come out of practice. This is unlike most beginners who will say, ‘Send the other guy.’
“Jim was the center of the Oakland Raiders, and he wasn’t going to give up his spot.”
Playing in the one-platoon football days, Otto starred as a center and linebacker in high school in Wausau, Wisconsin, and at the University of Miami. He took a tough approach on the offensive line and enjoyed the opportunity to make tackles on special teams for the Raiders.
“Hit or be killed,” he said of his approach to the game.
The accolades for Otto were many: the AFL Hall of Fame All-1960s team, 12 Pro Bowls, 10 first-team All-Pro designations, a spot (No. 78) on The Sporting News’ list of the 100 Greatest Football Players and one of four centers named to the NFL 100 All-Time team.
hall of fame mail hen, Another center on the NFL 100 All-Time team said of Otto long before he achieved this recognition: “He’s got to rate with the best that’s ever played the position.”
Teammates and rivals agreed.
“He was one of the original guys,” said Chuck Allen, linebacker for the San Diego Chargers for nine seasons. “He was the guy everyone tried to emulate.”
without success.
The Hall of Fame coach said, “He had techniques that others tried to emulate, but couldn’t.” Bill Walsh, who spent the 1966 season as a Raiders offensive assistant. “I used to be amazed at his skill. He played every down with intensity.”
Raiders quarterback Darryl Lamonica called Otto “a real warrior, the greatest center who ever played.”
“His endurance, his ability to play through pain, was something else,” LaMonica said. “My first game with the Raiders, he lost with a neck injury. It seemed as if he was out for a year. He was back in the next game. …Today you don’t see that kind of dedication. “Commitment to excellence is what Jim was all about.”
iconic images
“Stingers” were common since Otto’s early days in the game. An improvised sponge tied to his shoulder pads with a shoe lace, which he used in college, evolved into the fit-foam neck roll that became standard equipment for him in Oakland.
The neck roll, “00” jersey he adopted in his second pro season and the U-shaped nose protector became a ubiquitous part of a uniform that Otto never wanted to abandon. The blow to the neck also served as the injury that established Otto’s determination to never leave the field.
In his book, Otto recalled hearing that al davis – then in San Diego – told the Chargers, “If Jim Otto had been out of the game, the Raiders would have lost.”
Davis became Oakland’s coach in 1963. In a preseason game against the Chiefs, Otto suffered a neck injury and left the field. Davis met him halfway.
“A raider will never come near from now on,” Otto told Davis. “Next time you come out, stay away.”
He lived uninterrupted for 11 more years.
“What Al said to me was indelibly imprinted on my mind,” Otto told LaMarre in his interview. “I had to face defeat sometimes, but I remained in the game. I didn’t want to let him down, the fans, my family or my teammates. I was captain for 12 out of 13 years, and I think I was the leader.
“Sometimes it was difficult because I had a chronic neck problem. I would get a sting and it would almost injure me. But there was no way for me to get out of the game. What Al said once was enough.
constant pain
Neck and back problems plagued Otto throughout his adult life. Several of his vertebrae were fused, requiring a half-dozen of his estimated 74 surgeries. Operations on at least one knee were an almost annual occurrence – 28 in total with 10 joint replacements. Left with no other option, doctors amputated Otto’s right leg in 2007.
Both of his shoulders were replaced. Otto nearly died from infection after three operations.
He considered his more than 20 broken noses, dislocated hips, broken fingers, broken ribs, broken jaw, stung neck, multiple concussions, kicked teeth and double pneumonia as “minor injuries, so minor distractions”.
“I was paid to play football, not hang out in the training room,” he said.
Despite the physical toll on his body, Otto repeatedly said he left the game with no regrets and, even knowing the pain he endured for decades, he would likely sign up to play in the NFL again.
Otto took great pride in his durability. Only 20 other men played in the AFL’s entire 10-year existence, and only three of them played in every game. He was a first-team All-AFL centre in every season.
Coming out of Miami weighing 217 pounds, few predicted Otto’s success or longevity. No NFL team drafted him; Minneapolis selected him in the 24th round of the AFL draft, then vacated the team to pursue an expansion franchise in the NFL. His draft rights fell to Oakland.
instant praise
Otto was the only Raider to earn postseason honors following the 1960 and 1961 seasons. After his exceptional rookie year, some NFL teams expressed interest in prying him away from the AFL, but he remained loyal to his original league and team.
The Raiders went 9-33 in Otto’s first three seasons — “We were the doormat of that league,” Otto said — and he briefly considered leaving, but “I knew there was light at the end of the tunnel.”
When Davis took charge of the team in 1963, victory followed. Even the new color scheme adopted by the Raiders made a difference for Otto.
“When I first wore the silver and black uniform, I wanted to wear it forever,” he said in his autobiography.
Love for the team, loyalty, longevity and determination earned Otto the nickname “Mr. Attacker.”
From 1963 to 1974, the Raiders won seven division titles and the 1967 AFL Championship. They lost to the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II, and Otto was never able to return to the title game, one of the few disappointments that stayed with him. His teams lost in the AFL or AFC title game five times, and in each case the opponent won the Super Bowl.
As ruthless and tenacious as Otto was on the field, he was equally generous toward opponents and teammates, even toward the man who ultimately took away his job. He coached Dave Dalby, who played 205 games for the Raiders in his 14 seasons.
Dinners at the Otto house and the annual Halloween party were other ways Otto demonstrated his personality off the field.
“Jim is the best center I have ever played against, bar none. He was a warrior, he was hard to contain,” said Bobby Bell, Hall of Fame linebacker for the rival Chiefs. “The Chiefs-Raiders rivalry was a dogfight on the field, but both teams were friends off the field. Jim is just a class boy; He’s at the top of my pyramid. He was a team player.”
After football, Otto worked as the business manager of the Raiders for a few years. He bought a walnut farm, on which he worked until his body refused to do so. He also owned several fast-food franchises and other businesses.
But football was his real passion.
He said, “I love football more than I can explain in words that make sense to people who have never played the game.” “I couldn’t explain that motivation even to teammates, who thought I was out of my mind to play with the injuries that usually sideline soccer players.”
In a 2012 interview with PBS, Otto called his injuries “gladiator’s battle scars.” The gladiator runs until he can go no more.
Otto is survived by his wife of 63 years, Sally; his son, Jim Jr.; daughter-in-law Leah; and 14 grandchildren.
Otto’s legacy as one of the game’s best centers and iron men of all-time will be forever preserved in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
