Jim Otto, the previous Raiders center who sacrificed his body for the sport he loved without regret, has died, the team announced Sunday.
He was 86 years old.
“The Raiders family deeply mourns the passing of Jim Otto … the original Raider,” the team said in a press release. “Jim’s embodiment of perseverance and impact on the American Football League and professional football as a whole cannot be overstated.”
Otto, probably the most decorated offensive linemen in NFL history, stood out at an anonymous position partly due to his “00” number, which was given to him based on his first and last name. He originally wore No. 50.
Otto was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and can also be a member of the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He was a member of the All-Time AFL Team in addition to the NFL's Top 100 Players, an inventory created in 2019.
Otto has been confined to a wheelchair lately, his right leg was amputated on the knee in 2007 and he needed to endure 74 operations at times attributable to the devastating effects of skilled football.
Although he was aware of the risks related to the game, Otto spoke matter-of-factly about his physical problems in a 2013 Frontline interview.
“These are the battle scars of a gladiator,” said Otto. “The gladiator goes until he can’t anymore, and that’s what I do. I will continue to do the best I can with what I have, and I will do that until I can’t anymore.”
In a 2000 Alameda Newspaper Group profile, Otto detailed three near-death experiences related to infections attributable to his physical problems. At this point, Otto had already undergone 28 knee surgeries, had a knee alternative for the sixth time, and had each shoulders replaced.
Otto told Frontline that he has suffered greater than 20 concussions, but said: “It has affected my life, it definitely has.” But I'm not on the market crying about it. I do know that I went to war and got here out of the battle with what I even have, and that’s the way it is.”
A real Oakland Raider, Otto played from 1960 to 1974, playing all 14 games in 15 consecutive seasons. He was with the Raiders once they were among the many doormats of the American Football League with home games at Kezar Stadium, Candlestick Park and Frank Youell Field. He was a pacesetter and central figure because the Raiders rose to power following the arrival of Al Davis as coach and general manager in 1963.
In his Hall of Fame induction speech, Davis said on Otto's behalf, “He loved the Oakland Raiders and he loved the game of football, but most importantly, he established them all to a degree that has never been surpassed.”
Otto, a linebacker and center at Miami, weighed 208 kilos when he graduated. The NFL wasn't interested, however the AFL began playing in 1960 and he found a house with the Raiders in Oakland, eventually growing to 247 kilos.
One of the young coaches on Davis' early team was Bill Walsh, who would later develop into famous because the 49ers' Hall of Fame coach.
“He had blocking techniques that others tried to emulate but couldn't,” Walsh told the Alameda Newspaper Group in 2000. “If you were talking about the greatest players to ever play the game, if people accepted guards and centers, then Jim would be the greatest player.”
John Madden, who joined the Raiders as an assistant in 1967 and was head coach from 1968 to 1978, said of Otto: “If someone came from another planet and you wanted to know what a football player looked like, you would show them one.” Photo by Jim Otto.”
Born on January 5, 1938, in Wausau, Wisconsin, Otto didn't play his first 12 months of organized football until ninth grade. Otto, one among five children, wore hand-me-down clothes and lived in a chicken coop for a summer.
“We shared everything we had with grandparents, aunts and uncles,” Otto told the East Bay Times in a 2007 Thanksgiving story. “No matter how poor our family was, we had turkey, apple pie, pumpkin pie.”
However, Otto spoke in his Hall of Fame induction speech in 1980 about how daydreaming at a young age contributed to his future.
“My favorite daydream was that I would become a professional football player one day, and when I heard a football game on the radio at the age of 11, I told my grandfather that I would become a professional football player one day, and it didn't last long “until this day began,” said Otto.
Otto is survived by his wife Sally and his son Jimmy. A daughter, Jennifer, died in 1997.
— Las Vegas Raiders (@Raiders) May 20, 2024
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