1978: The NFL’s Scariest Preseason Game In NFL History

As football season rolls back around, the scariest preseason game in NFL history often comes to mind.

Remember that fateful game day in 1978? Here’s a quick hint: Someone experienced quite the sting.

That 1978 Preseason Game

The New England Patriots and Oakland Raiders faced off on August 12th, 1978, at the Oakland Coliseum.

Wide receiver Darryl Stingley was attempting to catch a ball when free safety Jack Tatum collided with him. It wasn’t a dirty hit; it was a perfectly legal move. Stingley’s helmet hit Tatum’s shoulder pad. Darryl’s spine was compressed, and his C4 and C5 vertebrae were broken.

The hit is often described as problematic or frowned upon; in reality, no player, coach, or ref would blink an eye on a helmet-to-shoulder hit. Using your helmet was encouraged if not openly promoted. Helmet-to-helmet was the norm, not the exception.

The game may have been a preseason one, but players like Tatum gave it all every play, preseason or not.

Things just went horribly wrong, to the fault of no one involved. Stingley himself called it a freak accident.

The Scariest Hit of Preseason (possibly ever)

Quarterback Steve Grogan (#14) threw a poor pass. Darryl Stingley was an expert wide receiver, so he was going to reach for this pass and try to make the catch. Unfortunately, Jack Tatum was swooping in to break up the pass. Tatum’s shoulder connected with Stingley’s head at a fast rate of speed, and Darryl fell like a sack of potatoes.

Tight end Russ Francis (#81) attempted to get Darryl up. People got injured all the time, and their teammates would help peel them up off the ground and line up for their next snap. Either Francis touched Stingley, or the wide receiver was able to move his arm a little because it flopped to his side.

Francis recalls that Darryl’s eyes were glassy, and he was repeating, “I’ll be all right.” Once the tight end realized that Darryl was seriously injured and going into shock, he stepped away from Stingley as the medical team approached, accidentally tripping on his injured teammate’s leg on his way out.

The medical staff for both teams rapidly approaches, surrounding the wide receiver. One particularly zealous medical staff member taps all over Darryl’s left leg, checking for sensation, reflexes, and any ability for Stingley to move it. He finishes this checkup by moving his ankle around like a joystick.

There’s a cut on the screen, but the next thing we see is both teams standing silently, worried for Stingley. Darryl is being carted off on a 1970s stretcher across the field.

Post-Hit Madness

Stingley was, of course, brought to a hospital, one he would stay at for three months, in California. John Madden, the Raiders head coach at the time, was devastated by what happened. Darryl and John would actually form a lifelong bond by the end of it.

Madden rushed to the hospital post-game. He was upset to find that he was the only person there. John wasn’t having that and called the Patriots, who were in takeoff mode in the team’s charter plane, to come back. They did.

Former Oakland Raider Gene Upshaw remembers Madden accepting Stingley as one of his own, saying: “After the game, when we found out that Darryl was paralyzed, John told him that from now on he was a Raider and we should treat him as one.”

Imagine being paralyzed on the field, and your own team attempts to fly out of the city to go back home without so much as visiting the teammate. This was more common back in the day but no less painful.

Troy Aikman was also left alone in the hospital in 1995 after the NFC Championship, where he was kneed in the head and experienced a serious concussion. His agent, Leigh Steinberg, was the first person to check in on the disoriented player after the game was over. How frightening would that be? Aikman couldn’t hold a thought for longer than five minutes, so the fear and loneliness would be fresh every few minutes.

Allegedly, Villapiano (remember that guy? Read a great story about him here) said he and Tatum did also try to visit Stingley post preseason game, but were turned away by Darryl’s family. I tend to trust Phil, even if he has slammed his head into the concrete walls of his locker room more than once. It was a weird time in football.

Darryl’s wife flew in and spent every day with her husband at the hospital. Madden offered her a room at his home, but she preferred being with her husband. Tina was so dedicated that she cut a hole in his mattress so she could sit on the floor and be able to see his face through the hole when he had to be turned over three hours a day to avoid bed sores. Tina Stingley was a constant comfort.

Darryl, on the other hand, was worried about his appearance and whether the nurses thought he was attractive or not. He didn’t want to take any photos for the media until his beard had grown thick again.

Stingley’s Preseason Prognosis

Darryl Stingley was flown to a rehabilitation facility in Chicago after he was discharged from the California hospital.

At the time, in 1978, optimism was still present. There was a chance he could recover to some extent.

Stingley asked doctors on that fateful day whether he would be OK. The doctors confirmed he would be. His next thought was whether or not he could play football again, to which the doctors said they were not yet sure.

By November 1978, Stingley was doing physical therapy in an individual and group setting. He was also mentally keeping it together, which was no simple task. His doctor was celebrating his progress. His vertebrae were fully healed, his legs could sense some spasms, and his arms were progressing with good function in his right arm’s shoulder.

Things didn’t get better. Optimism would dwindle. Sometimes football players defy the odds and walk again or play football again. And sometimes they don’t. Stingley didn’t recover; he was wheelchair-bound and quadriplegic for the remainder of his life, save for a little bit of mobility in his right arm from the elbow down.

And that, folks, is why the preseason can be a very scary time. Players dedicate their lives and limbs to every single play in every single game of football. Sometimes that is more literal than metaphorical, like with Darryl Stingley and the 1978 preseason game.