Longtime Raiders center Jim Otto died at 86, the team announced Sunday night.
No cause of death was given.
The durable Otto, who wore the distinctive “00,” was center for the first 15 seasons of the Raiders franchise from 1960-1974, starting in 210 consecutive games.
“I’ve often looked at being a football player as being a gladiator,” Otto told Bleacher Report in 2009.
“There’s something inside of you that says, ‘I want to go out there and prove my worth.’ Most of the time you’re going to get injuries. That’s the life you choose. Some people need a challenge in life and they play hockey or rugby. Football was the way I could prove myself.”
Otto was a nine-time First-Team All-AFL and then a three-time Pro Bowl center after the AFL and NFL merged.
“His skills as a center were just perfect,” Raiders Hall of Fame Coach, the late John Madden, once said. “He was one of those guys who never wanted to come out of practice. That’s the opposite of most starters, who will say, ‘Send in the second guy.’”
Otto was voted into the Hall of Fame in 1980, his first year of eligibility.
“Commitment to excellence, pride and poise, the greatness of our football team were not only exemplified by Jim Otto, but for more than a decade he was the standard of excellence by which centers were judged in professional football,” late Raiders Hall of Fame owner Al Davis said at Otto’s enshrinement.
Otto had more than 70 surgeries and had his right leg amputated in 2007.
“I’m not the type of guy that wants somebody to feel sorry for me. I’ll do whatever. I’ll go to war if I have to to live,” Otto said in 2013, adding “I’ve done a lot since I’ve had my leg amputated. I’ve been to the Arctic Circle. I’ve been in all types of venues…I like to hunt.”
He is survived by his wife, son and 14 grandchildren.
“I watched him bleed,” Raiders linebacker Phil Villapiano said in a 2022 interview. “I mean, every f—ing game. Whatever helmet he had on certainly didn’t work, because it would come down and smash on top of his nose. He’d be bleeding every single game. And players on the other team would be like, ‘What the f— is with this guy?!’”
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