Las Vegas Review-Journal (Sunday)
Center of attention: Otto ‘proved’ himself on field
Critical of his play, ‘00’ is true Hall of Famer
The Raiders don’t retire numbers. But even if someone else puts it on, no one will ever wear “00” like Jim Otto.
The legendary center was part of the Raiders’ inaugural AFL team in 1960 and was one of only 20 men to play in each of the league’s 10 seasons. Beyond that, he was one of only three to play in every one of his team’s AFL games.
In all, Otto played 15 seasons from 1960 to 1974, anchoring the Raiders’ offensive line through the entire period. He was a nine-time AFL all-star from 1961 to 1969 and a three-time Pro Bowler following the AFL-NFL merger from 1970 to 1972. He also earned first-team All-AFL honors for each of the league’s 10 seasons from 1960 to 1969.
He was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 — the first year he was eligible.
Otto was known for his tenacious playing style.
“I’ve often looked at being a football player as being a gladiator,” Otto said in an interview with 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 did play through significant injuries that have had lasting consequences — undergoing nine knee surgeries. In total, he’s had 28 knee procedures and at the last known count 74 surgeries.
Otto developed several life-threatening infections that started with complications in his right leg over the course of a nine-year period, which led to the leg being amputated in 2007.
“Losing my leg didn’t bother me one bit other than I wanted to make sure that my wife still loved the guy with one leg,” Otto said in a 2012 interview with PBS. “That was the most important thing to me. And she says, ‘I didn’t marry you for that leg anyway.’ ”
While at the time of the interview with PBS Otto said he was not having many cognitive issues, he also admitted to dealing with the consequences of having multiple concussions.
“I had a couple dozen concussions or more, and I hurt,” Otto said. “I’m not complaining about it. I’m telling you about it right now: I hurt. And that is something that I’m dealing with.”
Still, Otto, now 82, has expressed time and again that he has no regrets. In a 2016 interview with WSAW-TV — the local CBS affiliate in Otto’s hometown of Wausau, Wisconsin — Otto said he when he turns on game film of himself playing with the Raiders, he’s intensely critical of his play.
“I tear him apart — the way he moves his feet, the way he moves his body to make the block and everything. And I’m just grading myself,” Otto said. “I always used to like to grade myself in the films. That would help me be a better football player.”
Despite how he may feel about watching that old film, Otto’s performances back in the 1960s and ’70s cemented him as one of the ultimate legends of the franchise.
“I want to be a person who always gave the most for everybody, that I was a team man in all respects,” Otto said in the 2016 interview. “Out of sports, I was a team man for that organization. I want to be respected for that. I’ve never snubbed anybody. I don’t believe in that. I just love people.”