J.im Otto, the Hall of Fame center known as “Mr. Raider” for his durability through a series of injuries, has died, the team confirmed Sunday night. He was 86 years old.
The cause of death was not immediately known.
“The Original Raider”, the club said in a statement posted on social platform X. “The personification of consistency, Jim’s influence on the American Football League and professional football as a whole cannot be overstated. His leadership and tenacity were a hallmark of the dominant Raider teams of the 1960s and 70s.”
Otto remained involved with the Raiders even after they moved to Las Vegas in 2020. He was among several players from the club’s past who were in the locker room following the Raiders’ season-ending 27–14 victory over the Denver Broncos in January .
Maxx Crosby, defensive end for the Las Vegas Raiders posted in X that Otto was an “absolute legend and an incredible person.”
Otto joined the Raiders in their inaugural season in the American Football League in 1960 and was a fixture on the team for the next 15 years.
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He never missed a game because of injury, competing in 210 consecutive regular season games and 308 consecutive games overall despite having nine knee operations during his playing career. His right leg was amputated in 2007.
“He’s a warrior,” former Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon once said. “When you think of the old, tough Raider, you think of Jim Otto.”
Otto was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1980 and is considered one of the AFL’s all-time greats.
He is believed to have had more than 50 operations, most for football-related injuries. They have dealt with multiple joint replacements, arthritis, and debilitating back and neck issues. His right leg was amputated in 2007.
Otto also had prostate cancer and two serious infections after his career.
“I can do any kind of surgery in the world, except when it’s internal,” he said. “When it’s cosmetic, fixing your nose, fixing your knee, fixing your elbows or whatever, that’s nothing.”
Wearing his famous No. 00 jersey — a play on his name, “Aught-oh” — Otto played in nine AFL All-Star Games and the first three AFC-NFC Pro Bowls before being inducted into the Hall of Fame in his junior year. . in the vote.
“Throughout my career, I have worked hard to remain a level above everyone else,” Otto once said. “Every day he took the field, he was the best central defender. That’s how I wanted to be. I continued to play at that level with those expectations.”
Otto was instrumental in the Raiders becoming one of the best organizations in professional football. The team won seven division titles in its final eight seasons and lost the Super Bowl to Green Bay after the 1967 season.
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He played his final seasons with fellow Hall of Fame offensive linemen Gene Upshaw and Art Shell. These Raiders physically dominated their opponents.
“There was some intimidation,” he said. “Teams didn’t like coming to Oakland because of the fans and the football team.”
The Raiders also developed a reputation for partying as hard as they could. Legend has it that players would show up just in time for their 11pm bed check and then head back out the door.
“No matter what happened the night before, they all trained the next morning,” Otto said.
Born on January 5, 1938, in Wausau, Wisconsin, Otto grew up in poverty, living for a time in a chicken coop with his family. He left to play college football at the University of Miami, where he played center and linebacker.
He went undrafted by the NFL in 1959 before signing with the Raiders of the new AFL the following year. He was one of only 20 players to play in the AFL during its entire 10 years.
Otto most recently served as the team’s director of special projects. He organized reunions for former players and events for fans in the luxury boxes, as well as making public appearances for the team.
He also played a key role in negotiating the team’s move back from Los Angeles to Oakland before the 1995 season. The Raiders left the Bay Area for Las Vegas in 2020.
Otto is survived by his wife Sally, his son Jim Jr. and daughter-in-law Leah, and his 14 grandchildren – Alice, Sarah, Amy, Amanda, Josiah, Hannah, Jeremiah, Isaiah, Jennifer, Avery, Noah, Aiden, Roman and Ellie.
—AP Sports Writer Mark Anderson in Henderson, Nevada, contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on Time.com read the full story
