NFL

Otto, Jim ‘Mr. Raider’ (1938-2024)

CARDS: Topps 1970, Upper Deck Legends 1997
ACQUIRED: TTM 2020, C/o Home*
SENT: 10/19/20 RECEIVED: 10/27/20 (8 days)
* Fee Enclosed

CAREER SNAPSHOT:

  • Jim Otto played center and linebacker at the University of Miami, FL.
  • He was selected by the proposed AFL Minnesota team in 1960.
  • When the Minnesota team joined the NFL instead, his rights fell to the Oakland Raiders.
  • Jim went on to play the entire 10 years of the AFL as the Raiders starting center.
  • He’d then play an additional FIVE more for the Raiders after the AFL and NFL merged.
  • Considered one of the finest- if not the finest center to play the game, Jim was showered with accolades throughout his career.
  • He was the last original Oakland Raider to retire- after the 1974 season.
  • Started 210 contests over his career.
  • Jim is equally well known as the most famous player to wear the number ’00’.

ACCOLADES:

  • First Team All- AFL 1960-’65, ’67-’69
  • Second Team All- AFL 1966
  • AFL All-Star 1961-’69
  • Pro Bowl 1970-’72
  • All Pro 1970
  • Second Team All Pro 1972
  • All Time AFL Team
  • NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
  • University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame and Museum 1972
  • Wisconsin Sports Hall of Fame 1998
  • Pro Football Hall of Fame 1980

NOTES:

I wrote Jim back in 2020, and like many of the autographs during the COVID blitz- they got lost in the shuffle. Then as I got around to this post I kept kicking it further down, thinking I’d get him again on another card or two at that point. His fee also was just a modest $10 per card.

Both of these are sets that I really like. This classy 1970 Topps card with him popping a block with a smile is pretty iconic. The Upper Deck Legends turned into a set need around this time, and the silver sharpie touch was really nice of him.

Jim notably also suffered from more than SEVENTY operations due to his time playing football, and eventually had his right leg amputated in 2007, and almost died twice from post-surgery infections. Jim is a cautionary tale of ‘playing through pain’. He is said to have lived in constant pain over the last few years of his life- but remained a steadfast defendant of the sport.

EPITAPH:

5/19/2024- Jim Otto passed away at the grand old age of 86 in Aurora, Ca. No cause of death was given.