CHICAGO -- Darryl Stingley, paralyzed after a vicious hit during an NFL preseason game nearly 30 years ago, died Thursday. He was 55.


Stingley was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital after he was found unresponsive in his Chicago home, according to Tony Brucci, an investigator with the Cook County medical examiner's office.

The cause of death was not immediately available. An autopsy was scheduled.

Stingley, a star receiver with the New England Patriots, was left a quadriplegic after he was hit from behind by Oakland's Jack Tatum while trying to catch a pass.

The hit on Aug. 12, 1978, broke Stingley's neck, and he spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. Stingley regained limited movement in his right arm and operated his electric wheelchair on his own.

Tatum's hit ignited debates about the violence of the game and made Tatum, who had a reputation as one of the game's fiercest defenders, a subject of controversy.

The two players never reconciled. In 1996, they were supposed to meet for a TV appearance, but Stingley called it off after being told it was to publicize Tatum's book: "Final Confessions of NFL Assassin Jack Tatum."

Stingley was born and raised in Chicago. A star running back at John Marshall High School, he attended Purdue on a football scholarship. In 1973, he was a first-round draft pick of the Patriots, owned by Robert Kraft.

"On behalf of the Kraft family and the entire Patriots organization, we're deeply saddened by news of Darryl Stingley's death, and our thoughts and prayers are with the Stingley family at this time," team spokesman Stacey James said.

Stingley served as executive director of player personnel for the Patriots and often visited paralyzed patients. He wrote a book about his experiences entitled "Happy to Be Alive," published in 1983, and 10 years later started a nonprofit foundation in Chicago designed to help inner-city youth.

In a 1988 Associated Press interview, he talked about the day that changed his life.

"I have relived that moment over and over again," Stingley said. "I was 26 years old at the time and I remember thinking, 'What's going to happen to me? If I live, what am I going to be like?' And then there were all those whys, whys, whys?

"It was only after I stopped asking why, that I was able to regroup and go on with my life," he said.