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.