The Miami football program and NFL lost a legend on Sunday with the passing of former Oakland Raiders center Jim Otto. Otto played at Miami from 1957-1959 andwas inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1972. Otto played center and linebacker during his Miami career.
Following his Miami playing career, Otto was undrafted in the NFL but was selected by the proposed Minneapolis franchise in the new American Football League. When the Minneapolis ownership group reneged on entering the AFL to accept an NFL expansion franchise, Otto's rights were transferred to Oakland.
Otto played all 10 seasons of the AFL's existence with Oakland before the merger with the NFL. Otto then played five more seasons with the Raiders after the merger. In their first season in the NFL following the merger, Otto and the Raiders lost to the Green Bay Packers in Superbowl I.
Otto is one of nine Miami football alums and the only former Hurricanes' offensive lineman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Another Miami football legend and Pro Football Hall of Famer, Ted Hendricks was a teammate of Otto's with the Raiders during the 1970s.
#RIP Jim Otto#Raiders pic.twitter.com/jvPO1iKml5
— Old Time Football 🏈 (@Ol_TimeFootball) May 20, 2024
Jim Otto Career Accomplishments
- AFL champion (1967)
- 9× First-team All-AFL (1960–1965, 1967–1969)
- First-team All-Pro (1970)
- Second-team All-Pro (1972)
- Second-team All-AFL (1966)
- 9× AFL All-Star (1961–1969)
- 3× Pro Bowl (1970–1972)
- NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team
- AFL All-Time Team
Otto was one of only 20 players to play all 10 AFL seasons and only one of three in every game for his team during their 10 years in the upstart league. During and after his career, Otto had 74 surgeries.
Otto was the first Miami football alum inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Pro Football writers who vote on Hall of Famers elected Otto in his first season of eligibility in 1980. In 2012, Otto told PBS Frontline in their episode "League of Denial" that he had to have his right leg amputated.
At his retirement, Otto had 210 consecutive starts, seventh in AFL/NFL league history. Otto is one of 10 centers in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Chuck Bednarik, who was also a linebacker, was the only center to precede Otto as an inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Otto is survived by his wife Sally, son Jim Jr, daughter-in-law Leah and 14 grandchildren. Otto is the second Miami Hurricanes Pro Football Hall of Famer to pass away. Cortez Kennedy died at age 47 in 2017. Devin Hester and Andre Johnson will become the 10th and 11th Miami alums to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in August.