[3] He played college football at Morris Brown and was selected by the Raiders in the seventh round (190th overall) of the 1968 NFL/AFL draft.
Facing the Buffalo Bills on September 15, he scored the first touchdown of the game on a punt return for 86 yards.
[3] After the second incident, Steelers' coach Chuck Noll referred to Atkinson as part of the "criminal element" in football.
Some examples are: 1) Perhaps the most controversial call - the Immaculate Reception - Atkinson contends that it was a dead ball because of the "double touch" rule (i.e., a Steelers player came into contact with the football while the pass was in the air), that the football also touched the ground before being scooped up by Steelers' Franco Harris and thus the play should have been ruled as an incomplete pass, and because Raiders' linebacker, Phil Villapiano, was illegally blocked ("clipped") during Harris's resulting game clinching touchdown run; 2) Atkinson stated that the Tuck Rule had never been used until it was used against the Raiders in the 2001 AFC divisional playoff game (it actually came into play during an earlier game, also involving the Patriots, that same 2001 season) and never used again (the Tuck Rule was abolished on March 20, 2013).
Atkinson's twin sons, George III and Josh, played college football for Notre Dame.
[8][9] Atkinson's former significant other, Michelle Martin, the mother of George III and Josh, had severe mental illness as well and was institutionalized during the twins' childhood.