• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

By Root 878 0

never needed to look over his shoulder, at his team’s sideline, and worry about some young kid taking his job. At Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, he was among the finest running backs in the state of Florida. The University of Miami offered a scholarship to the eighteen-year-old raised an hour south of the Coral Gables campus. During Anderson’s first preseason, head coach Carl Selmer promoted him to the varsity. By late September, the true freshman was carrying the ball during critical fourth-quarter snaps of the Hurricanes’ near-upset of the top-ranked, reigning, and eventual repeat, national champion Oklahoma Sooners. Two months later, he totaled 148 rushing and receiving yards against Notre Dame.

As a sophomore for the floundering Hurricanes program, Anderson became the offense’s centerpiece, as his 213 carries set a new school record. He finished just thirty-three yards shy of Miami’s single-season rushing mark.

Given the prowess he had during the mid-1970s—and the powerful build with sprinter’s speed—Ottis Jerome Anderson was appropriately dubbed “O. J.” And in the middle of his Miami career, the nickname became more than just homage to Orenthal James “O. J.” Simpson, the Heisman Trophy–winning superstar. By his junior season, Anderson was running the same plays as the great Buffalo Bills rusher.

Consecutive 3-8 seasons prompted the Hurricanes’ athletics department to dismiss Carl Selmer after the 1976 season and hire former Bills head coach Lou Saban. Apart from winning consecutive AFL titles, Saban presided over the team while Simpson rewrote professional football’s record books. Simpson never rushed for one thousand yards under any other head coach.[1]

“I hope he runs the same things he did at Buffalo with O. J. Simpson,” Anderson said upon Saban’s hire.

Saban coaxed Simpson-like statistics during Anderson’s senior season: 1,266 yards and a 5.7 yards-per-carry average. Despite a one-sided attack—the passing game was so dreadful that eighteen-year-old freshman Jim Kelly nearly won the quarterback job—Anderson became one of the nation’s top runners and set the school’s career yardage figure.

The historic résumé (he remains Miami’s all-time leader in rushing yards and attempts) along with his size and speed enticed pro suitors. In the 1979 NFL draft, St. Louis chose Anderson with their first-round selection.

“He shows up to that first minicamp, and I think like all of my teammates, my first impression was, ‘Wow, this guy is a lot bigger than I thought he was going to be,’” Cardinals Hall of Fame lineman Dan Dierdorf recalled. “The thing of it was that he just had such deceptive speed. . . . I can’t begin to tell you how many yards he got by bouncing it to the outside and breaking containment on a defense because they thought they took the proper angle to tackle him. And he would beat them to the corner because he was just so much faster than he looked. He constantly made defensive guys look bad.”

The Cardinals were fortunate that Anderson was still available when they selected eighth. Picking one spot earlier was the Giants, a team desperately needing a running back. New Yorkers responded with “booing, hissing, cursing and fist-waving” when newly hired general manager George Young shocked everyone by selecting a quarterback from Morehead State, Phil Simms.

St. Louis fans, however, were delighted to have Anderson. As a rookie, he tallied nine one-hundred-yard games, including a dominant late-season performance in the team’s 29-20 victory over the team that passed on him in May’s draft.

“He’s a great running back,” Giants head coach Ray Perkins said after Anderson’s twenty-nine carries, 140 yards, and two touchdowns. “He might go down as the greatest there’s ever been.”

Anderson finished 1979 with 1,605 yards rushing (a record for first-year backs), earned the Associated Press’ Rookie of the Year Award, and first-team all-pro honors. Despite another disappointing team season for the 5-11 Cardinals, Anderson’s presence energized his teammates.

“I’d like to thank O. J. Anderson for making football