Ottis Anderson
Ottis Anderson was born in West Palm Beach, Florida, United States on January 19th, 1957 and is the Football Player. At the age of 67, Ottis Anderson biography, profession, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, build, measurements, education, career, dating/affair, family, news updates, and networth are available.
At 67 years old, Ottis Anderson has this physical status:
"O.J." was Ottis Jerome "O.J. Anderson (born January 19, 1957) is a former American football running back who has competed in the National Football League for a career (NFL).
In 1979, he was named the Best Offensive Rookie of the Year by the Associated Press (AP) with the St. Louis Cardinals (AP) and the MVP of Super Bowl XXV when playing with the New York Giants in 1991.
He played college football at the University of Miami.
Early life
Ottis Jerome Anderson was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He played football and track at Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, graduating in 1975.
Life after football
Anderson's 14-year football career in 1993 marked the beginning of his career in entrepreneurship and motivational speaking.
Anderson has appeared on several major local and national radio and television shows, including The David Letterman Show and Good Morning America. During the Crying Giants' Fan Web Redemption, he appeared on Comedy Central's Tosh.0. Anthony Anderson of ABC News interviewed him as part of One Moment in Time: Whitney Houston's Life, a two-hour special on ABC shortly after singer Whitney Houston's death. Houston's "The Star-Spangled Banner" played in Super Bowl XXV, and then-Giants quarterback Jeff Hostetler and then-Buffalo Bills quarterback Frank Reich weighed on Houston's play in the game.
He served as a broadcast analyst with WFAN's New York Giants, and he co-hosted three radio shows in St. Louis with former Cardinal teammates Theotis Brown, E.J. Junior and Roy Green. Anderson appeared on The Billy Taylor Show in New York City and contributed to an in-season weekly column, Ask Ottis, published in the Giants Insider magazine.
Anderson, president of Ottis J. Anderson Enterprises, is also involved in numerous ventures and has been instrumental in writing incentives for municipalities, school boards, and privately held companies in New Jersey. Anderson began serving as the Vice President of Business Development for Metro Exhibits in 2017, selling trade show booths and services. He has spoken out in favor of synthetic turf for sports fields marketed by Global Syn-Turf, Inc.
Anderson has worked with numerous community groups, including United Way of America, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, National Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and the Deborah Hospital Foundation.
Anderson was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame on May 2, 2022.
Professional career
Anderson was selected in the first round of the 1979 NFL Draft, the 8th overall pick, by the St. Louis Cardinals. He had one of the greatest debut games in NFL history, rushing for 193 yards, which was just 1 yard shy of Alan Ameche's all-time record for an NFL debut (Ameche rushed for 194 yards for the Baltimore Colts in 1955.) His single season 1,605 rushing yard performance was one of the few bright spots in the Cardinals' 1979 season, when they finished 5-11. He earned the first of back-to-back Pro Bowl selections that year.
In his first six seasons, Anderson rushed for over 1,000 yards in five seasons. The lone exception was in the 1982 strike-shortened season, when he rushed for 587 yards in eight games; a pace for well over 1,000 yards in a full 16 game season.
The Cardinals made the playoffs in 1982, thanks to an expanded field due to the brevity of the season. It was the franchise's first postseason appearance since 1975 and last until 1998. Anderson rushed for 58 yards on eight carries against the Green Bay Packers in the team's lone playoff game.
Injuries drastically decreased the number of games Anderson played each season, and his explosiveness as a tailback. After a year and a half, Stump Mitchell emerged as the Cards' top running back, and the expendable Anderson was traded to the New York Giants in the middle of the 1986 season. He ended up deep in the Giants' depth chart. By this time in his career, it was clear that he was better used in goal line or short yardage situations. Anderson would rush for only six yards on seven carries in the 1986 playoffs, but did score a rushing touchdown in the Giants' victory over the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.
In his first two and a half seasons with New York, Anderson did not fumble once in his 100 offensive touches. In 1989, Anderson become the top running back for Bill Parcells' ball control offense and was named NFL Comeback Player of the Year. He scored a career-high 14 rushing touchdowns and rushed for 1,023 yards on 325 carries. He was also the top running back for the Giants the following year when they won Super Bowl XXV, and was named Super Bowl MVP for his 102 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries. As a testament to the Giants' ball control strategy, their time of possession was double that of the Buffalo Bills, their opponents, in the first Super Bowl without a turnover. Anderson is one of only four running backs in NFL history to score rushing touchdowns in two Super Bowls and win Super Bowl MVP (only Franco Harris and John Riggins accomplished this feat before Anderson, and only Emmitt Smith has achieved it since).
Anderson was replaced by Rodney Hampton in 1991. His last season was 1992. Anderson fumbled just three times in 739 touches as a Giant, from 1987–1992.
When he retired, Anderson ranked seventh in rushing TDs and eighth in rushing yards. At the 2014 season, Anderson was ranked 19th in career rushing touchdowns and is one of 31 running backs in the history of the NFL to rush for more than 10,000 yards (currently ranked 30th in career rushing yards at the conclusion of the 2019 NFL season).