Ottis Anderson

Ottis Jerome Anderson (born January 19, 1957) is an American former professional football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with the St. Louis Cardinals and New York Giants. He played college football for the Miami Hurricanes, setting the school record for rushing yards. Anderson was selected eighth overall in the 1979 NFL draft by the Cardinals.

In his first season, Anderson was named Offensive Rookie of the Year and received Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro honors when he set the Cardinals all-time record for rushing yards. He also received a second Pro Bowl selection the following year. Traded to the Giants in 1986 amid a production decline, Anderson won two Super Bowl titles in Super Bowl XXI and Super Bowl XXV. Anderson was named MVP of the latter, in which he played a central part in helping the Giants set the Super Bowl record for time of possession.

Early life Ottis Jerome Anderson was born and raised in West Palm Beach, Florida. He was a football and track star at Forest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, graduating in 1975.

College career

Anderson attended the University of Miami on a full athletic scholarship and earned a degree in Physical Education. During his college career, Anderson broke Chuck Foreman's career rushing records at the University of Miami, becoming the first player to rush for more than 1,000 yards in the school's history his senior year with 1,266 yards. and graduated in 1979 as the team's all-time leading rusher with 3,331 yards.

Anderson was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.

Statistics Season Rushing Receiving Att Yds TD Rec Yds TD 1975 67 365 0 11 128 1 1976 213 918 6 10 121 0 1977 187 782 1 20 243 3 1978 224 1,266 8 14 47 0 Career 691 3,331 15 55 539 4

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 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 has endorsed Global Syn-Turf, Inc. synthetic turf for sports fields.

Anderson has been affiliated with many community organizations such as the 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.