_(cropped).jpg) Anderson in 2023 | |||||||||||||||
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| Position | Running back | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1957-01-19)January 19, 1957 (age 68) West Palm Beach, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 220 lb (100 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Forest Hill(West Palm Beach) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Miami (FL) (1975–1978) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft | 1979: 1st round, 8th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Awards and highlights | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Ottis Jerome Anderson (born January 19, 1957) is an American former professionalfootballrunning back who played in theNational Football League (NFL) for 14 seasons with theSt. Louis Cardinals andNew York Giants. He playedcollege football for theMiami Hurricanes, setting the school record for rushing yards, and was selected eighth overall in the1979 NFL draft by the Cardinals.
In his first season, Anderson was namedOffensive Rookie of the Year and receivedPro Bowl and first-teamAll-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 twoSuper Bowl titles inSuper Bowl XXI andSuper Bowl XXV. Anderson was namedMVP of the latter, in which he played a central part in helping the Giants set the Super Bowl record for time of possession.
Ottis Jerome Anderson was born and raised inWest Palm Beach, Florida.[1] He was afootball andtrack star atForest Hill High School in West Palm Beach, graduating in 1975.
Anderson attended theUniversity of Miami on a fullathletic scholarship and earned a degree inPhysical Education. During hiscollege career, Anderson brokeChuck 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.[1] He received honorable mention as anAll-American by theAssociated Press,[2] and graduated in 1979 as the team's all-time leading rusher with 3,331 yards.[citation needed]
Anderson was inducted into the University of Miami Sports Hall of Fame in 1990.[3]
| 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 |
Anderson was selected in the first round of the1979 NFL draft, the 8th overall pick, by theSt. Louis Cardinals.[1] He had one of the greatest debut games in NFL history, rushing for 193 yards, which was just 1 yard shy ofAlan Ameche's all-time record for an NFL debut (Ameche rushed for 194 yards for the Baltimore Colts in 1955).[4] His single season 1,605 rushing yard performance[5] was one of the few bright spots in theCardinals' 1979 season, when they finished 5–11.[6] He earned the first of back-to-backPro Bowl selections that year.
In his first six seasons, Anderson rushed for over 1,000 yards in five seasons. The lone exception was in the1982 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.[5]
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 since1975 and last until1998. Anderson rushed for 58 yards on eight carries against theGreen Bay Packers in the team's lone playoff game.
Injuries drastically decreased the number of games Anderson played each season, and his explosiveness as atailback. After a year and a half,Stump Mitchell emerged as the Cards' toprunning back, and the expendable Anderson was traded to the New York Giants in the middle of the1986 season.[1] He ended up deep in the Giants'depth chart. By this time in his career, it was clear that he was better used ingoal line or short yardage situations. Anderson would rush for only six yards on seven carries in the1986 playoffs, but did score a rushing touchdown in the Giants' victory over theDenver Broncos inSuper Bowl XXI.
In his first two and a half seasons with New York, Anderson did notfumble once in his 100 offensive touches. In1989, Anderson become the top running back forBill Parcells' ball control offense and was namedNFL 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 namedSuper 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 theBuffalo Bills, their opponents, in the firstSuper 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 (onlyFranco Harris andJohn Riggins accomplished this feat before Anderson, and onlyEmmitt Smith has achieved it since).
Anderson was replaced byRodney Hampton in 1991. His last season was 1992. Anderson fumbled just three times in 739 touches as a Giant, from 1987 to 1992.
When he retired, Anderson ranked seventh in rushing TDs and eighth in rushing yards. At the2014 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).[1]
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Won theSuper Bowl | |
| Super Bowl MVP | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Year | Team | Games | Rushing | Receiving | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Att | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | Rec | Yds | Avg | Lng | TD | ||
| 1979 | STL | 16 | 16 | 331 | 1,605 | 4.8 | 76 | 9 | 41 | 308 | 7.5 | 28 | 2 |
| 1980 | STL | 16 | 16 | 301 | 1,352 | 4.5 | 52 | 9 | 36 | 308 | 8.6 | 35 | 0 |
| 1981 | STL | 16 | 16 | 328 | 1,376 | 4.2 | 28 | 9 | 51 | 387 | 7.6 | 27 | 0 |
| 1982 | STL | 8 | 8 | 145 | 587 | 4.0 | 64 | 3 | 14 | 106 | 7.6 | 19 | 0 |
| 1983 | STL | 15 | 15 | 296 | 1,270 | 4.3 | 43 | 5 | 54 | 459 | 8.5 | 40 | 1 |
| 1984 | STL | 15 | 15 | 289 | 1,174 | 4.1 | 24 | 6 | 70 | 611 | 8.7 | 57 | 2 |
| 1985 | STL | 9 | 8 | 117 | 479 | 4.1 | 38 | 4 | 23 | 225 | 9.8 | 43 | 0 |
| 1986 | STL | 4 | 3 | 51 | 156 | 3.1 | 14 | 2 | 10 | 91 | 9.1 | 19 | 0 |
| NYG | 8 | 0 | 24 | 81 | 3.4 | 16 | 1 | 9 | 46 | 5.1 | 12 | 0 | |
| 1987 | NYG | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 3.0 | 4 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 8.0 | 9 | 0 |
| 1988 | NYG | 16 | 0 | 65 | 208 | 3.2 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 57 | 6.3 | 13 | 0 |
| 1989 | NYG | 16 | 16 | 325 | 1,023 | 3.1 | 36 | 14 | 28 | 268 | 9.6 | 26 | 0 |
| 1990 | NYG | 16 | 11 | 225 | 784 | 3.5 | 28 | 11 | 18 | 139 | 7.7 | 18 | 0 |
| 1991 | NYG | 10 | 1 | 53 | 141 | 2.7 | 9 | 1 | 11 | 41 | 3.7 | 13 | 0 |
| 1992 | NYG | 13 | 0 | 10 | 31 | 3.1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 |
| Career | 182 | 125 | 2,562 | 10,273 | 4.0 | 76 | 81 | 376 | 3,062 | 8.1 | 57 | 5 | |
The end of Anderson's 14-year football career[5] 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, includingThe David Letterman Show andGood Morning America. He appeared onComedy Central'sTosh.0 during the Crying Giants' Fan Web Redemption.Chris Cuomo ofABC News interviewed Anderson as part ofOne Moment in Time: The Life of Whitney Houston, a two-hour special on ABC shortly after the death of singerWhitney Houston. InSuper Bowl XXV, Houston performed "The Star-Spangled Banner", and Anderson and then-Giants quarterbackJeff Hostetler, along with then-Buffalo Bills quarterbackFrank Reich, reflected on Houston's performance in that game.
He was a broadcast analyst withWFAN for theNew York Giants, and he co-hosted three radio shows inSt. Louis with former Cardinal teammatesTheotis Brown,E.J. Junior andRoy Green. Anderson was a frequent guest onThe Billy Taylor Show inNew York City and contributed to an in-season weekly column,Ask Ottis, in theGiants Insider publication.
As president of Ottis J. Anderson Enterprises, Anderson is also involved in several ventures and is involved with writing benefits for municipalities, school boards and privately held businesses in New Jersey. In 2017, Anderson began working as the Vice President of Business Development for Metro Exhibits, selling trade show booths and services.[7] He has endorsed Global Syn-Turf, Inc.synthetic turf for sports fields.[8]
Anderson has been affiliated with many community organizations such as theUnited Way of America,Boys & Girls Clubs of America,National Multiple Sclerosis Society,The Breast Cancer Research Foundation, and theDeborah Hospital Foundation.
Anderson was inducted into the St. Louis Sports Hall of Fame on May 2, 2022.[9]
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