As football has changed through the years with the advancement of the west-coast offense, the spread formation and a focus on the passing game, it might be hard to imagine the player of the decade going to a player at the fullback position. However, in the 1960s, the fullback position was the workhorse of the team under coach Woody Hayes.
“The fullback off tackle was the bread-and-butter play, and sometimes you would run that fullback up the middle,” said Jack Park, author of The Official Ohio State Football Encyclopedia. “People used to joke that the only deception that Woody had in his offense was whether that fullback was going to go off the left tackle or the right tackle.”
In the late 1960s, Jim Otis became a crucial part of Hayes’ game plan as he took over at fullback.
Otis led the team in rushing in each of his three seasons, from 1967 to 1969. In the 1960s, freshmen were not eligible to play, so Otis led the team in rushing in each of his three years of varsity competition.
“What I remember about him as much as anything is that he had such a quick takeoff,” Park said. “He could hit the hole very quickly, he was rugged and he was a very powerful runner. In 1968 and 1969, he ran behind some excellent offensive lines, but Jim also had the ability to make his own hole. If there wasn’t a hole there, he was powerful enough and quick enough that he could gain a few yards anyways.”
Otis ranks eleventh in career rushing yards at OSU with 2,542 and ranks second in average rushing yards per game with a 94.4 average.
He is fifth in career 100-yard games at OSU with 13.
Otis was the first fullback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season, as he rushed for 1,027 yards in 1969, when he was an All-American.
“That season of 1,027 yards is even better than it looks because at that time, OSU only played a nine-game regular season,” Park said. “Today we play 12 games and a bowl game.”
There was a no-repeat policy in effect during those years, and since OSU went to the Rose Bowl in 1968, they weren’t allowed to play in the Rose Bowl in 1969.
In OSU’s undefeated 1968 national championship season, Otis ran for more than 100 yards in four games including a 143-yard, four-touchdown game against a strong Michigan Wolverines team. Otis had a good luck charm on that game against Michigan.
In 1961, Bob Ferguson, Otis’ hero and two-time All-American at OSU, scored four touchdowns in a 50-20 victory over Michigan. On his way off the field, a young boy named Jon “Scooter” Hall asked him for his chinstrap.
In 1968, during a pep rally before the Michigan game, Hall told Otis that he would like him to wear the chinstrap in the game for good luck.
Otis taped the chinstrap to his shoulder pads and went on to be the second back in the history of OSU to have scored four touchdowns against Michigan. The chinstrap had now crossed the goal line eight times against Michigan.
“The other irony is that (OSU) beat Michigan in Ferguson’s last game 50-20, and in 1968, (OSU) beat them 50-14,” Park said. “Those two 50-point games are the most points that Ohio State has ever scored against Michigan in a single game.”
The 1968 OSU football team defeated USC in the Rose Bowl to become the fifth national championship team in Buckeye history.
Otis rushed 30 times in the game for 101 yards and a touchdown in one of the more memorable games in school history.
Otis had many great memories from his OSU playing days but shared a memory that many may not remember.
In his sophomore year at OSU, he had two fumbles in a loss against Illinois.
“My reputation was that I just didn’t fumble the ball,” Otis said.
Otis sat on the bench for the next two weeks and thought that he might never see another chance on the field.
The night before the Iowa game, Hayes told him that he would be starting at fullback for the game.
With 10:50 left in the fourth quarter, Otis led a 10-minute drive down the field to secure the 21-10 victory. He carried the ball 13 out of 16 plays and the Buckeyes kicked a field goal with only 42 seconds remaining.
“That was the thing that OSU did so many times in those days, just broke everybody’s back,” Otis said. “When Woody called for that ground game, we always had those big tackles, and those tough linemen, and everybody just kind of burled in and took over. A lot of times we didn’t make big yardage. We would make four or five yards and sometimes three yards, but everybody kept doing that without making mistakes and that’s how you have 10-minute drives.”
Otis’ father was roommates with Hayes in their undergraduate years at Denison University.
In Hayes’ first years with OSU, Otis was allowed to meet some of the players. Howard “Hopalong” Cassidy took a picture with Otis and wrote on it “I’ll see you play here at Ohio State in 1966.”
“It was a really neat thing to have happen in my life because by the time I was 10 years old, I could think of no place else to go but Ohio State,” Otis said.
Otis went on to play football in the NFL after his time at OSU. His professional career spanned nine years, playing for the New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, and the Saint Louis Cardinals.
He led the NFC in rushing yards in 1975 and was a Pro Bowl selection.
Otis gave credit to many of his former teammates and coaches for his success.
“There were so many great players on my Ohio State team, guys like Rex Kern, Jack Tatum, Timmie Anderson, Jim Stillwagon, Dave Foley, Rufus Mayes,” Otis said. “I don’t care how good you are, if you’re on a good team, you are going to be much better.”
