While Ohio State paid tribute to Eddie George during halftime at the Horseshoe on Saturday, Chris Vance did an on-field impersonation of former Buckeye great Cris Carter.
In the fourth quarter, quarterback Steve Bellisari let loose a third-and-goal pass from the seven-yard line that appeared high and out of bounds, but Vance leaped at the back of the end zone and pulled it in with one outstretched hand.
If Vance entered the game as a unknown, he certainly didn’t leave it that way.
“He (Carter) was just telling me one of my catches looked like his and I told him that was better than his catch,” Vance said. “Anything can happen. I can do a lot of things with the ball so I’m not surprised with the catches at all.”
Vance’s touchdown catch was his second one-handed circus stunt in the game, his first coming in the second quarter on a 31-yard sideline pass from Bellisari. Vance’s left arm was being held by a defender as he reeled in the ball with his right hand. Vance finished with seven catches for 138 yards and one touchdown in his coming out party.
While Saturday changed Vance’s football career, his life was altered two weeks ago when his father, Percy Broughton, 37, died of AIDS.
“I wasn’t sure if he was jumping up in the air, in the end zone there, to high five his dad or go up and get that ball,” OSU coach Jim Tressel said. “Chris has really had a tough season period. First, they had to pull four teeth, and so he was walking around like a chipmunk for a while. Then he had an ankle (injury), he had it three or four weeks, then his dad got sick which was a stress and tension in its own. Its been a tough couple months for Chris.”
With all the new success Vance is trying to place everything in perspective.
“I left Sunday (Oct. 28) night after practice and I got back Wednesday morning in time for Wednesday’s practice,” Vance said. “Once I was home (Ft. Myers, Fla.) on Monday we set everything up and Tuesday we had the funeral. It’s hard for a lot of people to accept the fact that your father is gone away and you’re never going to see him again.”
Vance last spoke with his father before coming to OSU as a junior college transfer last winter.
“When I was in junior college I gave him a call and told him I was going to OSU and he was just ecstatic. He couldn’t believe it,” Vance said.
Vance said the best thing for him was to get back on the football field.
If he keeps this up he may be joining the likes of other play-making receivers to have played at OSU such as the Minnesota Vikings’ Carter; the Arizona Cardinals’ David Boston; the Dallas Cowboys’ Joey Galloway and last, but least, the New England Patriots’ Terry Glenn.
Vance and fellow wide receiver Michael Jenkins have emerged as play-makers for the Buckeyes over the past few weeks. However, early in the year, Vance was not a factor in the OSU passing game. He had just two catches in the first four games of the season.
“It was hard for me to accept the fact that I wasn’t starting,” Vance said. “That’s what made me go out to practice and work a lot harder. When the offense is not working right I want to be the one to go out there and make it go right.”
Vance’s sticky fingers, which have accounted for 22 catches in the last five games, are growing on people, much like his nicknames.
“I saw him do an interview once where he had self proclaimed himself the ‘Spiderman’, or something like that and I thought that was kind of corny,” OSU tight end Ben Hartsock said. “But after today, he can call himself Sally for all I care, as long as he keeps making plays like that.”
“People have been calling me that (Spiderman) ever since I have been in college,” Vance said. “They’ve called me venom, sticky, there’s so many names, they just pile on. In high school I kind of gave myself a name, ‘Mr. Vantastic.’ I had it on the back of my all-star jersey.”
