Two weeks in the past, the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame launched an inventory of 167 senior nominees for consideration on their Class of 2025 poll.
Underneath the brand new format, three gamers from the checklist will nominated for induction.
14 former New York Giants have been on the checklist, together with working again Ottis “O.J.” Anderson, who now we have been advocating for enshrinement for a while now.
Anderson successfully had two careers — one with the St. Louis Cardinals from 1979-86 and one other with the Giants from 1986-92.
With St. Louis, Anderson was a power, bursting on the scene with two monster Professional Bowl seasons for the Cardinals en path to changing into their all-time main rusher.
With the Giants, Anderson performed a key position on two Tremendous Bowl championship groups and Invoice Parcells’ smashmouth offense.
It’s been 33 years since Anderson left the sport and lots of of his previous adversaries and teammates are advocating for his induction into Canton.
Former Giants nice Harry Carson, a Corridor of Fame linebacker who performed in opposition to and with Anderson, believes O.J. deserves enshrinement.
“I believe he’s probably the greatest working backs I’ve ever confronted,” Carson instructed Steve Serby of the New York Submit. “You may see him get the ball and he ran counter to the place he was speculated to run, however he bought yards on his personal as a result of he was working for his life. . . He deserves to be within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.”
One other nice Giants linebacker, Lawrence Taylor, agrees. Gamers with lesser legacies and thinner resumes than Anderson are in Canton.
“I take a look at plenty of guys which might be within the Corridor of Fame proper now,” Taylor mentioned, “and I’m saying, ‘This man ain’t pretty much as good as O.J. Anderson.’ Again in that day, his stats spoke for themselves.”
When Anderson retired in 1992, solely seven gamers had amassed extra speeding yards in NFL historical past. He additionally scored touchdowns in each of the Giants’ Tremendous Bowl wins and was named the MVP of Tremendous Bowl XXI.
When gamers equivalent to Taylor and Carson communicate, maybe the Corridor voters ought to hear.
“I performed in opposition to him and I performed with him,” Taylor instructed Serby. “He’s a helluva participant. After I was enjoying in opposition to him, he was one of many guys I needed to look out for each daggone time we performed him.
“He had that little motion the place he may leap from one hole to a different hole. … He’s bodily … not as quick as some working backs, however he’s going to pound it out, 8 yards, 7 yards at a time. And by the point you performed completed 4 quarters, you’re bored with hitting O.J. Anderson.”
Anderson is grateful that his previous teammates are coming to bat for him and in addition the followers of his former crew, the Cardinals. Serby requested him why he felt he has been ignored.
“I believe as a result of St. Louis left and went to Arizona. I additionally assume that the individuals who had a voice after I was the eighth-leading (all-time) rusher handed away, and there’s nobody there to validate what I achieved,” he mentioned.
To this present day, the Cardinals have but to acknowledge Anderson’s contributions to their franchise. Maybe in the event that they stepped up and did that, Anderson’s profile could be raised and extra folks would notice what a particular participant he was.
