Giants great Ottis Anderson getting St. Louis’ ‘OJ Train’ push for deserved Hall of Fame nod

Out in St. Louis, where all these years later they still mourn the departure of their beloved Cardinals (and later Rams), a heartfelt grass roots campaign to right an injustice is reaching a fever pitch at a desperate hour:

Why isn’t Ottis Anderson in the Hall of Fame?

All aboard the O.J. HOF Train.

“I played against him and I played with him,” Lawrence Taylor told Serby Says. “He’s a helluva player. When I was playing against him, he was one of the guys I had to look out for every daggone time we played him.

“He had that little movement where he could jump from one gap to another gap. … He’s physical … not as fast as some running backs, but he’s going to pound it out, 8 yards, 7 yards at a time. And by the time you done finished four quarters, you’re tired of hitting O.J. Anderson.”

When L.T., the greatest defensive player in NFL history, speaks, the Hall of Fame ought to listen.

“I look at a lot of guys that are in the Hall of Fame right now,” Taylor said, “and I’m saying, ‘This guy ain’t as good as O.J. Anderson.’ Back in that day, his stats spoke for themselves.”

Ottis Jerome Anderson was an O.J., same as O.J. Simpson. They called Anderson “Juice,” same as Simpson. Anderson was a running back, same as Simpson. Anderson wore No. 32 as a St. Louis Cardinal, same as Simpson wore in Buffalo.

Anderson retired as No. 24 with the New York Giants.

O.J. Simpson is in the Hall of Fame.

O.J. Anderson is not.

Anderson is one of 182 Senior nominees for Canton, one of 25 running backs. A Seniors Screening Committee will soon reduce the list to 50 players. Three Seniors will emerge as finalists.

“It’s been a blessing that somebody’s advocating for me,” Anderson told Serby Says.

Recommendation letters to the Senior Committee have poured in from Bill Parcells, Bill Belichick, Joe Gibbs, Dick Vermeil and legendary heavyweight champion Larry Holmes. A petition is quickly picking up momentum.

Asked why he believes he has been overlooked, Anderson said, “I think because St. Louis left and went to Arizona. I also think that the people who had a voice when I was the eighth-leading (all-time) rusher passed away, and there’s no one there to validate what I accomplished.”

Hall of Fame Giants linebacker Harry Carson also played against and with Anderson.

“I think he’s one of the best running backs I’ve ever faced,” Carson told Serby Says. “You could see him get the ball and he ran counter to where he was supposed to run, but he got yards on his own because he was running for his life.

“He deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

Why isn’t he?

“I think maybe it’s because of the other running backs that may have kind of been catapulted ahead of him,” Carson said. “It had nothing to do with his ability to be a great running back. Once you get kind of hung out there, and you get like a marquee running back who’s up for the Hall of Fame, he takes precedent over Ottis.”

Anderson has two Super Bowl rings as a Giant. He was Comeback Player of the Year in 1989 — rushing for 1,023 yards on 325 carries with 14 touchdowns. As of 1984, only Hall of Fame Bear Walter Payton had rushed for more yards across his first six seasons.

This isn’t saying that the RBs listed below are not worthy being in the Hall. But a quick glance of their career rushing yardage:

Earl Campbell: 9,407 rushing yards, 74 TDs.

Joe Perry: 9,723-71.

Terrell Davis: 7,607-60.

Leroy Kelly: 7,274-74.

Lenny Moore: 5,174-63, and 363 yards with 48 TDs receiving.

Anderson: 10,273-81, plus 376 catches for 3,062 yards and five TDs receiving.

“My first seven years I was fast and elusive,” Anderson said. “As I got older, I became more of an inside power back.”

Anderson grew up in West Palm Beach, Fla., a fan of Gale Sayers, Simpson, Mike Garrett, Greg Pruitt and Chuck Muncie.

“I had a brother who was better than me,” Anderson said. “He died when he was a sophomore in college, broke his neck and was paralyzed and later passed on.”

Anderson was in sixth grade when Marvin “Smoke” Anderson played at Arkansas AM&N.

“His goal was to get us out of the projects and give my mom a better life than what she had,” Anderson said. “His death reincarnated in me, and I became everything that he was and I saw him do. It became me.”

His late mother Emma never really got over the tragedy.

“Trust me, she was very nervous about me playing football after what happened to him,” Anderson said. “And it wasn’t even football-related, he was swimming, and dove into a pond and hit the bottom and broke his neck. And because of her work schedule and stuff, she never saw him play, never did. But the minute I took up Little League football? She followed me all the way through my career. When I went to Miami [Fla.], she came to every home game for four years at Miami. And when I became a pro, she came to every game that was in the state of Florida.”

The group pushing Anderson’s candidacy remember him fondly as a player.

“I entertained them. I did what you’re supposed to do when you work for an organization. And they appreciate that, and that’s why they’re doing what they’re doing, because they see the workmanlike attitude that I had,” Anderson said.

The Gene Stallings Cardinals offered to trade Anderson to the Giants in 1986. Parcells consulted with Taylor, Carson, George Martin and Jim Burt, and all practically begged him to make the trade.

“Bill Parcells said, ‘I’m thinking about getting O.J. Anderson,’ ” Taylor recalled. “And I said: ‘What the hell you thinking about? Get that sumbitch!’ ”

Even before he entered the NFL, Anderson predicted he would win Super Bowl MVP in his home state. Which he did at age 32 with the Giants in Super Bowl XXV against the Bills in Tampa, Fla. — when he accumulated 102 yards on 21 carries with one touchdown and one forearm uppercut on safety Mark Kelso.

“I don’t know if the Giants would have won Super Bowl XXV without Ottis Anderson,” Carson said.

“We weren’t supposed to win,” Taylor said, “and O.J. Anderson … carried … us … on … his … back.”

Now his old fans who cheered him and the St. Louis Cardinals, and a number of his former teammates try to carry him to Canton.

Stephen Einspanier: “On Feb. 12. a group of [Phi Kappa Theta] fraternity brothers from Mizzou that consisted of diehard Big Red fans pondered the injustice of Ottis Anderson not being in the Hall. We all remember his debut in 1979 when he exploded on the scene for 193 yards against the hated Dallas Cowboys. We cheered his career as the Big Red left for Arizona and O.J. went to the Giants for two Super Bowls and an MVP. As we drilled down on his numbers over a few Budweisers we were shocked that the all-time leading rusher for the oldest NFL franchise [Cardinals] and the eighth all-[time leading rusher when he retired, was not in the Hall. We decided that we would right the injustice. We started the OJ Train!”

James Schafer: The “OJ HOF Train” started the second week of February. We have a group text string of 25 college fraternity brothers from Mizzou that discuss topics like college/pro football, college basketball, things going on in our families and other general topics. We went to Big Red football games in the ’70s with our fathers, families and friends. It was brought up in the conversation when talking about former ex-Big Red football players that O.J. was not in the Hall of Fame. Just about everyone on the string said, yes I am sure he is. To our disbelief after finding out he was not and someone pulling some statistics together, we were just shocked as to how he had been overlooked. Hence in a matter of a few days, the push started to see what we could do to help get O.J. into the Hall of Fame.”

Anderson was saddened for his old fans when the Cardinals left the town without an NFL team.

“I felt bad for the fans because they supported Big Red for all of my seven years,” he said.

He treated those fans to a 1,603-yard rookie season and recorded at least 1,174 yards in five of the first six seasons of his 14-year career.

“They treated me like royalty,” Anderson said.

He is 67 years old. A Hall of Fame player without a bust to call his own.

“That’s what he’s wanted, that’s what he needs for his legacy,” Taylor said, “and I think that he deserves that type of legacy.”

Taylor and Carson applaud St. Louis’ efforts.

“I think the Giants should have started that campaign a long time ago,” Taylor said. “Why wait for daggone St. Louis to start it? No, the Giants should have started that campaign a long time ago.”

All aboard the O.J. Hall of Fame Train. Last stop: Canton, Ohio.