Day 82 & An Otis Family Moment

Jim Otis strikes a pose


I switched to Verizon FIOS earlier this summer and I really love the service and the channel choices.

One of those new choices is The Big Ten Network and the channel was playing the classic 1969 Ohio State-Michigan game yesterday.


One of the stars of that game was Buckeye fullback Jim Otis, father of great Columbia QB Jeff Otis '05.

Ohio State famously lost that game, but Otis had a great day rushing for 144 yards on 28 carries, one of them for a TD.

During Jeff's career at Columbia, Jim was often seen at Wien Stadium on football Saturdays. He even gave a great interview to the YES Network during the 2003 game against Harvard which the Lions won on an Otis-to-Zach Van Zant TD pass.

The elder Otis became an All-American and a good running back for the St. Louis Cardinals for a few years.



Steve Cargile in 2003



Player of the Day, Day 82: Steve Cargile '04

One of the players on that 2003 team was defensive back Steve Cargile, who switched positions to help the team midway through his college career and ended up finding a place in the NFL.

Cargile came to Columbia as a wide receiver from the Cleveland area and did quite well in that role through his junior year. But then Head Coach Ray Tellier, (or was it Bob Shoop? I'm not sure if the switch happened before or after the end of the 2002 season), decided to encourage Cargile to switch to defensive back, and he turned in a stellar 2003 season which landed him on the All Ivy second team.

More importantly, Cargile stood out so much in his new role, the NFL took notice. Everyone agrees Cargile would never have been recognized by the pro scouts had he stayed at wide receiver.

Many Columbia fans last saw Cargile sitting with another Columbian-turned-NFLer Marcellus Wiley '97, at this year's spring game.

He has spent the last year or so on the Giants practice roster, but is still hoping to get into the action at the Meadowlands sometime soon.