Congratulations to McClain graduate honored by Ohio University

To the editor:

In 1960, the Ohio University Bobcats football team was crowned National Champions of the College Division upon compiling a 10-0, undefeated season under the guidance of Coach Bill Hess, who had served as an assistant to Woody Hays at Ohio State university.

Members of the team will be recognized on Sept. 11 during the Ohio vs. toledo football game in Athens. One of the players being honored is Otis Wagner, a 1958 graduate of McClain High School in Greenfield. Over the years, many outstanding athletes have emerged from the McClain Athletic Program in a variety of sports, some of whom have distinguished themselves at the college level by being named as an All-American player or playing on a national championship team. I believe only three have played on national championship teams: Otis Wagner at Ohio Universit; Terry Fouch, currently the superintendent of the Greenfield Schools, at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio; and Jacob "Jake" Orr-Zody at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio.

Otis was a "farm boy," so his responsibilities on the farm limited his participation in high school athletics to football and track. He excelled in both. In football, he was an outstanding quarterback. His senior year, he led us to the SCOL Championship and was co-captain of the team. At the end of the season, he was elected into the All-SCOL Team and named its honorary captain.

It was in his performances in track that his athleticism was apparent. The events he participated in were shot put, discus, pole vault, broad jump, and as I recall, perhaps the 220 yard dash. At the SCOL Meet in 1958, McClain won three events, all by Otis Wagner: discus, shot put, and pole vault. He also placed third in the broad jump.

On May 29, 1958, Otis, having won the district pole vault event, participated in the state meet at Ohio State University in Columbus. The state meet winning vault was 12'8". Otis tipped the crossbar at 12' and was disqualified. He finished tied for 8th in a field of 50 contestants.

Upon graduation from high school, Otis enrolled at Ohio University on an athletic scholarship to play football. His freshman year, he played on the freshman squad. Back then, freshmen were not eligible to play on the varsity. Otis began his second year at quarterback, but a broken hand intervened and he became the "monster back," a defensive back who sometimes was an outside linebacker and sometimes was in deep pass coverage. Remember, in those days you had to play on both sides of the ball, offense and defense.

In his junior year, the National Championship year, Otis again played the "monster" position on defense and operated at quarterback and fullback on offense. In his senior year, Otis was named a co-captain of the team, and he continued to play the "monster back" position on defense and any of the offensive backfield positions as needed.

His football-playing career over, Otis entered graduate school and served as a graduate assistant on the football staff for a year. He left Ohio University to become an assistant coach in a very successful program at Northern Illinois University and served primarily as a defensive backfield coach and as a recruiter.

After about 10 years at Northern Illinois, Otis moved to Middle Tennessee State as its defensive coordinator, where he stayed for some 6-7 years.

In 1983, Otis returned to Greenfield to teach and coach.

But beyond all this, Otis has distinguished himself as a husband, a father, a grandfather, and as a leader in his church and his community. Congratulations, "Ots!"

The "OLD, OLD, OLD" Coach, Paul Orr