December 1936

 

Finish was written to the saga of Ozzie Simmons the gridiron stage as the great Iowa backfield ace terminated his playing days by leading his mates to a splendid victory over Temple University 

Acclaimed the greatest running back in the Big Ten since the days of Grange, Simmons closed a tumultuous football career in valoric fashion.
Simmons, like Brother Bill Bell of Ohio State fame will perhaps go down in history as one of the unsung heroes of the gridiron. Bell played alongside the mighty Wesley Feisler; and many say his playing at tackle made the famous end immortal. With Simmons it fell his lot to be the running mate of the great blocking back, Dick Crayne. A year ago Crayne made all-American because he was the blocker for Simmons. Today with Crayne, and with a relatively weak team, Simmons only merited honorable mention on conference selections because his efforts, such as a fine 20-yard run against the nation’s leading team, Minnesota, had to be discounted in the face of the overwhelming defeat suffered by his mates.

 
 Iowa will long remember the bronze flash for the many thrills his spectacular broken field running afforded For two years he scored 90 per cent of Iowa’s points, and his runs of 71 yards and 69 yard respectively against Illinois and Colgate will be talk about ‘round the fires of Iowa’s famed Alpha Hose for years to come. Last year he made the second all-American team in Associated Press polls, and was further honored by being recipient of the Pittsburgh Courier’s Achievement Award. 

 Brother Chester L. Washington, writing of Brother Simmons in his columns relates the following interesting facts, that he received his high school football training at Terrel High in Fort Worth, Texas, under a Negro coach, which should be quite significant, that Ozzie helps to at various club and social affairs in Iowa City, and that he is one of the mainstays of the Alpha Phi Alpha basket-ball team. 

 It was quite appropriate that “so long, good-bye and good luck,” should be the farewell cry to Ozzie Edward Simmons as his team upset Temple for its only victory of a poor season. That Brother Simmons is not without honor in Iowa is evidenced in the fact that the bounding bullet of the gridiron won first prize in the Des Moines Register and Tribunes’ annual “most popular athlete” which is the finest tribute which the State of Iowa can give a man in its athletic realms.  
 

By William H. Gray, Jr.