Ottis “OJ” Anderson worked his way to the NFL and powered through the Buffalo Bills' defense to the tune of 102 yards on 21 carries.
Anderson was named the Super Bowl MVP for his efforts thanks to his 100-yard game and his touchdown run in the third quarter. The Giants stuck to their gameplan with Anderson up the middle and it paid off for Big Blue.
Anderson revealed why he dedicated the win to the troops rather than the traditional “I’m going to Disney!” on the new Audacy Original Podcast “Damon Amendolara’s New York Accent”.
“What was unique was Disney, that Saturday, had interviewed five players that they felt could be impact players that could also be MVP,” Anderson said (49:52 in player above). “They gave us all an opportunity to say ‘I’m going to Disney’ or ‘I dedicate the win to the troops.’ I said, since it was the Gulf War, I said if I happen to be MVP, I want to say ‘Dedicate the win to the troops.’”
Saying “I’m going to Disney World!” after winning a major sporting event has become a bit of a tradition, but Anderson bucked the trend.
“I don’t know if I was the only one that thought of that, but I know I’m the only one in the history of Super Bowl that ever been played, I’m the only one that never said ‘going to Disney.’”
Of course, Super Bowl XXV was ultimately decided by a missed field goal by Buffalo kicker Scott Norwood. Anderson was ready to walk off the field but instead got to celebrate the victory.
“At that point in time, Disney was running behind me saying ‘Dedicate this win to the troops. Dedicate this win to the troops.’ And I kept going ‘What?’” he said. “And then I thought about what they had said so I start saying it, and we had one more play to go because there was still time on the clock.”
Disney produced Super Bowl XXV and that threw Anderson for a loop.
“I had no idea that I was the Super Bowl MVP,” he said. “I thought I was Disney MVP until I got into the locker room and Louis Tillman told me I was the MVP of the Super Bowl and Bill Parcells came over to me, gave me a big hug, and said ‘Congratulations, you’re the MVP of the Super Bowl.’”
It’s a pretty cool story from the two-time Super Bowl champion.
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