John Hicks (American football)

For other people named John Hicks, see John Hicks (disambiguation).
John Hicks
No. 74
Position: Offensive Guard
Personal information
Date of birth: (1951-03-21)March 21, 1951
Place of birth: Cleveland, Ohio
Date of death: October 29, 2016(2016-10-29) (aged 65)
Place of death: Columbus, Ohio
Height: 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight: 258 lb (117 kg)
Career information
College: Ohio State
NFL Draft: 1974 / Round: 1 / Pick: 3
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Games Started: 52
Games Played: 50

John Charles Hicks Jr. (March 21, 1951 – October 29, 2016) was an American football offensive lineman in the National Football League. He is best remembered for being the last lineman to be runner-up in the vote for the Heisman Trophy.

College career

In 1970, Hicks came onto the Buckeye scene and won the job as a starting tackle. He unfortunately missed his sophomore year due to a knee injury, but rebounded to put together two spectacular seasons in 1972 and 1973. During Hicks' three years, Ohio State posted a 28-3-1 record, and each year, Ohio State won the Big Ten Championship and went to the Rose Bowl, making Hicks the first person from OSU to play in three Rose Bowls.

In 1972 Hicks was recognized as a First Team All-America selection and earned his first of two All-Big Ten honors. He repeated his All-Conference honors his senior year and again earned All-America honors, this time as a unanimous selection. His stellar senior season and dominance of the line of scrimmage caught the eye of the voters as Hicks won the Lombardi Award as the nation's most outstanding lineman and the Outland Trophy as the nation's best interior lineman. He was the runner up to running back John Cappelletti of Penn State in the voting for tbe 1973 Heisman trophy.[1]

The comeback

The 6-3, 258 pound tackle started as a sophomore in 1970, freshman weren't eligible, and helped them go to the Rose Bowl. In 1971, he started off the season in dominant fashion before injuring his knee and missing the last six games of the season. He came back to become an All-American in 1972 helping the Buckeyes to go back to the Rose Bowl. Then he had his monster 1973 season. A first round draft pick of the New York Giants, injuries would put a halt to his pro career.

The Rose Bowls

Hicks was the first player to ever start in three Rose Bowls and was part of a monster Ohio State team. The unbeaten Buckeyes lost to Stanford 27-17 in the 1971 Rose Bowl. Next year at the 1973 game, Ohio State got steamrolled by USC 42-17. But the 1974 Rose Bowl game would be unbeaten Ohio State's year to steamroll USC 42-21 as Hicks (Archie Griffin, Pete Johnson?) led the way to 323 rushing yards.

Pro career

Hicks played for the New York Giants from 1974 through 1977. In April 1978, the Giants traded Hicks to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for offensive lineman Jim Clack and wide receiver Ernie Pough.[2] Hicks never played for the Steelers.

Honors

Personal

Hicks was married to his wife Cindy, with whom he had three daughters and one son, and three granddaughters and one grandson.

On October 30, 2016, Hicks died at his home due to complications from diabetes.[3] He was 65.

References

  1. ↑ http://www.espn.com/colleges/osu/story/_/id/8248933/former-lineman-john-hicks
  2. ↑ Emert, Rich (April 18, 1978). "Western Pa. very familiar to new Steelers". The Beaver County Times. pp. B–1. Retrieved 2 April 2010.
  3. ↑ http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/content/stories/2016/10/31/john-hicks-obit.html
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