QB Dave Leggett (official thread)

[Buckskin86]

William David "Dave" Leggett (born September 18, 1933 in New Philadelphia, Ohio) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League. He played collegiately at Ohio State University from 1952-1954. In 1954 he lead Ohio State to an undefeated 10-0 season and a berth in the Rose Bowl where Ohio State defeated UCS and Legget was named MVP. He was drafted by the Chicago Cardinals in the 7th round (74th overall) of the 1955 NFL Draft.

Legget was most famous for his play in the 1954 Michigan game. Ohio State's undefeated season was on the line, with the score tied 7-7 in fourth quarter. Michigan was on the Ohio State one yard line with a fourth down and went for it. Michigan pitched the ball to the right and on defense Legget was a great safety and it was only him and the Michigan ball carrier at the end zone and as the Michigan back leaped for the end zone Legget went for his legs and flipped the Michigan man over to stop him short of the end zone. With the ball on Ohio State's own one-yard-line, Legget finished the drive to score and win.

Dave Leggett - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The memories: From Dave Leggett, now 76, the OSU quarterback who was named the game's MVP after running for 67 yards and a touchdown, and throwing for 63 yards and a touchdown: "The night before the game, Woody put us in a monastery. He kept good track of us.

"The game was played in rain the whole time. One of the parents went to the telegraph office to send a telegram back home about something and they wrote down that it was raining here on the day of the game, and the guy at the telegraph office asked them, 'Would you change that to a light mist?'

"There were six or seven guys that had to go to the hospital. We wore those stretch pants and the Rose Bowl was a lot of sand and the sand got in there and rubbed their legs raw. A couple of them had to stay the night.

"One of the writeups said that the game was won because Dave Leggett handled the ball 70 times or something like that and never fumbled. It was tough, it was tough. The ball was slick and we threw a few short passes and one went for a touchdown, one option play went for a touchdown and I scored on a 2- or 3-yard quarterback sneak. I have pride in playing in that game and I remember almost all of the plays.

"It was the first time at the Rose Bowl for Woody. He started there in '51, and as I recall, there were 22 players he recruited and I think maybe all of them graduated. And Woody thought that was what made the team so good, because we had 20-some guys who played together for four years.

"Every player I knew respected him so much. That's why we had a good team. We didn't buddy up with him or anything, but he was a guy to be respected for what he thought and what he taught. After we won, he was proud, very proud and happy, not only for himself, but for the players."

Buckeyes Rose Bowl Rewind: National championship glory in the mud of 1955 | Ohio State Buckeyes - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

Ohio State's 1955 Rose Bowl MVP: "Tressel seems like a calmed-down Woody"
By Doug Lesmerises, The Plain Dealer
December 17, 2009


Dave Leggett, the former Ohio State quarterback and MVP of the 1955 Rose Bowl, started his career in Woody Hayes' first recruiting class and ended his career on Hayes' first Rose Bowl and national championship team. Speaking by phone last week from his home in Colorado, Leggett nearly broke down several times while talking about his old coach. Hayes is gone, but Leggett's respect for his coach lives on.

Leggett was featured in today's Buckeyes Rose Bowl Rewind, talking about that 1954 national championship which was completed in the Rose Bowl. But Leggett, 76, had more to say than fit in the Rewind. Here's more of his lookback on his career and that season.

"I had been recruited by Southeastern Conference schools. Vanderbilt was one I could have attended, and also Army and Navy. I had no intention of going to Ohio State until Woody took over as coach. His wife was born and lived about five blocks from my house. And so Woody came to New Philadelphia and recruited me because he knew people in New Philadelphia.

"We had quite a few [future] professional people - there were people in dental school and medical school and law school. It was just a bunch of guys that Woody molded to play together. He was a guy who produced by making you play your best. He would do anything to see you graduate. If you had a lab, you went to the lab instead of practice. He put education ahead of football. Woody would say you go to your classes, you go to your labs and you come to practice when you can. I get choked up talking about him because he was such a good guy.

"After the Rose Bowl, he had speaking engagements all over Ohio, for high schools and colleges and banquets. I went with him to several of them. The first one I went, we got in the car, and I said, 'Turn on the radio.' And he said, 'I don't have a radio.' And I said, 'You don't have a radio?' He said, 'Nope. I got a basic car. The money I saved might help another kid get through college.'

"Woody said, and we tended to believe him, and I think the sportswriters tended to agree, that winning the Big Ten and the Rose Bowl saved his job. We turned things around in '54.

"I would guess everybody on the team wanted to win for Woody. I know that he helped a lot of the people get through school. Tressel seems to be such a neat guy, I would hope the players would play for him and win the game for him. Tressel seems like a calmed-down Woody."

Ohio State's 1955 Rose Bowl MVP: "Tressel seems like a calmed-down Woody" | Doug Lesmerises' Buckeye Blog - cleveland.com - - cleveland.com

 

[ant80]

He passed away on Tuesday.

 

[LitlBuck]

A great Buckeye. Thoughts and prayers to his family and friends. RIP Dave

Dave Leggett, who starred as a quarterback and safety on Woody Hayes’ first Ohio State national championship team in 1954, died earlier this week after a long illness in Colorado Springs, Colo. He was 79.

Though he was the MVP of the Buckeyes’ win over Southern California in the Rose Bowl to cap a 10-0 season, Leggett is best remembered for a tackle and a drive in the regular season-finale against Michigan. Leggett stopped a Michigan ballcarrier a half-yard short of the goal line on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter with the score tied at 7. Leggett then guided the Buckeyes 99 yards to the go-ahead score, a touchdown pass to Dick Brubaker, and Ohio State went on to win 21-7.

It was Leggett’s sure ball-handling in the rain of the Rose Bowl that led primarily to his MVP award. But he also recovered a fumble to set up one touchdown, a 21-yard pass to Bobby Watkins, and he scored on a 3-yard run in the 20-7 win.

After a double stint in the Air Force sandwiching a short stay in the Canadian Football League, Leggett, a native of New Philadelphia, got into the investment and financial planning business in Colorado Springs.

http://buckeyextra.dispatch.com/con...gett-quarterback-on-1954-team-dies-at-79.html

 

[BB73]

RIP, Dave. The first post in this thread is a good read about Leggett and Woody.