Archie Griffin

Archie Mason Griffin (born August 21, 1954) is an American former football running back who played with the Cincinnati Bengals in the National Football League (NFL) for seven seasons. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and is the only two-time Heisman Trophy winner in NCAA history, 1974-1975, considered one of the greatest college football players of all time. Griffin won four Big Ten Conference titles with the Buckeyes and was the first player to ever start in four Rose Bowls. He was selected in the first round by the Bengals in the 1976 NFL draft.

Early life
Griffin rushed for 1,787 yards and scored over 170 points in 11 games, including 29 touchdowns, as a senior fullback at Eastmoor High School (now Eastmoor Academy) in Columbus, Ohio. That year, he led Eastmoor to the Columbus City League championship, rushing for 267 yards on 31 carries in the title game against Linden-McKinley High School. In his junior year, Griffin also rushed for over 1,000 yards.

In 1996, Griffin was inducted into the High School Hall of Fame, with Eastmoor Academy renaming their playing field "Archie Griffin Field" in his honor.

College career
Griffin played for the Ohio State University Buckeyes from 1972-75. When he won a starting position his freshman year, many sophomores were disappointed because Griffin took their spot. Former Ohio State head coach Woody Hayes said of Griffin, "He's a better young man than he is a football player, and he's the best football player I've ever seen."

In 1972, Griffin was a T-formation halfback, and from 1973 through 1975, he was the team's I-formation tailback. He led the Buckeyes in rushing as a freshman with 867 yards, but his numbers exploded the following year with the team's conversion to the I-formation. He rushed for 1,428 yards in the regular season as a sophomore, 1,620 as a junior, 1,357 as a senior. Griffin was the only back to lead the Big Ten Conference in rushing for three straight years until Jonathan Taylor did so from 2017-2019. Overall, Griffin rushed for 5,589 yards on 924 carries in his four seasons with the Buckeyes (1972–1975), then an NCAA record. He had 6,559 all-purpose yards and scored 26 touchdowns. In their four seasons with Griffin as their starting running back, the Buckeyes posted a record of 40-5-1. Griffin is one of only two players in collegiate football history to start four Rose Bowl games, the other being Brian Cushing.

Griffin introduced himself to OSU fans as a freshman by setting a school single-game rushing record of 239 yards in the second game of the 1972 season, against North Carolina, breaking a team record that had stood for 27 seasons. His only carry in his first game had resulted in a fumble. He broke his own record as a sophomore with 246 rushing yards in a game against the Iowa Hawkeyes. Over his four-year collegiate career, Griffin rushed for at least 100 yards in 34 games, including an NCAA record 31 consecutive games.

Honors
Griffin finished fifth in the Heisman vote in his sophomore year and won the award as a junior and senior. He is the only NCAA football player to date to win the award twice. In addition to his two Heisman Trophies, Griffin won many other college awards. He is one of four players to win the Big Ten Most Valuable Player twice (1973–1974). United Press International named him Player of the Year twice (1974–1975), Walter Camp Foundation named him player of the year twice (1974–1975), he won the Maxwell Award (1975), and The Sporting News named him Man of the Year (1975).

The College Football Hall of Fame enshrined Griffin in 1986. Ohio State enshrined him in their own Ohio State Athletics Hall of Fame in 1981 and officially retired his number, 45, in 1999. He was inducted into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame in 1990. On January 1, 2014, Griffin was named the 1970’s player of the decade in the Rose Bowl All-Century Class during the celebration of the 100th Rose Bowl Game (2014).

In 2013, Griffin was inducted into the International Sports Hall of Fame. In 2020, he was ranked No. 4 on ESPN's list of the Top 150 players in college football history.

Professional career
In the 1976 NFL draft, Griffin was selected in the first round, 24th overall, by the Cincinnati Bengals. He played all seven seasons in the NFL with the Bengals, from 1976 to 1982. He was joined in the backfield by his college fullback teammate Pete Johnson, drafted by the Bengals in 1977, and his brother and Ohio State defensive back Ray Griffin, drafted in 1978. Griffin rushed for 2808 career yards and 7 touchdowns, and caught 192 passes for 1607 yards and 6 touchdowns. He played in Super Bowl XVI with the Bengals in 1982. He finished the game with one carry for four yards, and muffed a kick return in the 26–21 loss.

Following the end of his Bengals career, Griffin played very briefly with the Jacksonville Bulls of the United States Football League (USFL). He played in one game and had ten carries for 11 yards.

Post-football career
Griffin is the former president and CEO of the Ohio State University Alumni Association. He is also the current spokesman for the Wendy's High School Heisman award program. Formerly, he served as assistant athletic director for the university and speaks to the football team before every game.

Griffin also serves on the board of directors for Motorists Insurance, which has offices in downtown Columbus, Abercrombie and Fitch, and the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame, based in Irving, Texas.

Along with former National Basketball Association basketball player Magic Johnson, Griffin was one of the investors in Mandalay Baseball Properties LLC, which owned the Dayton Dragons, a single-A Minor League affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, prior to the sale of the team in 2014 to Palisades Arcadia Baseball LLC.

Family
Griffin is a son of Margaret and James Griffin. He has six brothers and a sister. His brothers include Raymond, a former NFL cornerback and a teammate with the Bengals, and Keith who also played in the NFL.

In 2024, Griffin's son Andre became the head football coach at Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin School and was previously an assistant football coach at Ohio Northern University. Another son, Adam, played as a defensive back for Ohio State for three seasons until a shoulder injury ended his playing career. Griffin also has three grandsons.