Dave Francis

For other people of the same name, see David Francis (disambiguation).

Dave Francis
Career information
No. 39
Date of birth	(1941-04-15) April 15, 1941
Place of birth	Columbus, Ohio
Position(s)	Running back
College	Ohio State
NFL draft	1963 / Round: 7 / Pick: 91
Career history
As player
1963	Washington Redskins
Career stats
Playing stats at NFL.com Playing stats at DatabaseFootball.com

David Lee Francis (born April 15, 1941 in Columbus, Ohio) is a former American football fullback for the Ohio State Buckeyes from 1960 to 1962. Highly recruited nationally as a fullback prospect from Columbus West High School, Francis chose to attend his hometown university after being recruited by Woody Hayes.

Playing behind College Hall of Famer Bob Ferguson for two years, and a backfield that included future Pro Football Hall of Famer Paul Warfield and future American Football League legend Matt Snell (AFL), Francis did not break into the starting lineup until his senior year. That year, Ohio State started out as the preseason AP #1 team in the country. Although close losses to UCLA and Northwestern derailed Ohio State's national championship hopes that season, Francis—in a backfield that still included Paul Warfield—led the team in rushing, averaging over 5 yds/carry. In 1962, David was the Big Ten rushing champion (5.2 yds per carry).

Francis' greatest achievement as an Ohio State football player was saved for his last game against arch-rival Michigan. Until the 2007 season, his 186 yard, two touchdown performance was the most yards gained by an Ohio State running back against Michigan.(Beanie Wells) Most noteworthy about that performance, is that Francis, under complete exhaustion, collapsed untouched near the goal line in an open field run before he could tally his third touchdown.

Drafted by the Washington Redskins, Francis played one year in the National Football League before his career was ended by injury.

David is married to Polly Francis and lives in Fairview, Texas. David has two sons and two stepsons.

Preceded by Bob Ferguson	Ohio State Buckeyes Starting Fullbacks 1962	Succeeded by Matt Snell

Washington Redskins 1963 NFL Draft selections

Pat Richter Lonnie Sanders Ron Snidow Charley Nickoson Dave Francis Billy Joe Rod Foster Allen Schau Bob Caldwell John Greiner Tom Winingder Harry Butsko Dave Adams Ron Whaley Drew Roberts Jim Turner Joe Baughan

Draft years 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1950 AAFC 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015

Authority control	VIAF: 85349908 ISNI: 0000 0001 1681 2538 SUDOC: 033091854 BNF: cb12399336t (data)

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Saturday, March 12, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.