College Career
Ozzie had been poorly educated in their segregated school in Texas, so he spent his freshman year catching up on academics. By his sophomore year in 1934, Ozzie Simmons was ready to shine. In his first game, a 34-0 win over South Dakota, Simmons had a 22 yard scoring run as well as punt returns for 61 and 32 yards.
Ozzie rushed for 166 yards, including a 47 yard touchdown sprint, and he had 138 yards on kick and punt returns in his first Big Ten game, a 20-7 defeat of Northwestern. Ralph Cannon of the Chicago Daily News wrote, "This slithery, rubbery, oozy flyer...can make his legs talk more languages than even Red Grange's could when he was a sophomore...Most of it seems to come naturally to Simmons, as such things must come to the genius of any line." Simmons was nicknamed "the Ebony Eel" after that game and gained national acclaim. But Iowa lost every remaining game in 1934, despite the play of Simmons, who returned an interception 80 yards for a touchdown in a loss to Ohio State. Ozzie was a first team All-Big Ten selection and a second team All-American.
1935 was Simmons' finest year. He scored five touchdowns on runs of 50 or more yards in 1935. Simmons scored Iowa's two touchdowns in a 12-6 upset of Colgate, and his touchdown pass to fellow black Iowa star Homer Harris was Iowa's only points in a loss to Purdue. Simmons' best game in 1935 was against Illinois. Ozzie rushed for 192 yards, intercepted a pass, returned three punts for 33 yards, returned two kicks for 54 more yards and scored a touchdown in a 19-0 upset of Illinois. Simmons led Iowa in rushing in 1935 and was selected as a first team All-American. Ozzie was also a first team All-Big Ten selection, as he led the Hawkeyes to a 4-2-2 record.
Simmons' senior year in 1936 was a disappointment. Though Ozzie led Iowa in both rushing and scoring, the Hawkeyes failed to win a conference game and Simmons failed to make any post-season honor teams. Ozzie even quit the team for a couple days after Iowa suffered their worst loss in 20 years, a 52-0 loss to Minnesota. Simmons felt that Coach Solem had been too critical of him for Iowa's failures, but Simmons was convinced to return to the team. Ozzie's final game was against nationally ranked Temple and their Hall of Fame coach, Pop Warner. Simmons scored on a 74 yard touchdown run to lead Iowa to a 25-0 upset.
Ozzie Simmons graduated with 1,544 career rushing yards, the third most in Iowa history at the time. He scored 14 touchdowns in his career, eight of them on plays of 50 yards or more. Though the Hawkeyes had just a 9-11-4 record in his three injury-plagued years at Iowa, Simmons gave Iowa fans something to cheer about when Iowa football was feeling the ill effects of a brief Big Ten suspension and the Great Depression.
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