Otis Taylor

Since the season of Super Bowl IV, I’ve been a fan of the Minnesota Vikings. Those Vikings included Joe Kapp, Alan Page and Carl Eller, a great group that was the first of four teams that Bud Grant led to the championship game. 

I picked the Vikings as my favorite team because real Vikings had horns on their helmets.  Not a bad choice for a little boy, analytical, engineer-like.

Anyway, while doing some web browsing, ran across the name Otis Taylor.  Bad memories arose, Otis breaking free of Ed Sharockman, sealing the low scoring championship game. Damn.

Otis was a really good wide receiver, big, very big for the day, and fast..  He played for over a decade, only for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Otis Taylor at Wikipedia

Otis passed away last March, he was 80 years old

Otis Sistrunk

 

Otis played for the Oakland Raiders when they were outlaws.

Those Raiders beat my Vikings in the Super Bowl, but I have to admit they were entertaining.

New York, Not Michigan

In New York, not to be confused with Otisville Michigan.
Infamous for it's longstanding Federal Corrections Institution.

This is close to Orange County Choppers, which is in Newburg.

Otisville

We are running out of human Otis's, so we'll expand into places and obscure references.

Otisville, Michigan, appears to have less than a thousand occupants.

Welcome to Otisville

Love it.
Thanks to DGJ.

And Then There Was....

My bride's niece sent this to me on Facebook. Always happy to have people offering up content.

So Proud

It looks like Otis Nixon is off the wagon again.
Pulled over for weaving, crack cocaine was seen in the driver's seat of his truck.
Read the messages at the local newspaper site, it appears that some  typical position comments are made and rather brusque retorts.
http://canton-ga.patch.com/articles/former-atlanta-braves-center-fielder-otis-nixon-arrested-in-cherokee-084ab8fe
The dumb bastard is going to end up killing somebody, lets hope it's not an innocent.

More

Slot Machine

Harrah's Casino, New Orleans, October 2009.

Put in your money, and guess who shows up?

You got, Otis, a nice picture, but no coin.

William Otis

Long time ago, 170 years to the day, another Otis named William did something noteworthy.....

On this day in 1839, William Otis got the first a patent for the steam shovel. Before that time there were cranes and other leverage devices used for lifting but the steam power permitted the application of focused power. Focus of mechanical power creates efficiencies. The use of these mechanized engines are evident all over the world in mammoth public works such as dams, bridges and canals.

William Otis described his invention as "the Crane-dredge for excavation and earth removals".

Ever see the name Otis on an elevator or escalator? We have those at the courtesy of William's cousin Elishu Otis.

Perhaps the new government could develop a parallel to the steam shovel, that for moving wealth to consumption (waste) more efficiently.

Ottis Toole Revisited

Recalling a previous post, the case concerning the death of Adam Walsh was closed today in Hollywood Florida. The closing of the case was the last stage in a failed investigation. Adam's father, John Walsh, molded his torment over the unsolved case into the constructive television show "America's Most Wanted". Many families have been helped by this man's activism against child abuse.

John Walsh said on earlier today at a news conference...

"Who could take a 6-year-old and murder and decapitate him? Who? We needed to know. We needed to know. And today we know. The not knowing has been a torture, but that journey's over."

The serial killer Ottis Toole, died in prison in 1996, of liver cirrhosis. Toole had confessed to the murder by decapitation but recanted. Errors in the investigation failed to prove guilt.

Very sad.

Songwriter Producer Passes

Clyde Otis was born in Prentice Mississippi in the year 1924.

Introduced to the music business by the writer of the famous song Route 66, Bobby Troup.

Otis joined the staff of Mercury Records in 1958, and amongst his earliest work produced and penned songs for Brook Benton. Later Mr. Otis worked Dinah Washington on "What a Difference a Day Makes", Sarah Vaughn on "Broken-Hearted Melody" and The Diamonds on "The Stroll".

After leaving Mercury and passing through a period with Liberty Records, Otis started his own label called the Clyde Otis Music Group, based in Nashville. With his own label Mr. Otis worked with and wrote for Bobby Darin, Charlie Rich, Sonny James, Elvis Presley, Aretha Franklin, Johnny Mathis and Patti Page.

In 1994, Natalie Cole, whose recording of Otis's “Take a Look” won the Grammy Award for best jazz vocal.

For 40 years Mr. Otis lived in the East Hill section Englewood New, across the street from home of his friend, Dizzy Gillespie.

Clyde Otis died 10 days ago, at the age of 83.

Ottis Franklin Jones

• My bride is in North Carolina picking up Natalie's mother for a Christmas trip to Georgia. She sent me some pictures of this street in Fayetteville.
• The street is named for a former sheriff of Cumberland County, the link above is to a state proclamation.

Elwell Stephen Otis

Born in Frederick, Maryland, March 25, 1838

Graduated from the University of Rochester in 1858

Graduated from Harvard Law School in 1861

Commissioned as a Caption in Union Army in 1862

Appointed to Lieutenant Colonel in December 1863 and later promoted to full Colonel.

Wounded and muster out due to incapacity in January 1865.

Brevetted Brigadier General, United States Volunteers, in March 1865 in recognition of his Civil War service.

In 1898, was appointed Major of volunteers and was sent to the the newly acquired Philippines as reinforcement for General Merritt. On arrival in the Philippines, Otis assumed command of the VIII. Eventually General Otis was appointed Military Governor of the Philippine Islands.

During his time in the Philippines, Otis was responsible for American activities at the start of the Philippine-American war, which was essentially a failed attempt for independence. US troops reportedly practiced some draconian methods to which Otis commented.

"The conduct of the Washington Volunteers has been the subject of special investigations for some time. They deny wanton burning or cruelties. And still there are strong indications that they practised these infractions to some extent."

Otis was relieved of command in 1900 and replaced with General Arthur MacArthur.

Died in Rochester, New York, October 21, 1909, buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

• General Otis was known to his men as "granny".
• General Arthur MacArthur had gained fame as an teen aged officer that led the successful charge up Lookout Mountain of Chattanooga. Arthur won the Congressional Medal of Honor 27 years after this historic feat. He was also the father of Douglas MacArthur, who won the Congressional Medal of Honor, became a 5 Star General serving in WW1, WW2 and Korea.

Serial Murderer and Cannibal

In the continuing search for the moniker Otis, have stumbled across this stinker.

Ottis Elwood Toole was born on March 5, 1947 in Jacksonville, Florida.
He died in a Florida prison on September 15, 1996 from cirrhosis of the liver.

Ottis Toole admitted to multiple counts of murder, rape, necrophilia, and cannibalism. Mr. Toole was convicted of murder in 1983, and sentence to death, this was later commuted life.

Toole was best-known as a suspect in the murder of Adam Walsh. Adam's father is John Walsh, host of the program America's Most Wanted. In this case Toole had a partner named Henry Lee Lucas. Toole met Lucas in Florida about 1978. The team claimed to have committed many hundreds of murders.

Toole's father left the family when the boy was young. His mother was a religious fanatic, and his sister dressed him in girl's clothes. Toole claimed his grandmother was a satanist who exposed him to rituals in his youth.

Toole claimed that his first murder at the age of 14. He ran over a travelling salesman with a car after being propositioned for sex.

• Is necrophilia a form of rape?
• Most of the information on Toole, and for that matter Lucas, includes many indications of admission and retraction.
• Enviorment, enviorment, enviorment.

Just Another Road

Outside of Boston, overlooking the water near Hull. The childhood home of my sisters' in-law mother. Must have been a nice place because she turned out pretty good. I think the punctuation is right, two of my brothers married sisters.

Hal Smith

Hal Smith, voice of Barney Rubble, here as Otis Campbell.

Otis Wilson

Born: 9/15/1957, in New York, NY.
First round draft choice from Louisville in 1980, played at Syracuse.
Linebacker for the Chicago Bears, 1980 through 1988.
Member of the famed Buddy Ryan defense that won the 1985 Super Bowl.
Playing alongside Mike Singletary and Wilbur Marshal made up one of the fastest, fiercest sets of linebackers in NFL history.
When asked for a description of Otis's play, Mike Ditka offered this when comparing Otis to the Tampa's 2002 strong side linbackers.

"Al Singleton's good, but I had this conversation with somebody the other day about Otis. He was good, period. He was strong, he played in Buddy Ryan's defense about as good as you could. He didn't get the acclaim because we had Mike Singletary in the middle and Wilber Marshall on the other side."

Otis Day and the Knights

AKA: DeWayne Jessie, born in 1953, Dallas Texas
Profession: Actor, Singer
Best known from the movie Animal House, also seen in The Bingo Long Traveling All Stars And Motor Kings, Car Wash, Sparkle, Fun With Dick And Jane, Which Way Is Up?, Thank God It's Friday, Where The Buffalo Roam, The Star Chamber and D. C. Cab which I believe starred Mr. T.

The appearances of DeWayne Jessie, singing "Shama Lama Ding Dong" and "Shout" were actually sung by Lloyd Williams and lip-synched by the actor. Later DeWayne Jessie recorded and released his own versions both songs.

Brother of singer, songwriter Young Jessie who wrote Mary Lou, made popular by Bob Seger and sang with both the The Coasters and The Flairs.

Later in the movie, in the bar scene, Peter Riegert , aka Boon, yells out "Otis My Man" . By way of Hartsfield Airport and a mispronounced page, my nickname became Otis Myman.

Otis Blackwell

Born Brooklyn, New York, 1931.
As a boy Otis favored cowboy songs, especially those by Tex Ritter (father of John Ritter of Three's Company), and R&B songs by artists such as Chuck Willis.
Writer of nearly 1,000 published songs including:
All Shook Up, Don't Be Cruel and Return To Sender all recorded by Elvis Presley. All Shook Up was inspired by a shaken bottle of Pepsi Cola.
Fever recorded by by Peggy Lee.
Breathless and Great Balls Of Fire recorded by Jerry Lee Lewis.
Died 2002 in Nashville.

Otis Boykin

Inventor of improved precision resistor types used in early IBM computers and and variable resistors used in equipment such as guided missiles. His most famous invention was a control unit for the pacemaker, which uses electrical impulses to stimulate the heart and maintain a steady heartbeat.

Born August 29, 1920 in Dallas, Texas.

Died in 1982 of heart failure.

Otis Boykin, at one time dropped out of high school, fought back to earn a bachelors degree from Fisk University and and Masters degree from Illinois Institute of Technology.

When started this was simple search for a notable Otis. On research it seems that Mr. Boykin should also be included in the BHM subgroup.