James R. Detwiler (born May 29, 1945) is a former
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
halfback who was the 20th pick in the first round of the
1967 NFL Draft. Before this he had been an All-
Big Ten Conference
The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...
player for the
Michigan Wolverines from 1964 to 1966.
Early years
Detwiler was born in 1945 in
Bluffton, Ohio
Bluffton, originally known as Shannon, is a village in Allen and Hancock counties in the U.S. state of Ohio. The population was 4,125 at the 2010 census. Bluffton is home to Bluffton University, a four-year educational institution affiliated w ...
. He was an all-city, all-state and All-American running back as a senior at Toledo's
DeVilbiss High School in 1962.
One of the most sought after players in Ohio in 1962, Detwiler "refused an invitation to visit
Ohio State
The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best public ...
, prompting Coach
Woody Hayes
Wayne Woodrow Hayes (February 14, 1913 – March 12, 1987) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Denison University (1946–1948), Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1949–1950), and Ohio State University (1951 ...
to harangue him on the telephone one night for more than half an hour about being disloyal to the state of Ohio."
University of Michigan
In 1964, Detwiler was part of
Bump Elliott
Chalmers William "Bump" Elliott (January 30, 1925 – December 7, 2019) was an American football player, coach, and college athletics administrator. He played halfback at Purdue University (1943–1944) and the University of Michigan (1946–19 ...
's Big Ten Conference and
1965 Rose Bowl
The 1965 Rose Bowl, played on January 1, 1965, was the 51st Rose Bowl Game. The
Michigan Wolverines defeated the Oregon State Beavers by a score of 34–7. Michigan fullback Mel Anthony was named the Rose Bowl Player Of The Game.
Teams
...
championship team. The Wolverines narrowly missed a National Championship in 1964, in part due to a critical fumble by Detwiler into the end zone in the team's only defeat, a 21-20 loss to
Purdue. As he ran toward what appeared to be a touchdown, a
Purdue defender hit Detwiler from behind, sending the ball flying into the
end zone
The end zone is the scoring area on the field, according to gridiron-based codes of football. It is the area between the end line and goal line bounded by the sidelines. There are two end zones, each being on an opposite side of the field. ...
where it was recovered by Purdue.
[
Detwiler redeemed himself by scoring the only touchdown in the 1964 Michigan-Ohio State game (Michigan – 10; Ohio State – 0). Both teams were in the Top 10, and Detwiler scored on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Bob Timberlake in the final minute of the first half. Ironically, all of Michigan's scoring in the 1964 game came from Detwiler and Timberlake, both of whom were natives of Ohio. Detwiler later recalled: "My freshman year at Michigan, 21 of the top 30 guys on our team were from Ohio. We had a huge contingent, I think, primarily because Woody was a little bit off the deep end in those years."][
In the 1965 Rose Bowl, Michigan beat the ]Oregon State Beavers
The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for ...
34-7, and Detwiler had a 30-yard reception from Timberlake on a key scoring drive in the third quarter.
In the 1965 season, a knee injury limited Detwiler to three games. He had surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament
The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligament
Cruciate ligaments (also cruciform ligaments) are pairs of ligaments arranged like a letter X. They occur in several joints of the body, such as the knee joint and th ...
.
In 1966, he returned from his injury, but he never fully recovered as his knee swelled after every game. He had the best game of his career against Ohio State in 1966, gaining 140 yards, and scoring a touchdown, on 20 carries—all in the first half. The Wolverines won, 17-3, and Detwiler later recalled: "We knew after the first two series that we were the better team. They couldn't stop us, and they couldn't do much against us. But I'll tell you what: That game got me a pro contract."[ As for why he did not play in the second half, Detwiler recalled: "I ran the ball more times in the first half than I had ever run it before, but I ran out of gas. The coach very kindly told the media that I had the flu. I actually was rubber-legged and couldn't play much after that."][
For his career at Michigan, Detwiler had 788 rushing yards and seven touchdowns.
Detwiler was named to the first-team All Big Ten team, and he rushed for over 100 yards in the ]Blue–Gray Football Classic
The Blue–Gray Football Classic was an annual American college football all-star game held in Alabama, usually in late December and often on Christmas Day. The brainchild of Alabama college football legend Champ Pickens, the contest began in ...
in 1966, earning himself the game's most valuable back award.
Professional football
The Baltimore Colts picked Detwiler in the first round of the 1967 NFL Draft as the 20th pick overall. This was the first year that the 20th overall selection in the National Football League Draft
The National Football League Draft, also called the NFL Draft or (officially) the Player Selection Meeting, is an annual event which serves as the league's most common source of player recruitment. Each team is given a position in the drafting o ...
occurred in the first round because the American Football League (AFL) and NFL drafted together for the first time. Detwiler was part of a class of six NFL draftees from Michigan that year (Mike Bass
Michael Thomas Bass (born March 31, 1945) is a former American football player who played in the National Football League (NFL) as a cornerback for the Washington Redskins from 1969 through 1975. He appeared in 104 consecutive games for the Reds ...
, Frank Nunley, John Rowser
John Felix Rowser (born April 24, 1944) was an American football player, a defensive back in the National Football League for ten seasons with the Green Bay Packers, Pittsburgh Steelers, and Denver Broncos.
In his rookie season, he was a memb ...
, Rick Volk, and Carl Ward
Carl Davis Ward (born July 26, 1944) is a former American football player. He played college football as a halfback for the University of Michigan from 1964 to 1966 and professional football in the National Football League (NFL) for the Cleveland ...
). Detwiler signed with the Colts in May 1967. He received a $50,000 signing bonus and played in a couple preseason games in 1967, but his knee was still hurting. He had more surgery on the knee and missed the entire 1967 season. He failed to make the team in 1968, and his professional football career was over. He is the most recent 1st round NFL Draft choice to have never played a game in the NFL.
Dental career and later years
Detwiler enrolled in dental school while trying to rehabilitate his knee. He used his $50,000 signing bonus to put himself through dental school.[
In 1971, Detwiler returned to Toledo and set up a dental practice near ]Perrysburg, Ohio
Perrysburg is a city located in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the south side of the Maumee River. The population was 25,041 at the 2020 census. Part of the Toledo metropolitan area, the city is southwest of Toledo. Perrysburg is the ...
.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Detwiler, Jim
1945 births
Living people
People from Bluffton, Ohio
Players of American football from Ohio
American football running backs
Michigan Wolverines football players