Jim Walker

jim.walker@irontontribune.com

 

COAL GROVE — The Coal Grove Betterment Club’s Family Fun Days will not only honor its country but one of her favorite sons.

Family Fun Days to celebrate the Fourth of July along with honoring former Coal Grove and Ohio State football standout Jerry Fields on Tuesday.

Fields, 75, was a standout football player at Coal Grove who went on to a stellar career for the Ohio State Buckeyes as a quarterback and linebacker.

Fields played in an era when college football did not platoon.

Fields — who once held the Ohio State record with a 70-yard punt — was one of the stars in Ohio State’s 20-14 win over Michigan in 1958.

Fields was drafted by the New York Giants of the NFL but was cut due to a preseason knee injury. He signed with the New York Titans — forerunners to the New York Jets — and played two years in the American Football League that later merged with the NFL.

After playing with the Titans, Fields spent two seasons playing with Montreal in the Canadian Football League.