Jim Stillwagon, Ex-Ohio State Football Star, Charged In Road Rage Shooting

Former Ohio State football star Jim Stillwagon is charged in a road rage incident that resulted in another man nearly getting shot.

Stillwagon, a former three-year starter with the Ohio State Buckeyes, shot at a pickup truck on a highway ramp Sunday, police said, followed it for 14 miles and then struck the driver with a handgun, causing it to fire a bullet that grazed the man's head.

The 63-year-old college Hall of Famer, who played middle guard when the Buckeyes won a national championship in 1968, was jailed on a felonious assault charge. Bond was set at $350,000 in municipal court in Delaware, Ohio, north of Columbus.

Multiple news outlets are reporting that Stillwagon was on his motorcycle when he apparently got cut off by a driver in a pickup truck. Police said Stillwagon then fired shots at the pickup, which turned into a parking lot near a car parts store, across the street from some homes.

Stillwagon then confronted the 41-year-old truck driver and struck him with the handgun, Bruce Pijanowski, interim police chief in Delaware, told reporters.

Pijanowski said there was no indication that Stillwagon knew the driver, who was treated at a hospital and checked himself out Sunday night.

"Considering the circumstances, he's extremely lucky," Pijanowski said. "He had probably just superficial injuries, and it could have been a lot worse."

Stillwagon had a permit for the gun and was carrying it legally, Pijanowski added.

The former Ohio State defender played under famed coach Woody Hayes from 1968 to 1970, when the Buckeyes had three Big Ten titles in addition to their national championship.

An All-American as a junior and senior, Stillwagon also won the Outland and Lombardi awards, given to the dominant interior lineman in the country.

While he was drafted by the Green Bay Packers in the fifth round of the 1971 NFL Draft, Stillwagon turned north to Canada for a pro career in the Canadian Football League.