Former Ohio State wide receiver Dimitrious Stanley dies at 48

The Ohio State family has heavy hearts Thursday as former Buckeyes wide receiver Dimitrious Stanley lost his battle with prostate cancer, passing away at age 48.

Stanley played for Ohio State from 1993 to 1996, with his last and final season with the Buckeyes being his best. In his senior year, Stanley recorded a team-leading 829 yards and eight touchdowns on 43 receptions.

He ended his collegiate career with 63 catches, 1,136 receiving yards, and 13 touchdowns catches, and longtime Buckeyes fans likely remember his performance in his very last game with Ohio State.

In the 1997 Rose Bowl versus Arizona State Stanley went off, leading the game in receiving with five catches for 124 yards and a touchdown. He had a 72-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter to give the Buckeyes a 14-10 lead, and in the fourth quarter had two third-down catches on the team’s final, come-from-behind, game-winning drive to win 20-17.

Following his time with the Buckeyes, he’d go on to play in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, followed by a stint in the Arena Football League for New Jersey Red Dogs.

After his playing career Stanley ran for city council in Columbus, worked as a consultant for a home health company, and was a broadcasting co-host before and after Ohio State football games. He also started Brave Men Inc., to raise awareness and money for men with prostate cancer following his own 2019 diagnosis.

Stanley was an advocate for men’s health, and the powerful words he shared with Eleven Warriors resonate immensely following his death.

“You don’t have to get to the point where I did if you get yourself to the doctor,” Stanley said. “All the stuff that I’m going through, I hope people are looking at me and saying, ‘You know what, this could happen to me, but I don’t necessarily have to go through what Dimitrious is going through because I decided to go see the doctor regularly.’ And if something changes in my body, instead of as a man, we go, ‘Oh, it’ll just go away, whatever,’; go get it looked at, just in case. And that’s kind of what I want people to get from my experience,” Stanley said.