Where Are They Now: Cocoa's Bob Anderson, the West Point Star Who Ran With Army's Best
Cocoa High graduate Bob Anderson became a two-time All-American at Army, served in the 101st Airborne and entered the College Football Hall of Fame.
Long before the Space Coast became synonymous with rockets, Cocoa produced one of the best college running backs in the country.
Bob Anderson, a 1956 Cocoa High graduate, became a two-time All-American at the United States Military Academy. His official College Football Hall of Fame biography records a career that moved from Brevard high-school fields to West Point, military service and the New York Giants.
A four-sport standout in Cocoa
Anderson moved to Florida as a child after being diagnosed with rheumatic fever. At Cocoa High, he competed in football, basketball, baseball and track, building the athletic résumé that took him to Army.
In 1957, he rushed for 983 yards and 12 touchdowns and earned consensus All-America honors. He repeated as an All-American in 1958 while playing on an undefeated Army team alongside Heisman Trophy winner Pete Dawkins.
Football had to wait for military service
The New York Giants selected Anderson in the 1960 NFL Draft, but his West Point commitment came first. He served as an officer in the Army's 101st Airborne Division before joining the Giants. A damaged knee limited his professional career.
His college achievements continued to earn recognition decades later. Anderson entered the College Football Hall of Fame in 2004 and Army's athletic hall of fame in 2006.
What the public record tells us now
Public biographical records are much stronger on Anderson's playing career than on his current private life. A December 2025 Space Coast sports profile included a recent photograph of him holding West Point and Giants helmets, showing that his Brevard story is still being revisited nearly seven decades after Cocoa High.
Brightside will not invent the details that are not public. This Where Are They Now? feature begins with what can be verified and leaves room for Anderson or his family to add the next chapter.
Know a former Brevard standout, scholarship winner, teacher or hometown character we should find? Send us a tip.
Sources
Claire Szewczyk
Claire has called Florida home for a decade, but her love of the Space Coast goes back further — to the beat-up Kennedy Space Center coffee table book she found in a thrift store when she was five. She writes about the people, places, and history that make Brevard County great, and those stories are where Brightside Brevard began.
