Two generations chasing height, heart and cameras

Otis Winston ’97 has walked a fascinating path from Buckeye athletics to Hollywood, and his son Reign ’26 is following him down it.

After starring in basketball and the high jump as a teen in Toronto, Ohio, Otis enrolled in Ohio State because it was one of the only schools that would allow him to compete in both sports. Plus, he appreciated the chance to compete under two Black coaches, Randy Ayers and Russ Rogers.

Juggling basketball and track was hectic, but Otis excelled, eventually captaining both teams. He remembers beating a highly ranked Minnesota basketball program on the road, then showing up late to the Big Ten indoor track and field championships at Illinois the next morning and winning a conference championship with one jump. He holds the Ohio State high jump record at 7’4½” and twice was a first-team All-American in track.

After college, Otis started keeping a journal during a stint playing pro basketball in Russia. That evolved into a screenplay, igniting a passion for the practice. As he became a father to Reign and his sister, Promise, “I just continued to write and write.” But in 2010, his break would come in front of the camera, when a friend connected him with acclaimed casting director Robi Reed, leading to an acting role on the BET series “The Game.”

The pivot to show business made sense to Otis, who excelled in talent contests as a child. “It was something that always gave me joy, being onstage and performing,” he recalls. “That’s where I felt peace.”

After “The Game,” Otis began to pick up acting and stunt work and continued to develop his own projects. He’s appeared in all three “Venom” movies and several TV series, including “Empire,” “The Chi” and “Chicago Fire.” His upcoming gigs include a role on FX’s forthcoming “Snowfall” spinoff.

Otis also plays the father of the bride in Justen and Julien Turner’s new Sundance-selected “FreeLance” pilot, a part he was happy to take to assist fellow Columbus-area creatives on the rise. “Julien and Justen are like little brothers,” says Otis, who makes his home in town when he’s not filming on location. “I love anything I can do to help young filmmakers.”

All the while, Otis is rooting for his son to surpass him. Near the end of his time at Westerville North, Reign discovered his own knack for high jump. In 2022, he joined the Buckeye track team to chase his father’s record. The choice to enroll at Ohio State was an easy one.

“It was always something that was part of me; I was born on this campus, and both my parents were here,” says Reign, whose mother is Starr Powell ’98. “It’s something that I’ll never take for granted.”

Reign especially relished the chance to compete as he bounced back from a major injury. “Last season I unfortunately tore my Achilles, so it’s been a journey back,” he says. But he made his return to competition this spring and made big plans for his senior year.

In the classroom, Reign majored in film studies with an eye toward screenwriting. Inspired by Black filmmakers like Jordan Peele and Ryan Coogler, he’s working on a pair of psychological thrillers. “He is light years ahead of me at his age, and I’m excited,” Otis says of his son’s filmmaking ambitions.

When Reign made the switch to track and field, Otis taught him that the sport has its own culture and encouraged him to immerse himself in it fully. He preaches the same thing about the film industry.

“I think the biggest thing he’s taught me growing up is to just be a dreamer,” Reign says. “And I think that being a dreamer is the reason why I’m here now.”

Reign, who calls himself “camera shy,” had no plans to follow in his father’s footsteps with a move from writing to acting, but he recently took on a role as baseball great Darryl Strawberry in a production called “Ya Gotta Believe.” And if the opportunity to play Otis comes along, he’s game. “I told him if he made a movie, I’d act as him,” Reign says.

He’s prepared for the role his whole life.