Joseph Auer (October 11, 1941 – March 9, 2019) was an American football former running back. He graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School in

Coral Gables Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the U ...

, Florida and played collegiately for Georgia Tech and professionally in the

American Football League The American Football League (AFL) was a major professional American football league that operated for ten seasons from 1960 until 1970, when it merged with the older National Football League (NFL), and became the American Football Conference. ...

for the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

(1964–1965), and the Miami Dolphins (1966–1967). He also played in the National Football League for the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

. He is most remembered for returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown for the Dolphins in their first regular-season football game in

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

, 95 yards against the

Oakland Raiders The Oakland Raiders were a professional American football team that played in Oakland from its founding in 1960 to 1981 and again from 1995 to 2019 before relocating to the Las Vegas metropolitan area where they now play as the Las Vegas Raide ...

. Subsequently, he was the Dolphins' Most Valuable Player.

Sports career

Auer is best known as a professional American football player. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

at Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering and also held a Gator Bowl record (44 years) for his 68 yard touchdown run from scrimmage. Later to be broken by Leon Washington in 2005 on his 69 yard run. He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs and after a productive preseason got traded to the Buffalo Bills for a first-round draft pick, where he played for two years as a running back on their 1964 and 1965 championship team. When the brand new Miami Dolphins found that their running game was ineffective after their first two exhibition games, they acquired Auer off of waivers from the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

. He played for the Miami Dolphins before ending his career in the National Football League with the

. Auer is most famous for taking the opening kickoff in the Miami Dolphins' first-ever game in 1966 and returning it 95 yards for a touchdown in front of 26,000 fans including Steve Siegert, Les Clements and Ware Cornell. He went on to be the Dolphins’ leading scorer that year; not surprisingly, he became the Dolphins' first MVP. After retiring from football, Auer founded RaceCar Engineering, a company that built high-quality race cars, some of which set track records and won championships for the company's customers. He then began

Competitive Edge Motorsports Competitive Edge Motorsports is a former NASCAR Nextel Cup Series team. It fielded the No. 51 Marathon Oil Chevrolet. Its principal owner was former NFL player Joe Auer. CEM debuted at the 2004 Coca-Cola 600 with Kevin Lepage driving, finishing 4 ...

, racing both the Busch and Nextel Cup Series in NASCAR between 2004 and 2006.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Joe 1941 births 2019 deaths American Football League players American football running backs Atlanta Falcons players Buffalo Bills players Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players Miami Dolphins players NASCAR team owners Players of American football from Trenton, New Jersey

Sports career

See also

References

External links