John Edward Sauer (August 31, 1925 – March 4, 1996) was an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

player, coach, and broadcaster. A

Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is a city in Montgomery County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of cities in Ohio, sixth-most populous city in Ohio, with a population of 137,644 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The Dayton metro ...

native, Sauer was a multi-sport athlete at Oakwood High School. His father, Eddie Sauer, played for the Dayton Triangles in the early days of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

. From 1943 to 1946, Sauer attended the

United States Military Academy The United States Military Academy (USMA), commonly known as West Point, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York that educates cadets for service as Officer_(armed_forces)#United_States, comm ...

at West Point, where he played and coached for Army in a number of sports. Leaving the service in 1950, Sauer went into football coaching, first as an assistant with the

Florida Gators football The Florida Gators football program represents the University of Florida (UF) in American football, American college football. Florida competes in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the ...

team of the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida, United States. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida and a preem ...

and the

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

, and then as head coach of the

Citadel Bulldogs football The Citadel Bulldogs football program represents The Citadel in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Bulldogs play in the Southern Conference, as they have since 1936. The Bulldogs are coached by Maurice Drayton, who ...

team of

The Citadel The Citadel Military College of South Carolina (simply known as The Citadel) is a public senior military college in Charleston, South Carolina, United States. Established in 1842, it is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges ...

. In 1957, Sauer quit full-time coaching to work in his father's real estate business, but he continued to work through the rest of the 1950s and into the 1960s as a scout for the Rams and

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. The Vikings compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. Founded in 1960 as ...

and an assistant offensive and defensive coordinator for the College All-Stars. In 1966-67 Sauer took over as head coach for the All-Stars, losing to

Vince Lombardi Vincent Thomas Lombardi ( ; June 11, 1913 – September 3, 1970) was an American professional football coach and executive in the National Football League (NFL). Lombardi is considered by many to be among the greatest coaches and leaders in Ame ...

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

in both All-Star Games he coached. In 1963, Sauer began working for

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

television as a

color commentator A color commentator or expert commentator is a sports commentator who assists the main (play-by-play) commentator, typically by filling in when play is not in progress. The person may also be referred to as a summariser (outside North America) ...

on NFL and college football broadcasts. He continued with CBS until 1974. He then worked from 1974 until 1994 as a color commentator on

University of Pittsburgh The University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) is a Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The university is composed of seventeen undergraduate and graduate schools and colle ...

radio broadcasts. He died at his home in Oakwood in 1996.

Head coaching record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sauer, John 1925 births 1996 deaths American football quarterbacks American men's basketball players American sports announcers Army Black Knights baseball players Army Black Knights football coaches Army Black Knights football players Army Black Knights men's basketball players Atlanta Falcons announcers Florida Gators football coaches Los Angeles Rams coaches Los Angeles Rams scouts Minnesota Vikings scouts Pittsburgh Panthers football announcers Pittsburgh Steelers announcers The Citadel Bulldogs athletic directors The Citadel Bulldogs football coaches Miami University alumni Players of American football from Dayton, Ohio People from Oakwood, Montgomery County, Ohio Players of American football from Montgomery County, Ohio 20th-century American sportsmen