Howard Joseph "Howie" Auer (January 9, 1908 – November 12, 1985) was an

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

player. He played for the

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1929–1931 and for the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

of the

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...

in 1933. Auer was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

in 1908 and attended high school in

Bay City, Michigan Bay City is a city and county seat of Bay County in the U.S. state of Michigan, located near the base of the Saginaw Bay on Lake Huron. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 34,932, and it is the principal city of the Bay City Metropol ...

. He enrolled at the

University of Michigan , mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth" , former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821) , budget = $10.3 billion (2021) , endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...

in 1928 and played football for

Harry Kipke Harry George Kipke (; March 26, 1899 – September 14, 1972) was an American football, basketball, and baseball player and coach. He was the head football coach at Michigan State College in 1928 and at the University of Michigan from 1929 to 1937 ...

in his first three seasons as the Wolverines head football coach. As a sophomore in 1929, Auer was the starting tackle in seven of nine games played by the Wolverines. In 1930, injuries limited Auer to four games as a starter on the undefeated (8–0–1) 1930 Michigan team that tied for the

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

championship. As a senior in 1931, he was a starting tackle in eight of Michigan's nine games and was part of another Big Ten co-championship team. At the end of the 1931 season, sports writer Hank Casserly picked Auer as a first-team player on his All-

Big Ten The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Division I collegiate athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representati ...

team and explained the selection of Auer as follows:

"Auer of Michigan, a greatly underrated tackle, gets the other post on the first team. He was a consistent performer during every game and stole the show from his other rivals during the closing games of the season. Even in the Ohio State game, in which Michigan was outplayed, Auer stood out. He was a powerhouse on both offense and defense, and blocked tackles, ends, and guards, with equal ease and was one of the reasons why the Wolverines had the greatest all around line in the Western conference."

Auer was also selected as a second-team All-Big Ten player by the

United Press United Press International (UPI) is an American international news agency whose newswires, photo, news film, and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines, radio and television stations for most of the 20th c ...

in 1932. After graduating from Michigan, Auer played one season of professional football for the

. Auer lived in

Valrico, Florida Valrico is a census-designated place (CDP) in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. The population was 35,545 at the 2010 census, up from 6,582 at the 2000 census. History Before the Civil War, the area was known as Long Pond and consi ...

in his later years. He died in 1985 at age 77.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Auer, Howie 1908 births 1985 deaths Michigan Wolverines football players Sportspeople from Bay City, Michigan People from Valrico, Florida American football tackles Philadelphia Eagles players