Henry John Bauer (born July 15, 1954) is an American sports broadcaster and former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player. He was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

for the

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

of the

National Football League 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 ...

(NFL). He was named NFL Special Teams Player of the Year three times. After his playing career, he became a television and radio broadcaster.

College

Bauer helped the Cal Lutheran Kingsmen reach the NAIA Championship of 1975 in his final year. He held CLU records for career carries (502), touchdowns in a game (4), a season (17) and a career (38), as well as yards in a season (1,024) and a career (2,700). He played for the Kingsmen team from 1972 to 1975 and holds the third-highest career rushing total (2,659) and all-purpose yards (2,998) in the university's history. He remains the only Cal Lutheran running back to rush for four touchdowns twice in a game.

Professional career

Dallas Cowboys

After graduating

California Lutheran University California Lutheran University (CLU, Cal Lutheran, or Cal Lu) is a private university in Thousand Oaks, California. It was founded in 1959 and is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, but is nonsectarian. It opened in 1960 ...

, Bauer signed as a free agent in 1976 with the

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divisi ...

only to be cut three weeks into training camp.

San Diego Chargers

He was picked up in 1977 by the

and went on to a distinguished playing and broadcasting career entirely in San Diego. Bauer was honored in November 2009 as one of the 50 Greatest Chargers in team history as part of the Chargers' 50th Anniversary season celebration held at a large outdoor ceremony in downtown San Diego. Bauer also developed as a noted media spokesman during his career and went on to TV sportscasting as well as radio. Bauer holds the NFL single-season record for most special-teams tackles with 52. As a short-yardage specialist and often referred to "Hank the Howitzer" for his explosive running style, Bauer finished one season with 18 carries for a total of 28 yards, scoring 8 touchdowns and achieving 9 first downs. Bauer was forced to retire in 1983, after playing six games with a broken neck.

Personal life

After retiring from professional football he coached running backs and special teams for four years with the Chargers, then became a sports anchor for KFMB from 1987 to 2002. He worked from 1998 to 2014 as the

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 phrase "colour commentator" is primarily used in Canadian English and t ...

for the Chargers radio broadcasts on FM105.3 and AM1360 in San Diego. The Chargers suspended Bauer for one game in 2014 after he made an

anti-Semitic Antisemitism (also spelled anti-semitism or anti-Semitism) is hostility to, prejudice towards, or discrimination against Jews. A person who holds such positions is called an antisemite. Antisemitism is considered to be a form of racism. Antis ...

joke during a game. Bauer apologized a day after the remark was publicized by

Deadspin ''Deadspin'' is a sports blog founded by Will Leitch in 2005 and based in Chicago. Previously owned by Gawker Media and Univision Communications, it is currently owned by G/O Media. ''Deadspin'' posted daily previews, recaps, and commentaries of ...

, although the

Anti-Defamation League The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is an international Jewish non-governmental organization based in the United States specializing in civil rights law. It was founded in late Septe ...

called the apology "inadequate." After the season, the Chargers let Bauer go. Bauer was the sports anchor at KFMB-TV8 in San Diego from 1987 through 2003.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Hank 1954 births Living people American football running backs Cal Lutheran Kingsmen football players National Football League announcers College football announcers San Diego Chargers announcers San Diego Chargers players People from Scottsbluff, Nebraska