Joseph George Muha (April 28, 1921 – March 31, 1993) 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 wi ...

player, coach, and official. He played professionally as a fullback and

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in 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) for five seasons with 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 play ...

. He was their starting fullback four of those years and a two-time

All-Pro All-Pro is an honor bestowed upon professional American football players that designates the best player at each position during a given season. All-Pro players are typically selected by press organizations, who select an "All-Pro team," a list t ...

selection. Muha also was an

umpire An umpire is an official in a variety of sports and competition, responsible for enforcing the rules of the sport, including sportsmanship decisions such as ejection. The term derives from the Old French nonper, ''non'', "not" and ''per'', ...

in the NFL from 1956 through 1971. He wore uniform number 43, which was claimed the season following Muha's retirement by

Red Cashion Mason Lee "Red" Cashion (November 10, 1931February 10, 2019) was an American football official for 25 seasons in the National Football League (NFL), where he was the referee for two Super Bowls. Biography Cashion started officiating in 1952 whil ...

. Muha served as a second lieutenant in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through combi ...

from 1943 to 1947. He was inducted into the

Virginia Sports Hall of Fame The Virginia Sports Hall of Fame honors athletes, coaches, administrators, journalists and other contributors to athletics. Many of the more than 350 inductees since 1972 were born in Virginia or enjoyed success in college, professional, amateur or ...

in 1976. Muha received his Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering from Virginia Military Institute, a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Southern California and a Doctorate of Education from Nova Southwestern University, Florida.

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* 1921 births 1993 deaths American football fullbacks American football linebackers National Football League officials Philadelphia Eagles players USC Trojans football coaches VMI Keydets football players United States Marine Corps personnel of World War II United States Marine Corps officers People from Somerset County, Pennsylvania Players of American football from Pennsylvania Military personnel from Pennsylvania {{linebacker-1920s-stub