Joseph Auer (October 11, 1941 – March 9, 2019) 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 ...

former

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 handoffs from the quarterback to rush the ball, to line up as a receiver to catch the ball, and block. Ther ...

. He graduated from

Coral Gables Senior High School Coral Gables Senior High School is a secondary school located at 450 Bird Road in Coral Gables, Florida. Coral Gables SHS opened its doors in 1950; its architectural design reflects a Spanish influence, with open courtyards adorned with water f ...

in Coral Gables,

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

and played collegiately for

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

and professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills (1964–1965), and the

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

(1966–1967). He also played 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 ...

for the Atlanta Falcons. He is most remembered for returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown for the Dolphins in their first regular-season football game in 1966, 95 yards against the Oakland Raiders. Subsequently, he was the Dolphins' Most Valuable Player.

Sports career

Auer is best known as a professional

player. He played college football at

, 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 The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The ...

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

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. He played for the

before ending his career in the National Football League with the Atlanta Falcons. 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, racing both the Busch and

Nextel Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

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