Joe Auer
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| Position: | Running back | ||||||||
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| Date of birth: | October 11, 1941 | ||||||||
| Place of birth: | Trenton, New Jersey | ||||||||
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| College: | Georgia Tech | ||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1963 / Round: 5 / Pick: 57 (By the Los Angeles Rams) |
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| AFL draft: | 1963 / Round: 15 / Pick: 120 (By the Kansas City Chiefs) |
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Joseph Auer (born October 11, 1941) was an American football running back. He graduated from Coral Gables Senior High School in Coral Gables, Florida and played collegiately for Georgia Tech and professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills (1964–1965), and the Miami Dolphins (1966–1967). He also played in the National Football League 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, against the Oakland Raiders. Subsequently, he was the Dolphins' Most Valuable Player.
Sports career
Auer is best known as a professional American football player. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering.[1] He was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs, and then traded that preseason to the Buffalo Bills for a first round draft pick, where he played for two years as the starting running back on their 1964 and 1965 championship team. He then played for the Miami Dolphins before ending his career with the Atlanta Falcons.[2] 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. He went on to be the Dolphins’ leading scorer that year; not surprisingly, he became the Dolphins' first MVP.[1]
After retiring from football, Auer founded RaceCar Engineering, a company that built high-quality racecars, 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 in NASCAR between 2004 and 2006.[3]
See also
References
External links
- Auer's 1967 Topps football card and kickoff runback photos
- Joe Auer owner statistics at Racing-Reference
- NFL player using deprecated currentteam parameter
- NFL player with pastcoaching parameter
- NFL player with pastexecutive parameter
- Infobox NFL player with debut/final parameters
- Pages using infobox NFL player with dbf parameter
- Living people
- 1941 births
- Sportspeople from Trenton, New Jersey
- Players of American football from New Jersey
- American football running backs
- NASCAR team owners
- Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets football players
- Buffalo Bills (AFL) players
- Miami Dolphins (AFL) players
- Atlanta Falcons players
