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People > Notable Norkans > George Henry Sauer, Jr.

George Henry Sauer, Jr.

George Henry Sauer, Jr. was born November 10, 1943 in Sheboygan, Wisconsin to descendants of the Sauer family from Norka. His father George Henry Sauer was an All-America football player for the Nebraska Cornhuskers and later played for the Green Bay Packers in the National Football League.

George Jr. grew up in Waco, Texas and attended the University of Texas, majoring in in premedical studies. While at Texas, Sauer played as a wide receiver, catching passes from quarterback Jim Hudson. He was a member of Texas teams that went undefeated in 1963-64, winning the Cotton Bowl, and that defeated Alabama in the 1965 Orange Bowl. After being teammates as Texas, Hudson and Sauer would continue as teammates for the New York Jets for five years from 1965 through 1969.

Sauer was the first player at the University of Texas to leave college early to play professional football, a move that was strongly resisted by his coach, Darrell Royal and encouraged by his father, who was the director of player personnel for the Jets at the time. 

Sauer played six seasons (1965-70) for the American Football League's New York Jets. During the 1968 season, he started for the Jets in the third AFL-NFL World Championship Game (Super Bowl III played on January 12, 1969), helping defeat the NFL's heavily favored Baltimore Colts, reputedly "the best team in the history of professional football." Sauer's eight receptions from Jet's quarterback Joe Namath was a significant factor in the outcome.
Picture
George Sauer Jr. leaves the field victorius in Super Bowl III (January 1969)
Sauer quit professional football in 1970, at the age of 27, because he considered it dehumanizing.

In an interview with The New York Times, he called professional football:
“a grotesque business” designed to “mold you into someone easy to manipulate.”
Sauer later returned to football and played in 1974 for the New York Stars and Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League. In 1979, he was an assistant coach with the Carolina Chargers of the American Football Association.

After retiring Sauer pursued writing, and completed a novel. In a 1983 article published in the New York Times, Sauer reflected on his football career:
“My passion for the game was not sufficient,” he wrote. “Football is an ambiguous sport, depending both on grace and violence. It both glorifies and destroys bodies. At the time, I could not reconcile the apparent inconsistency. I care even less about being a public person. You stick out too much, the world enlarges around you to dangerous proportions, and you are too evident to too many others. There is a vulnerability in this and, oddly enough, some guilt involved in standing out.”
George Henry Sauer, Jr. died after a long battle with Alzheimer's Disease on May 7, 2013 in Westerville, Ohio. 

Sources

Wikipedia.com

George Sauer, Jets Receiver and Rebel, Is Dead at 69, New York Times, May 10, 2013.

The Missing Pieces of an Untold Story About a Jet, New York Times, July 23, 2013.

He hated the sport that made him famous, New York Times Magazine, December 12, 2013.

The odyssey of George Sauer, Texas Longhorns Athletic website (January 2015).
Last updated April 16, 2016.
Copyright © 2002-2023 Steven H. Schreiber
  • Home
    • About
    • Reviews
    • Contact
  • People
    • Founders
    • Personal Histories
    • Notable Norkans
    • Stories
    • Photo Identification
    • Photo Gallery
  • Community
    • Village Life
    • Entertainment
    • Agriculture
    • Climate
    • Homesites
    • Geographical Description
    • Government
    • Social Structure
    • Health
    • Education
    • A Land of Ethnic Diversity
    • Cottage Industries >
      • Sarpinka
      • Mills
    • Language
    • Population
    • Military Service
    • Crime and Punishment
  • History
    • Timeline
    • Origins of the Colonists
    • Catherine's Manifesto 1763
    • Why go to Russia?
    • Recruitment 1766
    • Planning 1764-1766
    • Marriages Prior To Emigration 1766
    • Voyage to Russia 1766 >
      • Ship Transport 1766
    • Journey 1766-1767
    • Founding of Norka 1767
    • Early Years 1767-1769
    • Norka 1769
    • Pallas Report 1773
    • Pugachev Raid 1774
    • Norka 1775
    • Norka 1798
    • Norka 1811
    • Napoleons Soldiers
    • Norka 1834
    • Daughter Colonies 1850s >
      • Neu-Norka
      • Oberdorf
      • Brunnental
      • Rosenfeld (am Jeruslan)
      • Neu Hussenbach (Gaschon)
    • Privileges Lost 1871-1874
    • Immigration 1875-1924 >
      • To the United States >
        • Colorado
        • Ft Collins Colorado
        • Globeville Colorado
        • Mason City, Iowa
        • Culbertson, Nebraska
        • Lincoln, Nebraska
        • Sutton, Nebraska
        • Burlington, Oklahoma
        • Weatherford, Oklahoma
        • Canby, Oregon
        • Portland, Oregon
      • To Canada >
        • Duffield, Alberta
        • Ponoka, Alberta
        • Spruce Grove, Alberta
        • Stony Plain, Alberta
        • Vegreville, Alberta
        • Arcola, Saskatchewan
      • To Germany
      • To South America
    • Famine 1891-1892
    • Norka 1898
    • War & Turnoil 1904-1906
    • World War 1914-1918
    • Revolution & War 1917-1922
    • Soviet Rule 1918-1941
    • Famine 1921-1924
    • Famine 1932-1933
    • The Great Terror 1936-1938
    • Deportation 1941
    • Repression 1941-1956
    • Cultural Loss 1957-2006
    • A Culture in Peril
    • Recent Times
  • Traditions
    • Food and Drink
    • Clothing
    • Holidays >
      • New Year
      • Fastnacht
      • Lent
      • Easter
      • Ascension Day
      • Pentecost
      • Founder's Day
      • Harvest Festival
      • Jahrmarkt
      • Christmas
      • Anniversaries & Birthdays
    • Crafts
    • Games
    • Folk Medicine
    • Superstitions
    • Nicknames
    • Folk Music
    • Church Music
    • Prayers
    • Baptism
    • Confirmation
    • Communion
    • Weddings
    • Funerals and Burials
  • Religion
    • Planning and History >
      • Norka Reformed Church 1767-1864
      • 1909 Norka Parish Report
    • Pastors >
      • Johann Heinrich Fuchs
      • Johann Georg Herwig
      • Johannes Baptista Cattaneo
      • Lukas Cattaneo
      • Emanuel Grunauer
      • Friedrich Börner
      • Christian Gottlieb Hegele
      • Christoph H Bonwetsch
      • Gottlieb N Bonwetsch
      • Wilhelm Staerkel
      • Woldemar Sibbul
      • David Weigum
      • Friedrich Alexander Wacker
      • Emil Pfeiffer
    • Church Practices >
      • Parochial Certificates
    • Church Buildings
    • Church Organs
    • Bell Tower
    • Brethren Movement
  • Resources
    • Family Research
    • Research Resources >
      • Arrival Records 1766
      • Descendant Charts
      • German EWZ Records
      • Soviet Gulag Records
    • Maps
    • Glossary
    • Bibliography
    • Periodicals >
      • Die Welt-Post Letters
    • Related Links