Joe Ruetz, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Date of Death
TweetJoe Ruetz
American football player and coach
Date of Birth: 21-Oct-1916
Place of Birth: Racine, Wisconsin, United States
Date of Death: 02-Jan-2003
Profession: American football player
Nationality: United States
Zodiac Sign: Libra 
About Joe Ruetz
- Joseph Hubert Ruetz (October 21, 1916 – January 2, 2003) was an American football player and coach and college athletics administrator.
- He played professionally in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the Chicago Rockets in 1946 and 1948.
- Ruetz played college football while attending the University of Notre Dame.
- He played guard for the Irish with the exception of one season at quarterback.
- In 1938, he graduated from Notre Dame with cum laude honors.
- Ruetz played in the 1938 College All-Star Game and his team upset Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins.
- During World War II, he was a United States Navy physical education instructor and pilot.
- During that time he played for the famed Saint Mary's Pre-Flight football team.
- He was named an All-Navy All-American by sportswriter Grantland Rice in 1942.
- After the war, Ruetz studied at the University of Chicago and played two seasons with the Chicago Rockets of the All-America Football Conference.
- In 1950, he then was an assistant and head coach at St.
- Mary's before joining Chuck Taylor's football staff at Stanford University and helping guide the team to the 1952 Rose Bowl.
- Ruetz later worked as a fundraiser for Cardinal athletics, before succeeding Taylor as athletic director in 1972.
- He then "saved" the East–West Shrine Game by convincing Stanford to allow it to be played at the school, where it remained until its move to Pacific Bell Park in 2001.
- Ruetz launched the head coaching career of Bill Walsh in 1977, when he hired him as Stanford's football coach.
- He also instituted a long football series with Notre Dame, before retiring in 1979.
- He later served as a fundraising consultant to the Psoriasis Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.
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