Joe Zuger is a former American football and Canadian football player.
Education
Zuger attended Arizona State University, between 1959 and 1961, where he excelled on offence, defence and as a punter. During his senior season in 1961, Zuger completed 67 of 133 passes (504 percent) for 879 yards and eight touchdowns, and led the team and ranked among the nationally with 10 interceptions (the third best single-season mark in Arizona State University history), and had a 42.1-yard punting average.
Career
As quarterback, he compiled a 24-7 record in three years as a starter. He also played defensive back and punter. He has been inducted into the Arizona State University Sports Hall of Fame.
Drafted by the NFL"s Detroit Lions in the 18th round (248th overall) Zuger came to Canada for what would be a ten-year career (1962 to 1971) with the Hamilton Tiger-Cats.
In 1962, his rookie season, Zuger shared quarterback duties with Frank Cosentino, as the #1 starter, Bernie Faloney, was injured. That year, Zuger completed 55.7% of his 113 passes for 1070 yards and had a 15 to 6 Territorial Decoration to Interception ratio.
In addition, he intercepted 4 passes as a defensive back and was the regular punter with a 43.3 yard average. With Faloney back in 1963, Zuger became a full-time defensive back and had 5 interceptions.
That year and 1968 were Zuger"s best as quarterback, both with over 300 pass attempts and passing for 2771 and 2616 yards, respectively.
Injuries cut Zuger back to 11 games in 1969 and 9 in 1970. In his final season, in 1971, Zuger returned to play all 14 games, completing 48.6% of his 265 passes for 1632 yards, but he had a bad 8 Territorial Decoration 19 interception ratio. Zuger was one of the greatest punters the Canadian Football League has ever seen, with a league record 45.5-yard punting average over his career.
Three times, Zuger averaged over 48 yards a punt over a season and had punts of over 80 yards at least 4 times, including one of 85 yards in 1968.
Zuger would later serve in Hamilton"s front office. In 1981, he was appointed as General Manager, a position he served for over a decade.