Education
In 1938, he graduated from Notre Dame with cum laude honors.
In 1938, he graduated from Notre Dame with cum laude honors.
Prior to that he played college football while attending the University of Notre Dame. He played guard for the Irish with the exception of playing one season at quarterback. Ruetz played in the 1938 College All-Star Game and his team upset Sammy Baugh and the Washington Redskins.
During World World War II, he was a 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 Saint 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 fund-raiser 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. Joe also 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 fund-raising consultant to the Psoriasis Research Institute in Palo Alto, California.
Ruetz was born Joseph Hubert Ruetz on October 21, 1916 in Racine, Wisconsin.