Joe Auer

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Joe Auer, Born October 11, 1941

Joe Auer was an American college and professional football player. He played college football at Georgia Tech, where he was a running back and kick returner, and professionally in the American Football League for the Buffalo Bills in 1964 and 1965, and the Miami Dolphins in 1966 and 1967.

He is most remembered for returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown for the Miami Dolphins in their first regular-season football game in 1966, against the Oakland Raiders. Subsequently, he was the Dolphins' Most Valuable Player. He now owns Competitive Edge Motorsports in the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series.

Business Career

Joe Auer, founder and president of [[[International Computer Negotiations, Inc.]]] (ICN), is a recognized international leader in high tech procurement. Business Week Newsletter calls him “the industry’s leading bargaining expert.” Datamation says, “Joe Auer has long been justifiably known as an expert to whom others turn.” Joe’s early career was spent as a sales rep with Honeywell Information Systems where he learned negotiation tactics from the vendor’s perspective. It soon became obvious to him that those on the ‘other side of the table’—those acquiring high tech products and services—were at a decided disadvantage. Having identified this need, Joe set out to “level the playing field.” The result—ICN—was established in 1975 with the express purpose of helping high tech buyers and users to do better deals when negotiating with high tech vendors. For more than thirty years, Joe has advised, enlightened and empowered the technology professional with techniques, tools and established directions for negotiating fair contracts that meet the mutual goals of both user and vendor. He developed the Managed Acquisition Process™ (MAP™), which is recognized globally as the optimum methodology for technology procurement. Based in large measure on his proven expertise, more than 300 of the Fortune 500 companies as well as major government organizations and principals of smaller, aggressive firms rely on him for advice and training. His knowledge and understanding have made Joe a sought after expert witness, a role he has filled innumerable times in litigation, mediation and arbitration actions and in state and federal courts across the country. Joe is an award-winning columnist for Computerworld and is also a noted speaker, author and publisher. To his credit is the ICN newsletter, Tools & Tactics. He also is the co-author of two textbooks, Computer Contract Negotiations and Major Equipment Procurement. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech.

Sports Career

Joe Auer, owner of Competitive Edge Motorsports, has been involved in sports for nearly 50 years and is best known as an outstanding pro football player. Auer played college football at Georgia Tech, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. He was then drafted by Buffalo and played two years for the Bills as the Bills’ starting running back on their 1964 and 1965 championship team. He then played for the Dolphins before ending his career with Atlanta. 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 and not surprisingly; he became the Dolphins' first MVP. Football was not Auer’s only love, as he was interested in racecars long before he became a professional football player. He has been involved in racing for more than 40 years. In the 1950s, while attending Coral Gables High School, Auer was part of a team that raced a '37 Ford financed by a friend's father. On the Friday and Saturday nights that didn't fall during football season, the team would compete at local tracks, including Hialeah and Medley Speedways. "Back in those days, we raced against Bobby and Donnie Allison and Red Farmer, who went on to make names for themselves in big time racing, Auer said. After retiring from football, he built a global technology consulting business called International Computer Negotiations that is now 30 years old and still going strong. But he always dabbled in racing, sponsoring a car to run in the 24 Hours of Daytona and owning a Late Model car that won the 1984 championship at the New Smyrna Speedway. In 1998, 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. The company also sold hard-core racing parts throughout the world via a 330-page, four-color catalog. Selling RaceCar Engineering in 2003, Auer then began Competitive Edge Motorsports, racing both the Busch and Nextel Cup series in NASCAR.