Edward J. "Foozy" Sustersic (January 7, 1922 – January 18, 1967) was an American football fullback and linebacker who played one season in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) for the Cleveland Browns.
Quick Facts No. 70, Position: ...
Close
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, Sustersic was a star football player and wrestler at his local high school. He attended Findlay College, where he continued his athletic career and won a state amateur wrestling championship. His college career was interrupted by service in the United States Army Air Corps during World War II, but he returned to Findlay and was named an All-Ohio fullback in 1947. He then played one season for the Browns in 1949. The team won the AAFC championship that year.
Sustersic held a number of coaching jobs in Ohio after leaving the Browns. He became a coach at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School in 1958, and was named its athletic director in 1961. He died in 1967 of a heart attack. Four years later, he was inducted into Findlay's athletics hall of fame.
Sustersic retired from football after the 1949 season. After stints as an assistant coach at Findlay, Sidney High School and Elyria Catholic High School, he was named the head football coach at St. Mary's School in Sandusky, Ohio in 1954, and stayed in that position for four years.[2][3] He then took a job as the head baseball coach and assistant football coach at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School near Brecksville, Ohio.[3] In 1960, he and head football coach Joe Vadini launched the Brecksville Holiday Invitational, a wrestling tournament that quickly became an important scholastic wrestling event.[2] Sustersic was named the athletic director at Brecksville in 1961 and stepped down as an assistant for the football team.[9] He returned to football in 1965, however, as Brecksville's line coach.[2]
Sustersic died suddenly in 1967 of a heart attack while he was running in the Brecksville gym during school.[2] He and his wife, Jean, had four sons.[2] He was inducted into Findlay's Athletic Hall of Fame in 1971.[10]
"Ed Sustersic". Cleveland Plain Dealer. January 18, 1967. pp. 67–68.
Chay, Ed (August 5, 1958). "Ex-Brown Sustersic Named at Brecksville". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 26.
"Kilfoyle, Demando and Gorman Named to A.P. All-Ohio Conference Eleven". Cleveland Plain Dealer. December 11, 1947. p. 25.
"Graham Scores on 28-Yard Run as Browns Whip Hornets in Exhibition, 21–0". Cleveland Plain Dealer. August 15, 1949. p. 20.
Sauerbrei, Harold (September 12, 1949). "Edgar Jones' 2 Touchdowns Pace Browns' 20-to-0 Victory Over Baltimore". Cleveland Plain Dealer. p. 22.
"Sustersic Named to Grid Post". Cleveland Plain Dealer. April 18, 1961. p. 35.
Bibliography
- Piascik, Andy (2007). The Best Show in Football: The 1946–1955 Cleveland Browns. Lanham, Maryland: Taylor Trade Publishing. ISBN 978-1-58979-571-6.