Jim Mutscheller played a key role in “The Greatest Game Ever Played.” He also once was a great athlete at Beaver Falls High School.
Mr. Mutscheller, who played eight years in the National Football League, died Friday of kidney failure at St. Joseph Medical Center in Towson, Md. A resident of Lutherville, Md., he was 85.
Four years ago, Mr. Mutscheller and Pro Football Hall of Fame quarterback Joe Namath were the first two athletes inducted into the “Circle of Achievement” for the Larry Bruno Foundation. The foundation is Beaver Falls’ version of a hall of fame and is named after the legendary former Beaver Falls High School football coach.
Mr. Namath and Mr. Mutscheller are Beaver Falls graduates. Mr. Mutscheller also was a member of the first class of the Beaver County Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.
Before he went on to star as a tight end at the University of Notre Dame and play in the NFL, Mr. Mutscheller was a standout in football, basketball and baseball at Beaver Falls, where he graduated in 1948. He earned eight varsity letters, but his best sport was football. He was a second-team Associated Press all-state selection in his senior season.
At Notre Dame, Mr. Mutscheller was a member of the 1949 national championship team and was a teammate of Leon Hart, a Turtle Creek High School graduate who won the Heisman Trophy.
Mr. Mutscheller was a second-team All-American in 1951 at Notre Dame. In 1958, he was a tight end for the Baltimore Colts when they defeated the New York Giants, 23-17, in the NFL championship game at Yankee Stadium. It was the first NFL playoff game to go into sudden-death overtime and became known as “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”
In overtime, Mr. Mutscheller caught a 6-yard pass to the 1-yard line, and Alan Ameche scored on the next play, behind a block by Mr. Mutscheller.
His wife, Joan, told the Baltimore Sun, “Jim always said that [6-yard reception] was his proudest moment in football.”
The same two teams met for the NFL title in 1959 and Mr. Mutscheller caught five passes to help the Colts to another championship.
Mr. Mutscheller played eight seasons with the Colts, had 220 career receptions and made the Pro Bowl once.
After he retired, he was in the insurance business in the Baltimore area for many years.
Mr. Mutscheller is survived by his wife, four sons and four grandchildren.
A funeral service will be held at 11:30 this morning at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Cockeysville, Md.
Mike White: mwhite@post-gazette.com, 412-263-1975 or on Twitter @mwhiteburgh.
First Published: April 15, 2015, 4:23 a.m.