Xavier University Athletics
Hall of Fame
- Induction:
- 1986
- Class:
- 1937
Joe Kruse lettered three years in football and three years in basketball and earned spots on the Legion of Honor and in the XU Basketball Hall of Fame.
Kruse was a hard-nosed offensive lineman and one of the best in Xavier history. Kruse was a tough center who went on to play on the initial pro football team in Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Bengals.
Kruse, a liberal arts major from Louisville, Kentucky, finished his college career by being selected to the All-Ohio Team.
Not only was he the Co-Captain of the football team, high scorer on the basketball team and the efficient director of intramural sports, but he also served as president of his senior class and chairman of the student council. Among his other activities included membership on the social committee and sports editorship of the Xavier News and the Musketeer Annual.
Kruse was named to the Legion of Honor for his splendid exemplification of those ideal qualities of sportsmanship, scholastic ability, and aptitude for leadership.
During the mid-1940's, Kruse returned to Xavier to coach freshman football and received much praise on his efforts with the rookies from Head Coach Clem Crowe.
