Mike Augustyniak - Former New York Jets Running Back Joined Indiana Football Hall of Fame

Mike Augustyniak with his New York Jets No. 35 game jersey, 2006.

   Updated April 2026     Published September 28, 2017  ·  By Ashley Augustyniak  · 

He Made the NFL by Not Quitting When Every Sign Said Quit

Mike Augustyniak grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the middle child in a family of nine kids. He was a promising running back at Leo High School — until an ankle injury in 1974 sent the college recruiters elsewhere.

No scholarship offers came. So he offered himself to Purdue University as a walk-on in 1975. He was largely ignored at first, redshirted in 1977, and virtually invisible his first two years.

By the time he was done, he had earned an athletic scholarship and the starting fullback position. He ran for 661 yards across his junior and senior seasons, scored 16 touchdowns, and had a single-game high of 289 rushing yards. His senior year alone: 1,041 rushing yards.

The 1980 NFL Draft ignored him completely.

He signed with the New Orleans Saints as a free agent and went to training camp in Vero Beach. Two-a-days in 90-degree heat. He was honest about it later: "I was basically a tackling dummy for the first-team defense. It was just hell."

The Saints cut him. He went home to Indiana, took a job in parts manufacturing, and told himself he was done.

His Father Made a Call He Didn't Know About

Without telling Mike, his father Eugene contacted a scout in Detroit to ask if any NFL teams had interest in a free-agent fullback from Fort Wayne.

The answer came back: the New York Jets and the Cleveland Browns.

Mike said no thanks. He had a good job. He was done.

Then he thought about it again. "People told me that you can get a good job anytime, but this was a once-in-a-lifetime offer," he said years later. "I finally figured that if I didn't make it, at least I was gonna try. I didn't want to go through life wondering."

He used vacation time to attend the Jets' rookie mini-camp in May 1981. His old Purdue teammate Scott Dierking was on the roster. He told himself he just wanted to see if he could still play.

He could.

He Fought Mark Gastineau in Practice. Walt Michaels Kept Him Anyway.

Mike's nickname at Purdue was "Full-Go" — because he played at full speed in practice, not just games. The Jets veterans did not love this.

"I got in eight fights during the preseason. I fought Gastineau. Klecko body-slammed me a couple of times. A lot of DBs ganged up on me," he said. Coach Walt Michaels called him into a meeting. Mike didn't know if it was his last one.

Michaels told him: "Welcome to the 1981 New York Jets."

The training camp roster started at over 100 players. Week by week, the "Turk" delivered cut notices. Mike watched his dormitory floor at Hofstra empty out around him.

The Turk found Ralph Clayton instead — the Jets' own 1980 second-round pick. Mike Augustyniak, undrafted free agent, made the final 45-man roster.

His reaction when the cuts were announced: "Damn! Here I am, on a professional football team. I don't think it's really hit me yet."

Three Seasons, the Mud Bowl, and "Augie" at Shea Stadium

Mike wore No. 35 for the Jets. Fans at Shea Stadium called him "Augie." In the third game of the 1981 season, coach Walt Michaels pulled him into the tunnel before kickoff and told him he was starting. He remained the starting fullback for the rest of his career.

NFL career statistics, 1981–1983. Source: Pro-Football-Reference.com

The Jets went 10-5-1 in 1981 and reached the playoffs. The 1982 season brought the AFC Championship Game against the Miami Dolphins — now remembered as the Mud Bowl — played in a downpour at the Orange Bowl. The Jets lost 14-0. Mike was on that field.

A near-death experience during a New England Patriots game, then a career-ending knee injury in 1985, brought his playing days to a close. His last NFL season was 1983.

Mike Augustyniak (No. 35) carries the ball with Kevin Long (33) and Guy Bingham (64) blocking. Staff photo by Mari A. Schaefer, Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette.

Indiana Made It Official: October 2017

On October 6, 2017, Mike Augustyniak was inducted into the Indiana Football Hall of Fame. The ceremony was held during a game at Leo High School in Fort Wayne — the same school where his career began, and where a knee injury once sent the recruiters looking elsewhere.

The Indiana General Assembly had previously honored him "as an inspiration to all other Indiana natives." The Hall of Fame induction put a formal stamp on a story that had been told informally for 40 years.

Mike attended the Jets' Legends Homecoming at MetLife Stadium the same weekend. Asked what the recognition meant to him, he was characteristically low-key: "It's quite an honor. The way I look at it, it's the culmination of a lot of hard work. It's just exciting to be recognized."

Harper, himself a Jets legend, made the trip to be part of the occasion. He told Ashley Augustyniak the same thing about her father that teammates had been saying for decades: it wasn't just what he did on the field. It was who he was off it.

The Same Approach. A Different Arena.

After his playing career ended, Mike transitioned to insurance — spending 15 years as a top-tier agency sales manager for Allstate and Nationwide across Florida.

In 2005, he founded Augustyniak Insurance Group in Jacksonville. His daughter Ashley wrote the original version of this story about her father's Hall of Fame induction. His wife Susan joined the agency in 2008 and has led its operations since 2012.

Today the agency serves thousands of clients across Florida and Georgia from its office at 12058 San Jose Blvd, Suite 304, Jacksonville, FL 32223.