Inside The Huskies

Husky Fan Favorite Joe Jarzynka Dies on Weekend Fishing Trip

The former UW player will be forever remembered as the guy who wouldn't call for a fair catch on a punt.

Dan Raley

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Joe Jarzynka, a former University of Washington football player who used his versatility and personality to build a huge fan following, was found dead Sunday on the banks of the Sol Duc River on Sunday while on a fishing trip, authorities said.

Jarzynka, 45, played for the Huskies from 1996 to 1999 as a wide receiver, fullback and special-teams player who not only returned kickoffs and punts but served as the place-kicker for a season.

Fans loved this guy, with his long hair flowing out the back of his helmet, for his fearlessness on the field — he steadfastly refused to call for a fair catch on a punt. Husky followers, in fact, formed a Jarzynka fan club.

On Sunday morning, Clallam County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call after others found Jarzynka, in tan fishing gear, deceased on a riverbank outside of Forks. A mile down river, they located a single-person pontoon boat stuck in a log jam. 

Family members confirmed to authorities that he had come to the area to go fishing and traveled with a boat that matched that description. 

Jarzynka, according to his LinkedIn account, was the CEO for the Steelhead Companies, a Tacoma real-estate investment firm.

Joe Jarzynka was a walk-on who earned a scholarship with his special-teams heroics for the UW.
Joe Jarzynka steadfastly refused to call for a fair catch on a UW punt return / UW

Originally a walk-on from Gig Harbor and appearing in 30 games while starting three, Jarzynka wowed everyone by returning a punt 91 yards against California for a touchdown and converting on a 44-yard field goal against Washington State.

As a third-year sophomore, he was awarded a scholarship by Jim Lambright's staff. As a senior in 1998, he earned Pac-10 Special Teams Player of the Work honors for piling up 166 punt-return yards against Cal, including his TD runback. That same season, Jarzynka was rewarded with first-team All-Pac-10 honors as an all-purpose player.

He kept people on the edge of their seats with a 50-yard punt return against San Diego State, a 43-yarder against Notre Dame and a 38-yarder against UCLA.

Jarzynka's death at such a young age just won't resonate right away with his legions of Husky fans who saw him as indestructible and so unafraid of everything he did.

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Dan Raley
DAN RALEY

Dan Raley has worked for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Atlanta Journal-Constitution and Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, as well as for MSN.com and Boeing, the latter as a global aerospace writer. His sportswriting career spans four decades and he's covered University of Washington football and basketball during much of that time. In a working capacity, he's been to the Super Bowl, the NBA Finals, the MLB playoffs, the Masters, the U.S. Open, the PGA Championship and countless Final Fours and bowl games.

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