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Charles Anthony Fusina (born May 31, 1957) is an American former football quarterback who played for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL) and United States Football League (USFL) from 1979 to 1986. He played college football for the Penn State Nittany Lions, and was recognized as an All-American. Fusina played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Green Bay Packers of the NFL, and the Philadelphia / Baltimore Stars of the USFL.
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| Position: | Quarterback | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born: | May 31, 1957 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Height: | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight: | 197 lb (89 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school: | Sto-Rox (McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania) | ||||||||||||||
| College: | Penn State (1975–1978) | ||||||||||||||
| NFL draft: | 1979 / round: 5 / pick: 133 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
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| Career NFL statistics | |||||||||||||||
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Fusina was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He played quarterback for the Pittsburgh area Sto-Rox High School in McKees Rocks, Pennsylvania, where his old football jersey is on display outside of the gymnasium.
Fusina capped an outstanding career at Penn State by winning the 1978 Maxwell Award, All-America honors, and was the runner-up in the Heisman Trophy balloting. He led the Nittany Lions to a 29–3 (.906) mark as a starter, including an 11–0 regular season in 1978.[1] He passed for 1,859 yards and 11 touchdowns.
Fusina earned a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Penn State in 1979. He also earned an MBA from La Salle University in 1988.
College statistics
| Legend | |
|---|---|
| Led Independents | |
| NCAA record | |
| Led the NCAA | |
| Bold | Career high |
| Penn State Nittany Lions | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | Team | GP | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||
| Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | TD | Int | Rtg | Att | Yds | Avg | TD | |||
| 1975 | Penn State | 3 | 4 | 9 | 44.4 | 42 | 0 | 1 | 61.4 | 8 | 37 | 4.6 | 0 |
| 1976 | Penn State | 11 | 88 | 167 | 52.7 | 1,260 | 11 | 10 | 125.8 | 31 | -88 | -2.8 | 3 |
| 1977 | Penn State | 11 | 142 | 246 | 57.7 | 2,221 | 15 | 9 | 146.4 | 29 | -53 | -1.8 | 1 |
| 1978 | Penn State | 11 | 137 | 242 | 56.6 | 1,859 | 11 | 12 | 126.2 | 51 | -116 | -2.3 | 2 |
| Career[2] | 36 | 371 | 664 | 55.9 | 5,382 | 37 | 32 | 132.7 | 119 | -220 | -1.8 | 6 | |
* Includes bowl games.
At 6'1" 195-lb., Fusina was a 5th round draft pick (#133 overall) of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 1979 NFL draft. He spent his first three professional seasons as back-up to Doug Williams. In 1983, he left for the fledgling USFL. Fusina signed with the Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars where he blossomed under coach Jim Mora. In his three seasons with the team, he passed for over 10,000 yards and led all USFL quarterbacks with 66 touchdowns and a QB rating of 88.6 and led the Stars to back-to-back USFL titles in 1984 and 1985. He was named MVP of the 1984 USFL Championship Game. When the league folded in August 1986, Fusina returned to the NFL for one season with the Green Bay Packers.
Regular season
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | Rtg | ||
| 1983 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 18 | 15–3 | 238 | 421 | 56.5 | 2,718 | 6.5 | 15 | 10 | 78.1 |
| 1984 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 18 | 16–2 | 302 | 465 | 64.9 | 3,837 | 8.3 | 31 | 9 | 104.7 |
| 1985 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 18 | 10–7-1 | 303 | 496 | 61.1 | 3,496 | 7.0 | 20 | 14 | 84.0 |
| Career | 54 | 41-12-1 | 843 | 1,382 | 61.0 | 10,051 | 7.3 | 66 | 33 | ||
Postseason
| Year | Team | Games | Passing | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Record | Cmp | Att | Pct | Yds | Avg | TD | Int | ||
| 1983 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 2 | 1–1 | 47 | 80 | 58.75 | 446 | 5.6 | 5 | 4 |
| 1984 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 3 | 3-0 | 36 | 58 | 6.1 | 414 | 7.1 | 1 | 1 |
| 1985 | Philadelphia/Baltimore Stars | 3 | 3–0 | 35 | 62 | 56.5 | 463 | 7.5 | 4 | 4 |
| Career | 8 | 7–1 | 118 | 200 | 59.0 | 1323 | 6.6 | 10 | 9 | |
Fusina has been an instructor at the Gus Purcell Quarterback School in Charlotte, North Carolina. He and his wife, Jacquelyn live in Pittsburgh Pennsylvania, and his children Matt and Shannon currently live in Washington, DC.
In 2015 Fusina was elected to the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame (PSHF) along with his head coach Joe Paterno and teammate, kicker Matt Bahr.
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