John Hunsinger often wore yellow scarves with matching patent leather shoes.
His attire erased any doubts about his allegiance to the school where, as a running back and linebacker, he wore No. 42.
"He adored Tech," said Janet Boden, a first cousin from Atlanta. "Those yellow patent leather shoes really stood out. He was happy, fun and like an older brother to me."
At Atlanta's Brown High School, Mr. Hunsinger was named an all-American, all-Southern, all-state fullback. He was the Atlanta Touchdown Club's pick as the state's most valuable back in 1949.
In 1950, the teen who delivered newspapers and played the trumpet and horn enrolled at Georgia Tech. He was part of the undefeated squad that won the 1952 Sugar Bowl. He also played on the 1953 Sugar Bowl and 1954 Cotton Bowl teams.
"He was unbelievable," said D.L. Claborn, a friend since the late 1950s. "An exceptional person, a great athlete and he was really smart to form his own business."
That would be John Hunsinger and Co., the real estate brokerage and development firm he started in 1969. A decade later, Mr. Hunsinger was elected as a charter member of the Atlanta Board of Realtors' Phoenix Million Dollar Club, which denotes 10 years as a million-dollar producer.
"Johnny knew how to carry the ball on the football field and at the real estate conference table," said Sam Massell, president of the Buckhead Coalition. "He was always ready to make friends for his alma mater and city."
On Sunday, John Stewart Hunsinger of Atlanta died of undetermined causes at Wesley Woods Hospital. He was 79. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Monday at St. Luke's Episcopal Church. H.M. Patterson & Son, Spring Hill chapel, is in charge of arrangements.
Mr. Hunsinger grew up in the West End where he shared a one-bedroom house with his mother and other relatives. The honors student earned a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering at Tech and was named most outstanding senior.
In 1961, after a two-year stint in the Army and a few years working as an engineer, he became a salesman for Pope and Carter Co. of Atlanta. He held various positions with the company before starting his full-service firm.
Mr. Hunsinger held memberships or offices with organizations that included the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Metropolitan Atlanta, the Atlanta Touchdown Club, and the Georgia Tech Athletic Association. He was a 1996 Georgia Tech Sports Hall of Fame inductee.
In a 2006 article for Engineer Enterprise, a Tech alumni publication, he compared today's football with his gridiron days.
"I like it today," he said, "but I would rather play the way we did than [they] play today. It's a specialty thing. You've got your left-footed kicker. You've got somebody who can only throw long distances . . . I can remember the games where I played 60 minutes."
Survivors include his wife, Kathy Blalock Hunsinger; four sons, Jonathan Christopher Hunsinger, Matthew Stewart Hunsinger and John Hunsinger Jr., all of Atlanta, and Hall Hunsinger of New York City; a daughter, Robbie Lynn Hunsinger of Nashville, Tenn.
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