Don Klosterman
Encyclopedia
Donald Clement Klosterman (January 18, 1930 – June 7, 2000) was one of professional football
's most accomplished executives, building teams in three different leagues after a serious accident ended his playing career as a quarterback
and left his legs partially paralyzed. In the 1960s, Klosterman helped the American Football League
(AFL, 1960–1969) overtake the NFL during the bidding wars that led the older league to seek a merger with the AFL. In the 1970s. he was a successful general manager for the NFL's Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams, and in the 1980s he signed all-American quarterback Steve Young to a stunning contract in the United States Football League
(USFL).
, the 12th of 15 children. As a youth, he moved to Compton, California
with his family. He was collegiate football's leading passer in 1951, for Loyola University of Los Angeles, now Loyola Marymount University
. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns
, Klosterman found himself behind Otto Graham
and was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, only to back up Norm Van Brocklin
and Bob Waterfield
. He turned to the Canadian football
, playing quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders
until he had a skiing accident.
Klosterman almost lost his life on a ski slope at Banff, Alberta
on Saint Patrick's Day
in 1957. He tried to avoid anther skier, and damaged his spinal cord when he hit a tree. He had eight surgeries and was told he would never walk again, but he regained partial feeling and with the aid of a cane and walked again within a year.
, the former head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
, was the general manager of the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers. He asked Klosterman to help him recruit players. Klosterman joined the team and helped land future Hall of Famers Lance Alworth
, Ernie Ladd
, John Hadl
and Jack Kemp
. He moved on to the AFL's Dallas Texans, and with them and their successors, the Kansas City Chiefs
, he helped sign Bobby Bell
, Buck Buchanan
, Pete Beathard
, Mike Garrett
and Otis Taylor
, most of them important players in the Chiefs' win over the Minnesota Vikings
in the fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game
.
He guided the AFL's Houston Oilers to two playoff berths in his four years as their general manager (1966–1969), then moved to the NFL as Baltimore's general manager in 1970. The Colts won Super Bowl V
after his first season as GM. Carroll Rosenbloom
, the Colts' owner, traded franchises with the Los Angeles Rams owner in 1972. Rosenbloom kept Klosterman as his GM through the 1982 season and was rewarded with a series of playoff teams.
Klosterman then served as general manager of the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League
(1984-1985), which gained wide publicity when he signed Young, the star passer from Brigham Young University
. The deal was in excess of $40 million in 1984. Although the league folded, Young became a star with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers
.
In 1995, after the Los Angeles Rams went to St. Louis and the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland, Klosterman joined with former 49ers coach, Bill Walsh, in an unsuccessful effort to obtain a new NFL franchise for Los Angeles.
Klosterman died in Los Angeles of a heart attack on June 7, 2000.
Professional football
In the United States and Canada, the term professional football includes the professional forms of American and Canadian gridiron football. In common usage, it refers to former and existing major football leagues in either country...
's most accomplished executives, building teams in three different leagues after a serious accident ended his playing career as a quarterback
Quarterback
Quarterback is a position in American and Canadian football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive team and line up directly behind the offensive line...
and left his legs partially paralyzed. In the 1960s, Klosterman helped the American Football League
American Football League
The American Football League was a major American Professional Football league that operated from 1960 until 1969, when the established National Football League merged with it. The upstart AFL operated in direct competition with the more established NFL throughout its existence...
(AFL, 1960–1969) overtake the NFL during the bidding wars that led the older league to seek a merger with the AFL. In the 1970s. he was a successful general manager for the NFL's Baltimore Colts and Los Angeles Rams, and in the 1980s he signed all-American quarterback Steve Young to a stunning contract in the United States Football League
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
(USFL).
Early life and playing career
Klosterman was born in Le Mars, IowaLe Mars, Iowa
Le Mars is a city in and the county seat of Plymouth County, Iowa, United States. The population was 9,237 at the 2000 census. Le Mars is the home of Wells' Dairy, the world's largest producer of ice cream novelties in one location and is the self-proclaimed "Ice Cream Capital of the World". Wells...
, the 12th of 15 children. As a youth, he moved to Compton, California
Compton, California
Compton is a city in southern Los Angeles County, California, United States, southeast of downtown Los Angeles. The city of Compton is one of the oldest cities in the county and on May 11, 1888, was the eighth city to incorporate. The city is considered part of the South side by residents of Los...
with his family. He was collegiate football's leading passer in 1951, for Loyola University of Los Angeles, now Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University
Loyola Marymount University is a comprehensive co-educational private Roman Catholic university in the Jesuit and Marymount traditions located in Los Angeles, California, United States...
. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns
Cleveland Browns
The Cleveland Browns are a professional football team based in Cleveland, Ohio. They are currently members of the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League...
, Klosterman found himself behind Otto Graham
Otto Graham
Otto Everett Graham, Jr. was a professional American football and basketball player who played for the Cleveland Browns in both the All-America Football Conference and National Football League, as well as the Rochester Royals in the National Basketball League.-Early life:Born in Waukegan,...
and was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, only to back up Norm Van Brocklin
Norm Van Brocklin
Norman Mack "Norm" Van Brocklin , nicknamed "The Dutchman", was an American football player and coach. He was also a first rate punter in college and in the NFL...
and Bob Waterfield
Bob Waterfield
Robert "Bob" Stanton Waterfield was an American football player.Waterfield attended Van Nuys High School, in Van Nuys, California and went on to play college football for UCLA. In 1943 he led the Bruins to the Pacific Coast Conference football championship...
. He turned to the Canadian football
Canadian football
Canadian football is a form of gridiron football played exclusively in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed prolate spheroid ball into the opposing team's scoring area...
, playing quarterback for the Calgary Stampeders
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a Canadian Football League team based in Calgary, Alberta and named in reference to the Calgary Stampede. The Stampeders play their home games at McMahon Stadium...
until he had a skiing accident.
Klosterman almost lost his life on a ski slope at Banff, Alberta
Banff, Alberta
Banff is a town within Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada. It is located in Alberta's Rockies along the Trans-Canada Highway, approximately west of Calgary and east of Lake Louise....
on Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day
Saint Patrick's Day is a religious holiday celebrated internationally on 17 March. It commemorates Saint Patrick , the most commonly recognised of the patron saints of :Ireland, and the arrival of Christianity in Ireland. It is observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion , the Eastern...
in 1957. He tried to avoid anther skier, and damaged his spinal cord when he hit a tree. He had eight surgeries and was told he would never walk again, but he regained partial feeling and with the aid of a cane and walked again within a year.
Football executive career
In 1960, Frank LeahyFrank Leahy
Francis William Leahy was an American football player, coach, college athletics administrator, and professional sports executive...
, the former head football coach at the University of Notre Dame
University of Notre Dame
The University of Notre Dame du Lac is a Catholic research university located in Notre Dame, an unincorporated community north of the city of South Bend, in St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States...
, was the general manager of the AFL's Los Angeles Chargers. He asked Klosterman to help him recruit players. Klosterman joined the team and helped land future Hall of Famers Lance Alworth
Lance Alworth
Lance Dwight Alworth is a former American collegiate and Professional Football wide receiver. He is a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the Pro Football Hall of Fame...
, Ernie Ladd
Ernie Ladd
Ernest "Ernie" Ladd , nicknamed "The Big Cat" was an American collegiate and professional football player and a professional wrestler.-Pro Football career:...
, John Hadl
John Hadl
John Willard Hadl is a former collegiate and professional football player.Hadl was born in Lawrence, Kansas. After playing halfback on both offense and defense at the University of Kansas as a sophomore, Hadl played quarterback for his last two years at Kansas, and was selected as the school's...
and Jack Kemp
Jack Kemp
Jack French Kemp was an American politician and a collegiate and professional football player. A Republican, he served as Housing Secretary in the administration of President George H. W. Bush from 1989 to 1993, having previously served nine terms as a congressman for Western New York's 31st...
. He moved on to the AFL's Dallas Texans, and with them and their successors, the Kansas City Chiefs
Kansas City Chiefs
The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They are a member of the Western Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Originally named the Dallas Texans, the club was founded by Lamar Hunt in 1960 as a...
, he helped sign Bobby Bell
Bobby Bell
Bobby Lee Bell, Sr is a former professional American football linebacker/defensive end. He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the College Football Hall of Fame, and was a member of the Chiefs' team that won Super Bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings.- High school career :He excelled in...
, Buck Buchanan
Buck Buchanan
Junious "Buck" Buchanan was an American collegiate and professional Football defensive tackle. He played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the American Football League and in the National Football League ....
, Pete Beathard
Pete Beathard
Peter Falconer Beathard is a former American collegiate and Professional Football quarterback who played professionally in the American Football League , the National Football League , and the World Football League ....
, Mike Garrett
Mike Garrett
Michael Lockett Garrett is a former American collegiate and professional football player who won the 1965 Heisman Trophy as a tailback for the University of Southern California Trojans. Garrett also played professional football for eight seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs and San Diego Chargers...
and Otis Taylor
Otis Taylor (American football)
Otis Taylor was an American college and professional American football player, for Prairie View A&M University and the American Football League's Kansas City Chiefs...
, most of them important players in the Chiefs' win over the Minnesota Vikings
Minnesota Vikings
The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Vikings joined the National Football League as an expansion team in 1960...
in the fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game
Super Bowl IV
Super Bowl IV was the fourth AFL-NFL World Championship Game in professional American football, and the second one to officially bear the name "Super Bowl"...
.
He guided the AFL's Houston Oilers to two playoff berths in his four years as their general manager (1966–1969), then moved to the NFL as Baltimore's general manager in 1970. The Colts won Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V
Super Bowl V was an American football game played on January 17, 1971, at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida, to decide the National Football League champion following the 1970 regular season...
after his first season as GM. Carroll Rosenbloom
Carroll Rosenbloom
Carroll Rosenbloom was an American entrepreneur and former owner of two professional football teams, the Baltimore Colts and the Los Angeles Rams....
, the Colts' owner, traded franchises with the Los Angeles Rams owner in 1972. Rosenbloom kept Klosterman as his GM through the 1982 season and was rewarded with a series of playoff teams.
Klosterman then served as general manager of the Los Angeles Express of the United States Football League
United States Football League
The United States Football League was an American football league which was in active operation from 1983 to 1987. It played a spring/summer schedule in its first three seasons and a traditional autumn/winter schedule was set to commence before league operations ceased.The USFL was conceived in...
(1984-1985), which gained wide publicity when he signed Young, the star passer from Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
. The deal was in excess of $40 million in 1984. Although the league folded, Young became a star with the NFL's San Francisco 49ers
San Francisco 49ers
The San Francisco 49ers are a professional American football team based in San Francisco, California, playing in the West Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League . The team was founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference and...
.
In 1995, after the Los Angeles Rams went to St. Louis and the Los Angeles Raiders returned to Oakland, Klosterman joined with former 49ers coach, Bill Walsh, in an unsuccessful effort to obtain a new NFL franchise for Los Angeles.
Klosterman died in Los Angeles of a heart attack on June 7, 2000.