State Your Case: Don Klosterman

Don Klosterman always had an eye for talent.

After becoming the 26^th overall selection of the 1952 NFL draft, Klosterman found himself surrounded by eight future Hall of Famers in his first training camp with the Cleveland Browns. He was an accomplished college quarterback, having led the nation in passing at Loyola University (Calif.), but the Browns already had the league’s best quarterback in camp in Otto Graham.

Klosterman never made it out of training camp with the Browns. He was traded to the Los Angeles Rams, where he found himself surrounded by six more future Hall of Famers. Incredibly, two of them were quarterbacks – Norm Van Brocklin and Bob Waterfield.

So Klosterman’s NFL playing career was a short one. He threw only 10 passes and was out of the league by 1953. But his one year in the league was not a waste. He was able to observe two of the NFL’s most successful franchises of the early 1950s and witness what made them successful. It was the players. Championship football always starts with the players.

And that’s where Klosterman would carve out a successful NFL career. His eye for talent gave him a resume worthy of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Klosterman got his start on the personnel side of the game in 1960 when he was hired as a scout by a new team in a new league, the Los Angeles Chargers of the AFL. He helped build a roster that would take the Chargers to the first two AFL championship games.

Tackle Ron Mix and running back Paul Lowe from that first Chargers’ team would go on to earn spots on the all-time AFL team. Klosterman also had a hand in the scouting of Lance Alworth, who would eventually join Mix in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

After sitting behind Graham, Van Brocklin and Waterfield on NFL depth charts, Klosterman had an appreciation for the quarterback position. Which is why the Chargers signed Jack Kemp out of Canada, where Klosterman himself had finished his playing career. Kemp became a seven-time AFL all-star and a league MVP.

The Dallas Texans hired Klosterman as their personnel director in 1962. That offseason Dallas added future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Len Dawson, like Klosterman an NFL washout, who went on to win AFL MVP honors that season and deliver the Texans the league championship.

The Texans moved to Kansas City in 1963 where they became the Chiefs. In the next three years, Klosterman helped build a Kansas City roster that would represent the AFL in the first Super Bowl in 1967. Klosterman scouted three Hall of Famers – defensive tackle Buck Buchanan, linebacker Bobby Bell and kicker Jan Stenerud – and also added all-stars Ed Budde, Dave Hill, Mike Garrett, Mack Lee Hill, Otis Taylor and Jerrel Wilson.

With one eye always on the quarterback position, Klosterman drafted Southern Cal All-America Pete Beathard with a first-round pick in 1964. He wouldn’t see the field for the Chiefs – not with Dawson ahead of him on the depth chart — but he would for Klosterman.

Houston hired Klosterman as general manager in 1966 and after a 3-11 finish, Klosterman traded for Beathard, who took the Oilers to a 9-4-1 record, an East Division title and a trip to the AFL championship game. Klosterman also drafted a Hall of Famer in three consecutive drafts: Ken Houston in 1967, Elvin Bethea in 1968 and Charlie Joiner in 1969.

The Baltimore Colts hired Klosterman as general manager in 1970 and they proceeded to post an 11-2-1 record and win the Super Bowl. He built a 21-6-1 record in his first two seasons with Baltimore – but they would be his only two seasons.

The Los Angeles Rams hired Klosterman as general manager in 1972 but struggled with a 6-7-1 record that season. It was the only season the Rams struggled all decade. They reeled off eight consecutive seasons with nine wins or more, appearing in five NFC championship games and one Super Bowl.

Klosterman drafted another Hall of Famer, Jackie Slater, and didn’t forget the quarterback position. He acquired John Hadl in a trade with the Chargers in 1973 and drafted Vince Ferragamo in 1977. Hadl became the NFL MVP in 1973 and Ferragamo took the Rams to the 1980 Super Bowl.

The Rams suffered losing seasons in 1981 and 1982 and Klosterman was out of football in 1983. But he was back in the game in 1984 with another new team and another new league – the Los Angeles Express of the USFL.

And Klosterman addressed the quarterback position immediately, signing Steve Young to a 10-year, $40 million contract – the richest at the time in any sport. Young became one of the two Hall of Famers Klosterman produced that year, also signing offensive tackle Gary Zimmerman. The Express reversed their record from 1983, turning an 8-10 mark in its inaugural season into a 10-8 record and a Pacific Division championship in 1984. The Express then lost to the Arizona Wranglers in the Western Conference championship game.

A year later, the USFL folded and Klosterman has been out of football and waiting on a call from the Hall of Fame ever since. His talent evaluation helped produce 11 Pro Football Hall of Famers and two league champions. In his 25 seasons, his teams appeared in 11 conference or league championship games and won 59.8 percent of their games.

“Don was essential in helping Lamar (Hunt) build the Dallas Texas, Kansas City Chiefs and, by extension, the American Football League,” said Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, Lamar’s son. “His work as a scout and general manager laid the foundation for what is known today as a `player personnel department.’ I believe his impact on the game warrants his inclusion into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.”

(Photo courtesy of the Kansas City Chiefs)