Perry Sandor Klein (born March 25, 1971) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL).[2] He played college football for the California Golden Bears and C.W. Post Pioneers.
| No. 7 | |
|---|---|
| Position: | Quarterback |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | March 25, 1971 Santa Monica, California, U.S. |
| Height: | 6 ft 4[1] in (1.93 m) |
| Weight: | 218 lb (99 kg) |
| Career information | |
| High school: | Palisades (Pacific Palisades) Carson (Carson, California) |
| College: | California C.W. Post |
| NFL draft: | 1994 / round: 4 / pick: 111 |
| Career history | |
| Stats at Pro Football Reference | |
In high school, he set the national record in pass completions in a game (46; in 49 attempts), and a California state record for most passing yards in a game, with 562. In his junior season, Klein set the California high school state record by throwing for more than 5,000 yards, and in his senior season of high school he was named California State Player of the Year. In his senior season of college, he played for C.W. Post, setting school single-season records by throwing for 3,757 yards and 38 touchdowns, and single-game records by throwing for 614 yards, 35 completions, and seven touchdowns in a single game, and was named the Division II Player of the Year. Klein was a fourth-round draft pick of the Atlanta Falcons in the 1994 NFL draft.
Early life
editKlein was born in Santa Monica, California, and is Jewish.[3][4][5][6] His father is Danny Klein, a businessman in the scrap metal business, who played football in high school and was a single-wing tailback at Theodore Roosevelt High School in East LA.[7][8][9][10]
High school
editHe attended Malibu Park Junior High School.[4] Klein was an All-America and All-City high school volleyball player. [11]
Klein played football for the Palisades High School Dolphins.[8] In a game against Jordan High School on November 20, 1987, he set the national record in pass completions in a game (46; in 49 attempts), and the school record in consecutive pass completions in a game (26).[12][8] He also set a state record for most passing yards in a game, with 562.[8] In his junior season, Klein set the California state record by throwing for more than 5,000 yards, and was Los Angeles All-City Player of the Year.[13][11]
He then transferred to Carson High School for his senior season and helped the Colts win the 1988 City Section 4-A Division championship, as he was named California State Player of the Year, Parade Magazine High School All-America, and a Campbell Soup All-American.[14][15][11] In high school Klein had a 72% pass completion record, averaging 10.7 yards per completion.[11]
College
editKlein received a scholarship and played college football at the University of California, Berkeley for the California Golden Bears in his first three years of college.[2][13] He also attended Santa Monica College.[16] Going into the 1993 season National Football League draft analyst Mel Kiper Jr. ranked Klein as the nation's fifth-best pro quarterback prospect.[17]
He then transferred to the C.W. Post Campus of Long Island University. In his senior year with the Pioneers in 1993, he threw for 38 touchdowns.[18][14][1][2] Klein was named the Division II Player of the Year, after throwing for an NCAA Division II record 614 yards passing (623 yards total yardage), 35 completions, and seven touchdowns in a single game, and a Division II record 3,757 regular season yards passing and 4,025 regular season yards in total offense, while also setting a school single-season records of most touchdowns.[19][16][11][18][20] He passed for a 248/407 (60 percent) completion rate, was # 1 in Division II for total offense at a record 405.2 yards per game, was named an EC AC Div. II All-Star, 1st team, and Sports Illustrated's Division II Player of the Year.[19][21] He played in the 1994 College All-Star Senior Bowl and passed for one touchdown.[11]
National Football League
editBefore the 1994 NFL draft, Klein outcompeted every other quarterback at the league’s scouting combine.[22] Nonetheless, the Stevens Point Journal only projected him as a fifth-round choice and as the eighth-best quarterback in the draft.[22] Vinny Ditrani of The Record rated Klein the seventh-best quarterback,[23] as the tenth-best by the Philadelphia Daily News,[24] and as a likely fourth-round pick by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel,[25] who rated Klein fifth-best. As a fourth-round draftee by the Atlanta Falcons, he would actually prove the third quarterback drafted, behind first-rounders Heath Shuler and Trent Dilfer. Klein won the No. 3 quarterback slot with the Falcons over Bob Gagliano.[26][9][2][11] He stayed with the Falcons for two seasons.[11] In 1996, he was waived by the team and played with the Amsterdam Admirals in the World Football League, which would become NFL Europe.[27]
Accolades
editIn 2008 he was inducted into the Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.[11]
References
edit- ^ a b "College Football; Making the Best of a Second Chance". The New York Times. September 29, 1993.
- ^ a b c d "Football; Klein, C.W. Post Quarterback, Is Sticking With Falcons". The New York Times. August 23, 1994.
- ^ "Perry Klein Stats". Pro-Football-Reference.com.
- ^ a b Shel Wallman (March 22, 1989). "Peregrinations of QB Perry Klein". Jewish Post.
- ^ Sarah Pilla (August 2, 2020). "Pacific Palisades Home Shines Brightly for Entire Neighborhood". Pacific Palisades.
- ^ Wechsler, Bob (2008). Day by Day in Jewish Sports History. KTAV Publishing House, Inc. ISBN 9780881259698 – via Google Books.
- ^ "Preps". The Los Angeles Times. November 10, 1988. p. 30.
- ^ a b c d Feldman, Bruce (2014). The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. Crown. ISBN 9780553418460 – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Feldman, Bruce (2015). The QB: The Making of Modern Quarterbacks. Three Rivers Press. ISBN 9780553418477 – via Google Books.
- ^ Rob Fernas (April 16, 1988). "Palisades High Quarterback Klein Transfers to Carson". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "Perry Klein; Football - 2008". Southern California Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
- ^ "Team & Individual Records". Palisades Charter High School Record Book | Pali Football Quarterback Club. 2020.
- ^ a b Hayes, Matt (November 2, 2016). "From Big Ben to Deshaun Watson and Beyond, Steve Clarkson is the QB Dream Maker". Bleacher Report.
- ^ a b Rob Fernas (June 30, 1994). "Scramblin' Man : Quarterback Perry Klein Has Been Vilified for Switching Schools--But That Was Before the NFL Called". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ Rob Fernas (November 10, 1988). "Winning Acceptance: Football Star Perry Klein Wasn't Used to the Tough Time He Got From Carson Team, But He Won That Game, Too". Los Angeles Times.
- ^ a b Berkowitz, Steve (November 11, 1993). "Notebook". The Washington Post.
- ^ Reed, William F. (October 18, 1993). "College Football". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ a b "Football History and Record Books". LIU Post Athletics.
- ^ a b Shel Wallman (January 12, 1994). "Sports Scene Great, growing grid corps". Jewish Post.
- ^ "Records", 2011 Football Media Guide, C.W. Post; Long Island University, p. 74.
- ^ NCAA Football Division II Records, ncaa.org.
- ^ a b Havel, Chris (April 18, 1994). "Jury Still Out on Ward". Stevens Point Journal. pp. 9, 10.
- ^ Ditrani, Vinny (April 17, 1994). "This Year's No.1 Question Is Who's No. 2". The Record. Hackensack New Jersey. p. S-13.
- ^ Domowitch, Paul (April 22, 1994). "It's a Two-=Man Game at QB: Shuler, Dilfer Only Ones Who Aren't "Projects"". Philadelphia Daily News. p. D-6.
- ^ Bricker, Charles (April 20, 1994). "Rating the Quarterbacks". South Florida Sun-Sentinel. p. 8C.
- ^ "1994 NFL Draft Listing". Pro-Football-Reference.com. Retrieved March 31, 2023.
- ^ "Whatever happened to this guy?". boards.atlantafalcons.com. November 28, 2008. Retrieved September 1, 2021.