Don Klosterman ( American football ) 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 ) . Early life and playing career . Klosterman was born in Le Mars , Iowa , 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 . Football executive career . In 1960 , Frank Leahy , 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 .