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Grover Klemmer Obituary
March 16, 1921--August 23, 2015
A native San Franciscan and son of Ada Haines Klemmer and Grover Cleveland Klemmer. A 1939 graduate of Galileo High School, lettering in basketball, soccer, crew and track and field. He was the city champion at 440 yards and 880 yards with new city records in each event.Grover graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 1943, lettering in basketball, football and track. He established world records for the 440 yard dash and 400 meters, and was part of the Cal relay team that set world records in the mile relay and 2 mile relay. In 1940, running for the San Francisco Olympic Club he was the national champion, winning the 400 meters in 47.0 seconds. Running for the Olympic Club, he again won the national championship in 1941 with a time of 46 seconds.
He served in the Navy during WWII where in 1945 he played football for the legendary Paul Brown, then coach of the Great Lakes Naval Station football team. Upon discharge, he was hired by San Francisco City College as an instructor and coach of both the track and football programs. He coached football for 20 years in which his teams won 5 championships including the 1948 team that went undefeated and claimed the national championship for that year. He finished his career as the head of the physical education department and as athletic director for CCSF. Additionally, he was an NFL and USFL referee.
He is a member of the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame, University of California, Berkeley Hall of Fame, and the San Francisco Olympic Club Hall of Fame.
Grover liked to win, but was equally concerned about his athletes succeeding in class, finishing their education and becoming good men. He considered his greatest accomplishment to be his family.
Above all, Grover was a gentleman, loyal to his family and friends and respected by all who knew him--an honorable man.
He is survived by Elaine Klemmer, his wife of 71 years, his son Richard Klemmer (wife, Sandi) and daughter Carol Klemmer. He leaves 6 grandchildren and 8 great grandchildren.
A remembrance gathering will be held Friday evening, Sept. 4, 2015, from 5:00 to 7:00 at 7 Hillcrest Court, Oakland. Please call (510)579-4736 for details. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation in Grover's name to the Foundation of City College of San Francisco earmarked for the football program.
To plant trees in memory, please visit the Sympathy Store.
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