University of the Pacific

Bud Klein passed up an opportunity to play professional baseball for a shot at collegiate football and baseball. 

He lettered in both sports for one year at the College of the Pacific, starring on the 1943 football team that earned Amos Alonzo Staff National Coach of the Year honors with a 7-2-0 record. Klein went on to be a draft pick by the Boston Red Sox in 1950. 

Klein's family is the namesake for Pacific's Klein Family Field, home of Tiger baseball. Klein's family patriarch, Sol Klein, is considered the father of youth baseball.