The story of Grover Klemmer begins in the late 1930’s, where as a young man in San Francisco he chased cable cars to get to school and “nib” the fare. This “training” led him to join the track team at Galileo High School. In his senior year in he won the 440 and 880 events at the San Francisco High School Championship track meet as Galileo’s only representative. His time of 49.5 seconds in the 440 was the first time a San Francisco prep runner won the event in under 50 seconds.
In the fall of 1939 Grover started his collegiate career at the University of California, Berkeley, where he ultimately lettered in basketball, football, and track and field.
With the war ragging on the European continent and the Olympic Games cancelled, the 1940 AAU National Championship was held in Fresno, CA. The Olympic Club fielded one of the finest amateur track and field teams ever assembled in the United States. The Club’s team included 6 national champions. Grover won the 400 meters in 47.0 seconds, helping The Olympic Club win its second consecutive Senior AAU National Championship. This championship was considered the “American Olympics” due world circumstances.
By 1941 Grover was the premier quarter miler in the country. While competing for both Cal and The Olympic Club, he set four world records in four different events in six weeks. Grover set world records in the 2-mile relay, the 440 yards, the 1-mile relay and in one of the greatest races of all time in June 1941, the world record in the 400 meters in 46 seconds flat before 25,000 fans at the AAU National Championship held at Franklin Field in Philadelphia. Klemmer’s victory helped propel The Olympic Club team to its third consecutive national track and field title.
As World War II took center stage many of our finest athletes went to war, and some were able to compete for the various military branches. While in the Navy Pre-Flight program, Grover joined with fellow Olympic Club Hall of Fame member Hank Luisetti as a member of the Navy Pre-Flight undefeated basketball team. Later on a military team under Coach Paul Brown, Grover played football and was good enough to be offered $3000 by Slip Madigan to play for the San Francisco Dons. He turned them down to coach football and track at City College of San Francisco (CCSF).
In 1948 his CCSF football team went undefeated and was the “mythological” National Junior College Champion with a roster that included such greats as Burl Toler, Ollie Matson, Roy Giorgi, and Don Stillwell. Over a 20-year span as coach at CCSF, Grover’s teams won five championships.
In 1955 Grover became an NFL Official and remained in that capacity until 1986 officiating in 2 NFL Super Bowl Championships. In 1987 he was designated the Instant Replay Arbitrator and remained in that post.
He was elected to the University of California Hall of Fame in 1988 and he is also a member of the San Francisco Prep Hall of Fame and was a two-time All American in Track and Field.
