Don Klein was born in Seattle, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Washington before joining the United States Navy. He would meet Jeanne Westerland at a high school dance, leading to a 72-year marriage that ended with Jeanne’s 2017 death.
Klein had started out in radio in Seattle, announcing high school football games, before his military service, which led him to service on the staff of Admiral Chester Nimitz in Honolulu. When he received his discharge from the Navy, Klein signed on as sports director at Honolulu station KPOA. Part of the job was broadcasting re-creations of San Francisco Seals baseball games. The Pacific Coast League team had a large following in Hawaii.
After announcing more than 350 Seals games without actually seeing them play, Klein opened the 1949 season in San Francisco, covering games in person. He remained the Seals announcer both on radio and TV until 1958 when the Giants came to San Francisco. It was then that Don joined KCBS and spent the next 32 years as sports director.
For 25 years, Klein was the voice of Stanford University football. When KCBS acquired radio rights to the San Francisco 49ers in 1981, Klein took over 49ers broadcasts. His call of “The Catch” in the 49ers 1981 NFC Championship Game defeat of the Dallas Cowboys is among the indelible radio calls in sports history: “Third and three. He has the ball, Montana rolling out to the right… looking toward the end zone… throwing under pressure… throws his pass… Caught by Clark! Clark’s got a touchdown! Dwight Clark has it! It’s a touchdown for the 49ers!”
Don Klein died in 2019 at age 95.