David Ryan Klingler (born February 17, 1969, in Houston, Texas), is a former American football player. He was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals after starting at quarterback for the University of Houston. Klingler attended Stratford High School (Houston).

College career

A 6'2" quarterback, Klingler rewrote numerous college passing records for the Houston Cougars from 1988-1991. On November 17, 1990, Klingler threw 11 touchdown passes against Eastern Washington University at the Astrodome, and on December 2 set the NCAA (division I) record for most yards gained in a single game, 732. In his four seasons at Houston, he completed 726 of 1,262 passes for 9,430 yards and 91 touchdowns, all of which were school records at the time. Klingler set the NCAA record for touchdown passes in a season with 54 in 1990. His single season touchdown pass record stood for 16 years until it was broken in the 2006 Hawaii Bowl by University of Hawaii quarterback Colt Brennan with 58, though Brennan needed three more games than Klingler to break the record. Klingler made a valiant push to win the Heisman Trophy but was eventually beaten by Ty Detmer (winner) of Brigham Young University and Raghib Ismail (runner-up) of Notre Dame. Klingler remained a stand-out for the University of Houston and still ranks in the top ten for career touchdown passes and yards in a career.

NFL career

Klingler was taken in the 1st round of the 1992 NFL Draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. From 1992 to 1995 he played for the Bengals - starting for the Bengals in 1993 and 1994 before losing his job to Jeff Blake. He then played two seasons as a backup for the Oakland Raiders. In 1998, he signed with the Green Bay Packers to back up Brett Favre, but he was cut and didn't play.

After The NFL

David Klingler entered school at Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a Master's degree in Theology. He currently attends Dallas Seminary and is working on a Ph.D. ESPN mentioned Klingler during the opening game of ESPN's Monday Night Football, and he was featured in the spring 2006 edition of Dallas Theological Seminary's magazine, Kindred Spirit. His profile may be viewed at the following link