David Klingler

It's fair�to say that in his six seasons as an NFL quarterback, David Klingler never had to call out signals in Ugaritic. Now, though, he's proficient in the long-extinct language of ancient Syria, as well as in Greek, Latin, French, German and Hebrew. Oh, Aramaic and Syriac, too. "It's a lot like learning a new offense," Klingler says of picking up a language. "In the NFL, I played six years with six offensive coordinators. Languages are like offenses--they're different ways of saying the same things."

Klingler is studying to become an Old Testament scholar, which requires knowledge of numerous tongues. He's working on his dissertation at Dallas Theological Seminary, with plans to teach. "I've had a lot of great coaches, and a great coach and a great teacher are no different. They change what you believe."

The sixth pick in the 1992 draft, Klingler is remembered as something of an NFL bust. After a record-setting college career at Houston, he threw 16 TDs and 21 interceptions during four seasons with the Bengals, then had two quiet years as a Raider. But Klingler, who lives in Katy, Texas, with his wife of 15 years, Katie, and their sons Luke, 11, and James, 8, doesn't sound particularly busted. As he tells it, he came into a turbulent situation in Cincinnati, coped with coaching changes and had shoulder surgery after his third season, at which point he knew his career was all but done. Before the operation he could heave a ball 85 yards; afterward he struggled to reach 35. The clear and quick end to his career, Klingler says, made the transition to the next phase of his life easier. He sees former players hanging around the game, unable to move on. "I'm very thankful I didn't go down that road," he says. "It doesn't keep me up at night that it didn't work out."