Kindrend Spirits -- Pat Graham, High-School Player Of Year, Can Relate To Dave Krieg
Pat Graham's perfect weekend ended with an accidental meeting in the lobby of his hotel.
The morning after Graham led the DeSales High School football team to victory in Kingbowl XV, he went autograph hunting.
"Mr. Krieg, can I have your autograph?" Graham asked a preoccupied Dave Krieg before the Seattle Seahawks played the San Francisco 49ers at the Kingdome.
Graham, the most statistically dominant high-school quarterback in state history, just wanted a signature. He found a kindred spirit.
One day earlier, Graham fulfilled the dream of his childhood. He completed 20 of 31 passes for 387 yards and four touchdowns as DeSales of Walla Walla beat Rainier 46-16 for the Class B-11 state championship.
Some of the state records he set this season have never been approached and might never be broken - he passed for 4,410 yards and 52 touchdowns in 1991. He also was the motivational leader for the unbeaten Irish. That is why Graham is this year's Seattle Times State Star of the Year.
Graham is the first non-Class AAA player to be honored as the state's top football player. For all who doubt Graham couldn't cut it against bigger teams, at least one person steadfastly believes in Graham - Seahawk quarterback Dave Krieg.
"After watching him on TV, seeing him in person was kind of a shock," Graham said. "But after talking to him, you realize he's just another human being."
Krieg and Graham. The two talked shop for 10 minutes before Graham and dozens of his relatives drove back to Walla Walla. Krieg and Graham. They share a common background. And they both have skeptics.
Like Graham, Krieg went to a small school, defunct Milton College in Wisconsin. Although Krieg was rated seventh among NAIA passers in 1979 and was named conference player of the year two consecutive years, he made a relatively quiet entrance into the NFL.
Like Krieg, Graham is 6 feet 1, not exactly the size college scouts drool over, and weighs 175 pounds. Fewer boys attend DeSales High (about 40) than are on most football teams. And at the B-11 level, the offenses and defenses are not as complex as at schools with higher classifications.
For those reasons, Division I colleges aren't fighting over Graham. He is receiving interest mostly from Big Sky Conference schools.
Graham rarely will talk about himself, unless you appeal to his sense of competition.
"People have said it would be too big a shock" to play at the Division I level, Graham said. "I would have to work hard, and it would take me a year or so, but I could adjust. I think I could play at that level."
He has Krieg's vote of confidence.
Gerianne Graham said Krieg told her son: " `Tell those people (the skeptics) to get lost. You got more yards in that game (against Rainier) than I got in my last two. I went to a small school, and I got to play pro ball.' "
Pat Graham said he was too shy to introduce himself to Krieg when he first asked for an autograph.
"Did you tell him who you were?" Graham's mother asked her son.
"I didn't want to bother him," he told her when he came back with the autograph. "I think he was nervous about the game because he was kind of short with me."
Gerianne Graham had a different idea. Against her son's wishes, she approached Krieg again and asked him to sign a newspaper article about her son. She also told Krieg it was her son that had asked him for an autograph a few minutes earlier.
"He got real excited," she said. "He said, `You're Pat Graham's mom? This is your son? I want to meet this kid. I just got through reading about him.' He was real nice. He came over and shook Pat's hand. It just capped a really neat weekend."
------------------------- TIMES PLAYERS OF THE YEAR -------------------------
Year Player, Pos. High School College .
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1991 Pat Graham, QB DeSales --- .
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1990 Singor Mobley, RB Curtis Washington State .
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1989 Nate Holdren, QB Richland Michigan .
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------------------- GRAHAM'S STATISTICS -------------------
-- DeSales High quarterback Pat Graham is the first prep passer to throw for more than 4,000 yards. He holds six state records outright, and is tied (X) for two more:
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Career yards 7,922 .
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Season yards 4,410 .
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Career completions 468 .
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Season completions 235 .
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Career touchdowns 85 .
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Season touchdowns 52 .
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Single-game yards (X) 487 .
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Single-game touchdowns (X) 7 .
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