Longtime Riverhounds, Quaker Valley soccer coach Gene Klein dies after battle with brain cancer

Gene Klein did not have just an iconic, hall-of-fame coaching career.

He lived an exemplary, hall-of-fame life, according to those who knew him best.

The former Quaker Valley soccer coach, who was inducted into the WPIAL, Quaker Valley and Pittsburgh Riverhounds halls of fame, died Monday at age 71 after battling incurable brain cancer — glioblastoma — for two years.

Klein coached the Quaker Valley boys soccer team from 1981 to 2005 and again from 2010-15, reaching 500 career wins in 2015. He taught social studies at QV for 33 years.

The highly regarded Klein finished his career at QV with a state record six PIAA championships. He also won seven WPIAL titles, advanced to the PIAA finals 10 times, and ended up with a 505-139-38 career mark.

“He’s one of those coaches that in his particular sport in Western Pa. and the state of Pennsylvania who will be remembered for a very long time,” athletic director Mike Mastroianni said after Klein retired from QV in 2015. “The amount of success he’s had and as many kids as he’s influenced over the years is remarkable.

“He’s the best soccer coach in the country in my opinion.”

Klein is a two-time inductee to the WPIAL Hall of Fame, both as an individual and as coach of the undefeated 1996 Quakers.

He also served stints as a coach in the PA West state association and as president of the PA Soccer Coaches Association.

In 1981, Klein was hired as QV’s head coach in the boys soccer program’s second year of existence. The Quakers went undefeated in 1996 and were inducted as a team into the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2013.

Klein served as coach of the Pittsburgh Riverhounds from 2005-10. He was hired as an assistant in 1999 in the club’s inaugural season while also retaining his position at Quaker Valley. He left his position at QV and took over as the Riverhounds field boss in 2005.

A native of Bridgeville and a 1970 Chartiers Valley graduate, Klein returned to coaching at QV in 2011 and won his 500th game with the Quakers on Oct. 2, 2014. He was voted into to the QV Hall of Fame in 1998 and the WPIAL Hall of Fame in 2020.

“Gene was a very good friend, mentor and colleague for many years. It is a sad and difficult day for the Quaker Valley community and QV athletics as his leadership, influence and guidance touched so many,” Mastroianni said Monday. “His last years before his retirement, he served as the assistant athletic director and, along with Jerry Veshio, we restarted the Quaker Valley Sports Hall of Fame. He took so much pride in making it a special event for our inductees.

“Gene was a Pittsburgh guy who connected at all levels: Chartiers Valley High School, the University Pittsburgh, Carnegie Mellon University, Quaker Valley High School, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds. I would introduce Gene quite simply as the best soccer coach in Pennsylvania, but a vast majority of QV grads would tell you he was the best teacher, as well. Gene put QV soccer on the map with PIAA and WPIAL championships and his influence is still prevalent today in our soccer program.”

Klein’s first and last state titles came 15 years apart, displaying the winning consistency he maintained in his program.

“Gene’s influence on the athletic end was more then soccer,” Mastroianni said. “In my opinion, Gene is the foundation behind the years of QV athletic success. He was the first coach/program to successfully set the standard that Quaker Valley could win championships in team sports on a consistent basis and compete at the highest level.

“His standards spread across our athletic programs and they still stand today. We will miss our dear friend.”

QV’s current boys coach, J.J. Veshio, competed in soccer with the Quakers from 1999 to 2002 with Klein as his coach. Veshio was a QV assistant from 2008-19 and took over as head coach in 2020.

“The biggest thing I learned from playing under Gene was not how to be a better player, it was how to be a better person. I love him and so do so many others,” Veshio said. “As a player, he was very stern and hard on us, but not in a bad way. He demanded our best because he knew we had such great potential, but he was also willing to talk to you on a personal level and help you through tough times.

“I came to learn once I started coaching with him just how often he would have private conversations and meetings with players to help them with issues related to soccer and life. He devoted everything to us and was always so humble about his stature within the game.

“I attempted to be like Gene my first year of coaching and that was a mistake. No one is like him and I now know that I need to just be me, but take the things I learned from him to improve myself and those I directly impact. If I could be 1/10th the mentor he was to the players I influence now, I know I will be successful.”

As Mastroianni mentioned, many QV grads believe Klein was a great teacher as well as an esteemed soccer coach.

“I genuinely can’t think of everything that Gene taught me because I won’t recognize a lesson he instilled in us until it hits me in that moment,” Veshio said. “From Day 1, the players knew Gene had a high intellect when it came to soccer. But his drive and passion for improving us as young men, which in turn led to success on the field, was what made him special. He made sure that we were physically and mentally fit for the game, while also pressing upon us that playing the game the right way would yield success.

“This man worked at a national and even international level, yet we were privileged to have him as our coach in our small public high school. He expected so much out of his players, but only because he knew how much we had in us and we knew he put in just as much effort to make us successful.”

Klein loved pop culture, pro sports and was, according to Veshio, an amazing history teacher; his mentoring skills were second to none.

“He taught us that doing the little things turned into great, big things,” Veshio said. “He taught us how to be resilient and to push through hard times, both on and off the field, to better ourselves. He instilled in us the value of togetherness and always told us to take care of each other off the field.

“And he had this presence about him, especially if you didn’t know him well. It wasn’t like he tried to command the room or be a domineering person; he just was someone you gravitated to for all of the right reasons. Once you got to know him, he was absolutely hilarious and could craft a story like no other. He would chat with you endlessly about anything related to your life because he genuinely cared about you and how you were doing.”

The 1996 team was Klein’s best. QV went 26-0, outscored opponents 169-7, logged 21 shutouts and won WPIAL and PIAA titles.

The Quakers were ranked No. 1 nationally by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America, and Klein was honored as NSCAA national coach of the year.

Klein’s coaching resume also includes four state championships in a six-year span and a 40-7-1 overall state playoff record. In 29 years, his players accounted for 23 all-state selections and five national All-Americans.

“Our program and soccer in Western Pennsylvania is not what it is without him,” Veshio said, “and I am so deeply saddened that he is gone. This is going to be a difficult season for me without Gene around, but I know he taught me enough to help move QV soccer forward.

“Our players have a high level of character and he is a reason for that.”

The QV field boss said one of the most heartfelt things Klein did for him was to create an award in 2011 in memory of Robby Hague.

“Robby was my best friend and a fellow QV soccer player under Gene,” Veshio said. “Robby died in 2009, coincidentally on this day, July 24th.

“Gene created an award in Robby’s honor that I still give out to a player on our team and I am so grateful for that.

“We only have two awards in our program: the Gene Klein Player of the Year Award and the Robby Hague Spirit of QV Boys Soccer Award.”

Klein was an assistant at Bethel Park in 1976, followed by a four-year stint coaching at Carnegie Mellon. He also was named as CMU’s women’s basketball coach in 1980-81.

At age 16, Klein’s friends convinced him to test his skills as a goalkeeper, and he began playing for Pittsburgh Beadling circa 1971. Klein graduated from Pitt in 1974 with a degree in history.

He wrote three books about goalkeeping. In 1983, Klein and Joe Luxbacher, his former Pitt teammate, co-wrote “The Soccer Goalkeeper: A Guide for Players and Coaches.”

Not only did the revered Klein coach with the Riverhounds, he served as general manager and television broadcaster.

Under Klein’s leadership as GM, the team established the Riverhounds Academy, forging a relationship with England’s Everton FC and bringing the “Everton Way” training methods to the program.

After his pro coaching tenure, Klein remained visible as one of the Riverhounds’ most prominent ambassadors. And from 2014-19, he and longtime coaching colleague Paul Child reunited in the broadcast booth for the Hounds.

“Gene was an institution in the Western Pennsylvania soccer community, and it’s safe to say that without his work to keep the Riverhounds going in the mid-2000s, the club wouldn’t be in operation today,” said Matt Grubba, the Riverhounds’ director of communications. “He laid the foundation that allowed this team to grow into what it is now, and he will be deeply missed by everyone who played for him and worked with him.”

Klein was inducted into the Riverhounds Hall of Fame on Sept. 10, 2022, at Highmark Stadium.

“Gene held himself to a high standard by always learning more about the game and staying fit, even into his cancer diagnoses,” Veshio said.

“His wife, Anne, took such good care of him these last few years, and I am grateful to her for her love and compassion.”