John Paye

John Paye

Date of birth:	(1965-03-30) March 30, 1965
Place of birth:	Stanford, California
Career information
Position(s):	Quarterback
College:	Stanford
NFL Draft:	1987 / Round: 10 / 275
Organizations
As player:
1987-1988	San Francisco 49ers

John Paye (born March 30, 1965 in Stanford, California) is a former American football quarterback in the National Football League and a high school basketball coach.

Early life

A graduate of Menlo School in Atherton, California, Paye lettered in baseball, basketball, and football. In his senior year of 1983, Menlo won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II basketball championship. One of Paye's teammates was Eric Reveno, who played with Paye on Stanford's basketball team and is currently the basketball head coach at the University of Portland.

College and professional career

Paye continued as a starter in football and basketball at Stanford, and became the starting quarterback in his freshman year of 1983. That year, Paye also started at point guard for Stanford's basketball team. Paye was the last NCAA Division I athlete to start in both football and basketball as a freshman.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1984 season, he shared time at quarterback with Fred Buckley, and became the starter for the 1985 and 1986 season. In 1986, Paye led Stanford to the Gator Bowl against the Clemson Tigers. This was Stanford's first bowl appearance in 8 years, but Paye was unable to play due to a shoulder injury. Backup Greg Ennis started instead, and Stanford lost a close game 27-21.

He was selected in the 10th round of the 1987 NFL Draft by the San Francisco 49ers and stayed two seasons with the 49ers, being a member of their 1988 Super Bowl team.

Coaching career

After leaving football, Paye returned to Menlo as the girls' basketball coach, coaching his sister Kate. Paye guided the team to three CIF Division V state championships from 1989-1991. Paye coached boys' basketball at Woodside Priory School in the 1995-1996 season and coached girls' basketball at Notre Dame High School girls' basketball team in Belmont, California before returning to coach the sport at Menlo School in 2008.