Three Cherry Hill East graduates have gone on to be drafted and play in the National Football League.
This weekend in Philadelphia, more than 200 football players will realize their dream of being drafted into the National Football League.
Thousands of players have been selected in the NFL Draft since it began in 1936.
Locally, there are three Cherry Hill high school graduates who have been drafted and played in the NFL.
The first player from Cherry Hill East drafted into the NFL was Pete Kugler. Kugler was chosen by the San Francisco 49ers in the sixth round of the 1981 draft.
Kugler played as a lineman in high school and received high praise for his work on offense. In a Courier-Post article from Kugler’s senior season in 1976, then-head coach Bo Wood described Kugler as, “the best we have ever had.” Kugler was named South Jersey’s top offensive lineman by the Brooks-Irvine Memorial Football Club and helped the Cougars to a 9–1 record in 1976.
After playing from 1977–1980 at Penn St., Kugler joined the San Francisco 49ers in 1981. He was part of three San Francisco 49er Super Bowl-winning teams. He played in San Francisco from 1981 to 1983 and again from 1986 to 1990. In 81 career games, Kugler made 12.5 sacks.
Kugler also spent two years playing closer to home in the United States Football League. Kugler played with the Philadelphia Stars in 1984 and moved with the team to Baltimore in 1985. He recorded five sacks in his two USFL seasons. He re-joined the 49ers after the USFL folded following the 1985 season.
In an article from UPI in 1984, Kugler cited being close to home as one reason he left the 49ers for the USFL, saying “One other major reason I did sign with the Stars is right here. I’ve got the greatest family in the world.”
Stan Clayton was the second Cherry Hill high school graduate ever drafted into the NFL. A two-way lineman for Cherry Hill East in the early 1980s, Clayton was named to the Courier-Post’s All-South Jersey second team offense in 1981 and All-South Jersey first team offense in 1982.
After high school, Clayton attended Penn State University, where he graduated from in 1988. Clayton was a member of the undefeated 1986 Nittany Lions who defeated powerhouse Miami, 14–10, in the Fiesta Bowl to become national champions.
In M.G. Missanelli’s book, “The Perfect Season: How Penn State Came to Stop a Hurricane and Win a National Football Championship,” Missanelli said Clayton earned a starting tackle spot for Penn State early in the 1986 after Mark Stickler suffered in an injury. Clayton would remain a starter through his final season at Penn St. in 1987.
Clayton was taken by the Atlanta Falcons in the 10th round of the 1988 draft. He played in 26 games in the NFL for the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots, with his final game coming in 1990.
Following his playing career, Clayton entered coaching, first becoming an assistant coach at Penn St. in 1995. Today, Clayton is the offensive line coach at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa.
Cherry Hill East had another alum drafted in the 1990s when quarterback Glenn Foley entered the NFL.
Foley was the quarterback of Cherry Hill East football’s only state championship team in 1988. According to the Courier-Post, Foley had set the single-season South Jersey records for passing yards and touchdown passes in 1988. He was named to the All-South Jersey first team offense that same season.
Foley went on to play football at Boston College. He was the Eagles’ quarterback for four seasons, breaking out in 1993 with 3,397 yards passing and 25 touchdowns. Foley helped lead Boston College to a final Associated Press ranking of 13th in the country and a win in the Blockbuster Bowl that year under future Super Bowl-winning head coach Tom Coughlin.
The New York Jets drafted Foley in the seventh round of the 1994 draft. He went on to play six years in the NFL, five of them with the Jets and one with the Seattle Seahawks. He started nine career games, throwing 2,469 passing yards and 12 touchdowns in his career.
Foley’s accomplishments have been honored locally in recent years with inductions into the Cherry Hill East Athletic Hall of Fame and the Camden County Sports Hall of Fame.
