Dwight Clark - January 8, 1957 - June 4, 2018

source: Brian Murphy, KNBR
Dwight Clark

On June 4, 2018, former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark lost his battle with ALS.

I watched, heard and cried to dozens of tearful, poignant tributes from former teammates, coaches and sports media who all became family to him.

Here's video of one of Dwight's last public appearances, Dwight Clark Day at Levi's Stadium on October 22, 2017.

Season Enders - Ohio State Buckeyes and San Francisco 49ers

source: Forbes.com
L to R: Jed York, Chip Kelly, Trent Baalke

Happy New Year!

The much highly anticipated Fiesta Bowl (College Football playoffs) match between Ohio State and Clemson turned to be a lopsided disaster for Buckeye Nation. Clemson dominated the entire game and shutout Ohio State, 34-0.

North of Arizona, the San Francisco 49ers lost their last game of the season to the Seattle Seahawks, 25-23. As reported from numerous news sources, San Francisco 49ers CEO Jed York fired General Manager Trent Baalke and Head Coach Chip Kelly.

Less than a month ago (see December 4, 2016 entry), it was in my humblest of opinions that new ownership and/or management of the team is sorely needed to rebuild effectively long-term.

Hopefully, next year there will be the photo of 3 different faces when the 2017 NFL season begins.

San Francisco 49ers - 11th consecutive loss

The York Family with Eddie DeBartolo (3rd from left)
source: 49ers.com

It's been a terrible news week. On Friday, another former high school classmate, Danny, passed away. Yesterday, it was the Oakland Ghost Ship Warehouse fire. Today, it was the passing of another longtime Monday night league bowler, Jack.

And to add salt to the wound, the 49ers lost their 11th consecutive game versus the Chicago Bears, who were 2-9 going into today's game.

I have been critical of the York family's/GM Trent Baalke's ability to manage the team pretty much from the start. It's either been a clash with successful coaches (Steve Mariucci, Jim Harbaugh), or musical chairs with a series of coaches with mediocre or no head coaching experience in the NFL (Dennis Erickson, Mike Nolan, Mike Singletary, Jim Tomsula and current head coach Chip Kelly).

Dr. and Mrs. York, you owe it to longtime fans. Sell the team to people who know something about football.

Jim Harbaugh, Sports Fan

image source: Michael Conroy, AP

Over the weekend, the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens won their respective conference championships and will be playing in this year's NFL Super Bowl on February 3. What's probably gotten almost more headlines than the teams themselves are their head coaches, brothers John Harbaugh (Baltimore) and Jim Harbaugh (San Francisco).

Some of you already know John and Jim aren't the only coaches in the family. Their dad, Jack Harbaugh was a former head coach at Western Michigan University. Sister Joani is married to Tom Crean, who is head coach of Indiana University's men's basketball team.

The above picture is showing Jim Harbaugh on a visit to his one of his brother-in-law's home games in February 2012 (see USA Today story). Well, he did a little more than visit. He sat at the end of Indiana's bench and during timeouts, he would bring chairs on and off the floor for the players to sit.

And let's not forget this past October. Giants fans were floored when we saw Coach Harbaugh drive 1st baseman Brandon Belt in the World Series celebration parade.

I am in awe of Coach Harbaugh's support, admiration and respect for sports outside of his own.  As an Ohio State alumna, I must admit this is pretty good for someone who played football at Michigan.

Remembering Bill Walsh

As most San Francisco Bay Area sports fans have learned, former 49er and Stanford football coach Bill Walsh passed away today. No doubt there'll be hundreds of blogs written about one's memories of Coach Walsh's tenure with the 49ers.

Mine started in 1982. An Ohio State student at the time, my sister Cindy and I attended a Super Bowl party to see the 49ers versus the Cincinnati Bengals. As an ardent Buckeye follower and Ohio resident, we all wanted the Bengals. But the 49ers had a prominent Ohio connection. Our host Rick, a student from Youngstown, told us the 49ers owner, Eddie DeBartolo, lived and owned his business in Youngstown.

Since I was cheering for the Bengals, it was disappointing, but not heartbreaking (much more a Cleveland Browns fan then) for me to see them unable to score after a 4th and goal. I was bummed but in awe that the 49ers defense held the Bengals from scoring. Little did I know in 2 years I would be cheering for the "enemy". Oh, and my car was towed from Rick's apartment complex during the game.

When I moved to San Francisco in August, 1983, the NFL season was only a few weeks away. I found it strange at first to watch 49ers games. It was even stranger not to have Dad in the same room smoking and swearing at the TV from his favorite recliner. But as the weeks passed, I grew to like the 49ers. Coach Walsh, Joe Montana and Dwight Clark were the main reasons why I became a fan.

Once the 49ers made it into the Super Bowl in 1985, I got invited to another party hosted by one of the guys in the church basketball group I played with on Saturdays at Lincoln High School. While Buckeye football fans are among the most passionate, the 49er fans I met came pretty close. After hearing whoops and cheers throughout the neighborhood immediately after the game ended, there was no going back.

In 1989, I ended up watching Super Bowl XXIII alone. It was one of the most exciting games I'd ever seen (Ohio State versus Miami in the BCS 2003 ranks right up there). After wide receiver John Taylor scored the winning touchdown, I could hear several of my neighbors across the street screaming. This would be Walsh's last game as the 49ers head coach.

Under Walsh's tutelage, the 49ers made winning look easy. So easy many of us took it for granted. We know how difficult it was only after he was no longer coach. Just ask Dennis Erickson. Thanks for the wonderful, wonderful memories, Coach. You will be sorely missed.

photo courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle