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Maybe this episode will catch someone's attention
IG: aj_mckenzie416
Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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Twitter: AJMckenzie94847
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00:00Yes, sir.
00:44Yes, sir.
01:17In the spring of 1979, San Francisco 49ers' new head coach, Bill Walsh, placed a phone
01:24call to Clemson quarterback Steve Fuller.
01:27Fuller's roommate, Dwight Clark, answered the phone.
01:31From that day forward, the lives of Walsh, Clark, and the 49er franchise would never be
01:37the same.
01:39It is a pivotal day, and the interesting thing about that is I had my golf clubs on my
01:44shoulder, and I was heading out the door when the phone rang, and I went back and picked
01:49it up, and it was Bill Walsh.
01:51Bill was coming in to try out Steve Fuller.
01:55He talked for a little bit, and he said, well, I need a receiver to run some routes.
01:59Could you come and run some routes for me, since I'm here to try out your roomie?
02:04So I, of course, said yes.
02:07Just had one of those very fortunate days where I caught everything.
02:12So he asked me to stay after the workout, and then he asked me if we could watch tape.
02:26And, you know, I said, you know, I only caught 11 passes, and he said, well, is there any
02:32game where you caught two passes?
02:34And I said, yeah, against North Carolina, I caught two passes.
02:36One was across the middle, way up high.
02:43He was fairly impressed with that.
02:45So that was my Bill Walsh tryout.
02:47Dwight looked good to me, and I know he didn't look necessarily good to many other scouts.
02:53And as the draft progressed, many of our scouts said, you can coach, you can get him in the
02:59free agent market a month from now.
03:01And I said, no, that man is going to be here.
03:03You watch.
03:04And so we drafted him.
03:06Dwight Clark, tall, skinny, couldn't really run real fast, could catch real good.
03:13Bill Walsh was pretty much always right about his player scouting.
03:22Obviously was a chick magnet.
03:26I'm Sean Wedderley, and I'm Miss Universe, and my three favorite football players are Dwight
03:31Clark and the San Francisco 49ers.
03:33Dwight Clark and Dwight Clark.
03:35Football wasn't the first thing that came to mind.
03:37And you saw him and Joe, and they were both looking like basketball players.
03:41Joe was rookie quarterback Joe Montana, who spent most of his first season as Steve DeBerg's
03:47backup.
03:49The arrival of Clark, Montana, and Walsh in 79 didn't have an immediate impact.
03:55In fact, it took Walsh nearly the entire season to equal the win total of two from the previous
04:01year.
04:02The 15th week of the season, we played Tampa Bay.
04:06We won the game.
04:07It was our second win of the year.
04:09The players picked Bill up and carried him off the field, and the fans stormed Candlestick
04:16Park and tore down the goalposts.
04:19And there's enough noise in that stadium at that point, and there's enough cheering that
04:23you really can't hear the rest of the country laughing at you.
04:27When you're tearing down goalposts in your second win of the year and carrying your coach
04:31off the field.
04:32In my opinion, it was celebrating what was getting ready to happen, what was around the
04:37corner.
04:37Because we had a lot of success that year, we just didn't win a lot of games.
04:43We all knew it was just a matter of time before Bill got us where we wanted to go.
04:50Bill Walsh's 49ers were putting fans in the stands and points on the board.
04:59The problem was, his ever-changing secondary couldn't keep opponents out of the end zone.
05:05We went through like 30-something defensive backs.
05:08I mean, they quit writing the guys' names on their helmets, you know, with the white
05:12adhesive tape with the name across the front.
05:14They stopped it, because it wasn't worth the time.
05:16It wasn't worth the waste of tape, because the guys, they wouldn't make it to lunch.
05:19I guess at some point, Bill Walsh just said, I've had enough.
05:24And he decided he was going to get his secondary all at once.
05:27In the first round, he took Ronnie Lott.
05:29From USC, rookie, Ronnie Lott.
05:32In the second round, he took Eric Wright.
05:34From Missouri, rookie, Eric Wright.
05:37And in the third round, he took Carlton Williamson.
05:40From Pittsburgh, rookie, Carlton Williamson.
05:43Dwight Hicks was the veteran of that group.
05:46He had been cut by a few teams, was working in a health food store, and got another break.
05:52I'm sure there were some veterans that were saying, what the hell is he doing?
05:55Drafting these guys, he's just going to stick them in there.
05:58You know, we're throwing away this year.
06:00Pull it down.
06:01There you go.
06:01Catch it in the air and then rebound it.
06:02George Seifert's a defensive back coach, and it's his mission that these guys are going
06:08to know what they're doing.
06:11Here we go, Carlton.
06:12Get up in the air now.
06:13They'd be in the meeting rooms longer than anybody else.
06:16They'd get there before everybody else, and they'd leave after everybody else.
06:18We were going to kidnap George, and we were going to, you know, take him and try to bury
06:24him.
06:25I need to train you guys.
06:26I need to get you guys in shape.
06:28We would go on long trips running through the streets.
06:33Can you imagine an NFL team running through the streets of their community, getting in
06:40shape?
06:40That's what we were doing with George Seifert.
06:43That's what he said.
06:44I'm working with you guys step by step.
06:47Another key to the developing secondary was Seifert's new assistant, former 49er defensive
06:53back Ray Rhodes.
06:55Ray Rhodes, then and to this day, has a defensive swaggering attitude.
07:02That those four, specifically those four young guys, fed off.
07:07Having Ray Rhodes and having George Seifert.
07:10Having Cornell University, where George Seifert was the head coach, and having the NFL University.
07:18What we got is a combination of street and a combination of academia.
07:26Ray would say, I want everybody in the stands to go woo.
07:29I said, what do you mean?
07:31Everybody stands up when they see woo.
07:33I said, well, you got to give a woo lick.
07:36Let's hit him like we always do.
07:38Let's fly at him, baby.
07:40Ready?
07:40No turning back.
07:41All of a sudden, we came up with a new term.
07:43Woo lick.
07:45Can you imagine?
07:46That was, that's not at Cornell University.
07:51The first game of the year was in Pontiac, where the Super Bowl was going to be that year.
07:57I remember the first game of the year, you're playing against Billy Sims.
08:03And you're trying to figure out a way to stop him.
08:06And we lose.
08:07But, you know, there was a good side to that, because we figured it'd be one of the few times
08:12we'd get to play in a Super Bowl venue.
08:15That first month of that 81 season was like every other year.
08:21It really was.
08:22When we lost to Atlanta, no one talked about losing.
08:26Everybody talked about how we got punched in the mouth.
08:29Bill Walsh said to us, I never want to see us get out hit like that again.
08:37We played Billy Sims, Walter Payton, and a Falcons team that had been 12 or 4 the previous year.
08:48It was about testing your will, testing your manhood.
08:52And I can assure you that from that moment on, for the rest of my career and for the years
08:58that Bill Walsh was a head coach with the 49ers, we did not get out hit.
09:03We remind ourselves what the game is all about.
09:05When we take the damn field, it's not our brotherhood that's going to do it for us.
09:10We're a machine, and we just knock the hell out of people.
09:16Nobody, I mean nobody, is going to out hit us.
09:21Nobody's going to punch us in the face.
09:28Our young defensive backs, we thought our experience was a plus.
09:33Our experience was a liability because we had the baggage.
09:38They didn't have any baggage.
09:40Those guys brought in this college enthusiasm, especially Ronnie Lott, that was just addicting.
09:47What are people saying, we're going to finish last?
09:50No, no, no, no, no.
09:52We win.
09:53We win.
09:55Going into Washington, we were 2-2.
09:58We're going to play a Washington Redskins team that hasn't won a game.
10:02They've got a new coach.
10:03We know how that feels.
10:04They've got some guy named Joe Gibbs coaching them.
10:07We actually kicked their butt, and it all started with a crushing Ronnie Lott hit.
10:14The ball popped up in the air, and Dwight Hicks takes it and runs about 80 yards.
10:21That Washington win was a huge confidence boost.
10:25The defense played great.
10:27There were huge hits.
10:30There were big interceptions.
10:41We're now above 500.
10:45I mean, that doesn't sound much to normal people, but the guys that have lost game after game
10:50after game after game, especially on the road, it's pretty special.
10:53You could see that there was something percolating.
10:56It was that momentum of what a great startup has in terms of a great company.
11:01In the Bay Area, all we talk about is startups.
11:03I mean, everybody talked about Apple, and they talked about Intel, and you talk about the
11:08Valley, but here, we were probably the original startup.
11:16He's totally dedicated.
11:18Unbelievably dedicated to football.
11:20It's his whole life.
11:22So excited about having him.
11:25Comparing some guy, some, like, I don't even know if he was a pro bowler to the hit king.
11:33I mean, it's ridiculous.
11:37I don't know what Bill Walsh was thinking making that comparison.
11:44I'm on the team when he first got there, because, you know, we needed some veteran leadership
11:49over there on defense, and then after being around him for a while, just thinking, this
11:53guy is whacked.
11:55Used to be the ad for RCA, where the dog's kind of sitting there looking at the speaker
11:58going, huh?
12:00He got hacks off from the Rams.
12:02It was, huh?
12:03He's bringing that guy up here?
12:05He's a nut.
12:06Lived above an auto maintenance store.
12:10On game day, he would put his uniform on in his room.
12:15Came to breakfast, eye black, hands taped up, ready to play football.
12:21I guess he was not the most talented, gifted athlete, but he was brilliant when it came
12:28to recognizing what was getting ready to happen, and it was all about preparation.
12:33And he would grind that and pound that into the heads of those young guys.
12:38We're getting together and working together, and we're coming together as a group.
12:40I think that's what's helping us.
12:43You know how I practically raised that running lot, huh?
12:45Oh, is that right?
12:46What a sweetheart.
12:47Oh, my God.
12:48What a man.
12:49What a man.
12:50He's a great, great young person.
12:51Good kid.
12:52Yeah.
12:53Great player.
12:54I think I'll throw this shirt to keep going.
12:56You know, maybe halfway through that season, he started saying some things in the locker
13:00room, and I think he felt like he could because he was making plays on the field.
13:05And it is intercepted, taken away by Ronnie Lott.
13:08Veterans will listen to guys, even if they're rookies, if they're getting it done on the field.
13:13We're playing the Falcons in week 10.
13:15And, of course, before the game, you, you know, say a prayer.
13:18People seem to be milling about a little bit, getting their helmet, you know, just not moving
13:23quickly with the purpose.
13:26So, Ronnie Lott just goes berserk.
13:29And he kind of preempts the Lord's Prayer with Lott's Prayer.
13:33And Lott's Prayer had almost as many words, but I'm not sure the Lord would recognize any
13:38of them.
13:41Get your GD butts up here, and let's say the GD Lord's Prayer.
13:46I mean, we got a GD game to play, so let's get this GD thing going.
13:51It was like, didn't quite know how to take that, but, you know, being from a Baptist background.
13:59You know, how many times have you had your kids walk up to you, and they say, oh, no,
14:03no, no, no, don't mess with Daddy right now.
14:08That's the kind of attitude that you wanted to bring, and that's the kind of lifestyle
14:12that I wanted to lead.
14:14Everyone would say, Ronnie, how could you go off like that, and then sit down and say,
14:20okay, let's pray.
14:21I'm almost positive that the Lord has forgiven me, because he understands that there's only
14:26a couple ways to get people's attention.
14:29And sometimes you've got to go over the top.
14:32It's nothing but pure, pure love for the game of football.
14:38The transformation of wanting to be great, I wouldn't trade it for anything.
14:44They were 27th in defense in 1980, and they drafted those three starting defensive backs.
14:50They went up to second this year.
14:52Of course, they've also added Hacksaw Reynolds and Fred Dean.
14:56Fred Dean was acquired in October in a trade with San Diego.
15:00One of the first times I met Fred, he's laying on a bench in our weight room smoking a cigarette.
15:08And I looked down, I said, Fred, what are you doing, man?
15:12He says, well, I was thinking about lifting weights, but I thought I might lie here until
15:20I got over it.
15:22I remember one time I said something to him at a function one day, and I said, hey, man,
15:28Fred, you know, we can't act like that.
15:30Fred said, what are you saying?
15:32I was like, no, I'm sorry, Mr. Dean, because I knew that Fred would, if Fred could, if he
15:39wanted to, he could take me out.
15:42James Dean wasn't cooler than Fred Dean.
15:45Dean's first game as a 49er came in week six against Dallas.
15:50And it's not like he got there on Monday morning.
15:53He got there during the week, and we're getting ready to play Dallas.
15:57And it's like, well, what can he do for our defense against the Dallas Cowboys?
16:01He'll have to know our game plan.
16:03Well, you know, it's just like, sick him.
16:06There's our game plan.
16:08Fred, go get that guy.
16:09The whole offensive line, the Cowboys say, here he comes, here he comes.
16:13He runs a stunt.
16:15He runs over the guard.
16:16He breaks the center's leg.
16:18He sags Danny White.
16:21He does it three or four times before halftime.
16:25We walk in the locker room.
16:26He pulls out a pack of cools.
16:30He starts smoking them.
16:32The whole team is over there looking at him.
16:35Bill Walz is looking at him.
16:37He's fired by their new kid on the block.
16:39The 49ers exacted some revenge on an old bully and improved to four and two.
16:44He's on his way to 30, out running the defense.
16:46He'll go all the way.
16:47Touchdown for San Francisco's Dwight Clark.
16:50By our standards to that point, it was an ass-whipping of biblical proportions.
16:56We're putting it on the team in the NFL.
16:59We didn't beat him.
17:01We beat him up.
17:02Ronnie Lott intercepts.
17:03He's in for six points for San Francisco.
17:06Man, you can stick your chest out.
17:07You can feel good about yourself.
17:09And I don't know if anybody's ever had that with the San Francisco 49ers, especially against
17:15the Cowboys.
17:23After a big win like that against Dallas, you'd kind of expect to be on the Monday night
17:29halftime highlights.
17:31Buffalo seems to be achieving its purpose, but in a dubious way.
17:35And for the first time in my six years, we were going to see a 49er team humble the Dallas
17:46Cowboys.
17:47We were going to be the centerpiece and the highlight of the Monday night football highlights.
17:54And we weren't on it.
17:55For us not to have, you know, a moment, a second, not for how we're to say, and the tackling
18:03is brutal, not to have that, come on.
18:06That was probably, too, the birth of, they don't respect us.
18:12And we were mad.
18:13And Bill knew it.
18:14And Bill took advantage of it.
18:19Story of 1981.
18:21And at the halfway point of the season, they were 6-2.
18:25And probably the most excited person in the whole deal was Bill Walsh.
18:29I think he thought this could be something special, turning from that bad to that good
18:35that fast.
18:36Running backs are patting and easily.
18:38The handoff given to easily.
18:39Cutting in.
18:40Trying to get in.
18:40He is.
18:41And the 49ers have regained the lead here in Pittsburgh.
18:45Getting out of there with a win, that to me was the true turning point.
18:49In a crowd, intercepted by Carlton Williamson.
18:51He's got the 30, the 35, the 40.
18:53All those great players.
18:55You tried not to be in awe of it, but it was the Pittsburgh Steelers, four-time world championship.
19:00We get back from kicking the Steelers' butts, and there's fans in the airport.
19:06You know, normally when we saw fans, it wasn't good.
19:09There were thousands of people at the airport.
19:13Kind of gives me chills a little bit.
19:15I mean, walking through there, I mean, that was the first validation from the fans that
19:20were watching.
19:21You're doing this, and we appreciate it.
19:23Montana, moving out to the right side, throws a pass, and it is caught by Young.
19:30Touchdown for San Francisco.
19:32I guess the way we knew that Bill Walsh would turn this thing around was he had this air
19:38about him.
19:39He had this feeling of confidence.
19:42We are just better put together than the damn L.A. Rams.
19:45It's that simple.
19:46I know they all want to win badly.
19:48They want to beat us.
19:49But they can't do it because we play better as a unit than they do.
19:53Randy Cross, ready, snaps.
19:55Ball placed on, kicked on its way.
19:57It is good.
19:59Ray Wershing has kicked the field goal, and the 49ers have won it.
20:03They've beaten the Rams.
20:04The way he would motivate people, either through fear, or he had this one little thing that
20:11he used to do that we found out later was all set up, but he would scream at the assistant
20:17coach, come down and get in the assistant coach's face and say, what the hell are you
20:23doing?
20:23You can't get this Clark kid to play any better than that.
20:26I'm getting rid of your butt.
20:28Get this guy playing better.
20:30I put the play in, Paul.
20:39You just kind of listen to that stuff as you're going along, but you didn't know it was all
20:43set up until, you know, I got upstairs and, you know, oh, that was all fake.
20:48He was screaming at my coach, and it was, he was told in the meeting before that he was
20:52going to get screamed at.
20:53That's, you know, that's pretty smart, but I can't believe I fell for it.
20:58So, he had that dry sense of humor that would come across in the meeting.
21:03You're going to have everybody 100% fresh for this ballgame.
21:07Somehow, you've got to be fresh.
21:09In some cases, it may mean a lot of sex.
21:11In others, none.
21:12I don't know.
21:14I think it was easy to believe Bill Walsh because he would tell you things that would
21:19happen.
21:21We're going to run this play against this defense.
21:23When you catch it, there won't be anybody within 10 yards of you.
21:29That would happen in the game, and you'd catch the ball and get ready to get hit and turn
21:32around, and there's nobody there.
21:34He would do those kind of things over and over with his designing of plays.
21:38Here he goes back to pass, looking down toward the end zone, open to Solomon.
21:43He's got it.
21:43No one was on Solomon.
21:45No one was within 10 yards of him.
21:47You've just got to the point where everything he said, you just believe this is the way it's
21:51going to be.
21:51This is the way it's going to happen.
21:53So, if it's not there, you just time it and throw it.
21:54If I hadn't fell, though, I had him.
21:56Sometimes football players have that stigma of the dumb football jock, but in Bill Walsh's
22:01offense, you couldn't be the dumb football jock.
22:05All I knew was a 10-yard hook was run 10 yards and hook.
22:09In the West Coast offense, a 10-yard hook could be across versus man-to-man.
22:13If he has inside coverage, it's sliding back outside.
22:17If it's man-to-man under, you're looping out and around.
22:20And he got it for a touchdown for San Francisco.
22:23To me, that's what made the West Coast offense really, really difficult.
22:28Having the ability to change routes, change the depth of your route, given the fact that
22:34the defense is running a certain defense, believe me, it is not fair.
22:39There were times that George Seifert and I, we would sit there and look at some of these
22:43patterns and we would go, yeah, that's going to be hard to stop.
22:47Well, damn it, in 1981, football was smash-mouth.
22:52Football was the, you know, the NFC East and it was coming off the ball and it was beating
22:57people up.
22:58And if you didn't do that, that wasn't really football.
23:02Suddenly, we were dancing and moving and jabbing and doing things people considered
23:08unmanly and not quite right.
23:10You know the quarterback's coming to hear...
23:12Look at a chessboard, a conventional chessboard.
23:16Now, take that same chessboard and a la Star Trek or Star Wars, where a chessboard now has
23:23four different tiers that's on like a diagonal like this and you've got, you've got a board
23:27here, a board here, a board here, and a board here.
23:30We were playing the same game as everybody else.
23:33We were just playing on a couple different levels.
23:36He's got it, he's at the end of the five, a touchdown for San Francisco.
23:40We believed he knew something nobody else knew.
23:43We knew we had an advantage having him as our coach.
23:49Out of the counter, he's got long blonde hair and he's got a Fu Manchu, just tiny little
23:54legs, doesn't look very athletic at all.
23:57So I'm looking at...
23:58That's ridiculous.
23:59Joe Montana should never have facial hair.
24:02I'm thinking, well, that might be a player, but if it is, it's probably a kicker.
24:07When he walks on the field, it's like he puts the cape on and the S on the chest.
24:14You hear the analogy all the time is given about a, you know, sort of a quiet killer,
24:19a quiet assassin.
24:20A lot like Clint Eastwood, didn't have to say a lot.
24:24You know, he just had that way about himself.
24:27Tell Freddie to split a bond.
24:28People naturally assume, and I think falsely, that Joe was just an extension of Bill.
24:34Joe had the ability to improvise.
24:41And I'm not sure if improvisation was something that Bill had initially built into his plan.
24:52But suddenly now he's with a guy that, from an improv standpoint, would be like comparing
24:59your average comedian to Robin Williams.
25:04Joe could riff on the football field amazingly.
25:09And he could take a lot of what Bill wanted to do and sort of put his own spin on
25:14it.
25:14Just as fine a pass as you're going to see, I'll tell you.
25:17He wasn't a great player at Notre Dame just by passing through town.
25:21This great, he shows up.
25:22It showed up there, and it showed up since he'd probably first put on a male supporter.
25:27Joe Montana received much of the credit for the 49ers' newfound success.
25:33And he accepted most of the blame when things went wrong.
25:37Fumbled snaps were always the quarterback's fault.
25:39If there was a bad snap, Bill or the offensive line coach would be quick to yell at the center.
25:45And Joe would immediately say, that was my fault.
25:47I pulled out too quick.
25:49Interceptions, bad throws, big hits.
25:52That was Joe's fault.
25:53And I think that's why all of his teammates loved him so much, supported him so much,
25:58and played their ass off for him.
26:01Park outside to the left side.
26:03Sullivan inside.
26:04There goes Montana.
26:05Draw through the middle.
26:06Goes the quarterback.
26:06In week 13, the 49ers hosted the Giants.
26:10A win would give San Francisco the NFC West title.
26:14He is in.
26:14It's a touchdown for Joe Montana.
26:16He goes back to throw a pass.
26:18Looking downfield, he's going to throw it deep.
26:21There are plenty of Niners around.
26:23And it is intercepted at the 50-yard line.
26:26Here it is.
26:26It's counted down.
26:28Carlton Williamson intercepts.
26:29It is all over.
26:30The 49ers have beaten the Giants.
26:33The 49ers have won the Western Division title.
26:42It was pretty awesome.
26:43Ronnie Lotz out there just basking in the wind, like a rocker does when he jumps out into a
26:50crowd of people.
26:50For me, that was my teammate.
26:53They weren't carrying me off.
26:54I was part of them.
26:55They were part of us.
26:56One of the best moments of my life was when a lady came up to me.
27:01She said, you know what?
27:03I never watched football before.
27:05But the way you guys play, man, man, I have to watch it now.
27:12The regular season's over.
27:13We've got home field advantage.
27:15We've gone from 2-14 to 6-10 to suddenly 13-3.
27:19And we're going to play the New York Giants.
27:21Montana ready first down.
27:22The ball is given to Reagan.
27:24Rick clouds his way toward the mid-zone.
27:26He's in.
27:27A 49er touchdown.
27:31And we win the game.
27:33We scored 38 points.
27:34And we're going on to the NFC Championship game.
27:40Did it matter who was next?
27:42I'd say, not really.
27:45But I'd be lying.
27:48We wanted the Cowboys.
27:49And we got them.
28:01The Dallas Cowboys.
28:03America's team.
28:05Tom Landry.
28:06The darling of the NFL.
28:09Their organization.
28:10Too arrogant.
28:11Arrogant.
28:12We're going to kill them.
28:13They pissed us off.
28:14They were to us everything and everybody that had just stomped on us for three or four years.
28:23We're going to kill the Cowboys.
28:24Anyways, that's what was going on that week.
28:29I was thinking about it.
28:31They say Rose Bowl is the granddaddy of them all.
28:34But being here, it's overcoming that.
28:38This might be the great, great granddaddy right now.
28:49As I was going through that game, I did start to get the feel.
28:53Wow, this is awesome.
28:55You know, the back and forth of it.
28:57All the turnovers.
28:59We had six turnovers that game.
29:02You beat a team, but you still turn the ball over six times?
29:05That just doesn't happen.
29:08Just think of what that game's like if you take those six turnovers away.
29:11White going back to pass.
29:12Throws it down the middle.
29:13And it is caught.
29:14And into the end zone for a touchdown is Cosby.
29:16Changing the upper hand of that scoreboard for the fifth time today.
29:19And they marked the ball down at the San Francisco 11.
29:23That's how far they have to go to win.
29:26At that time, half the team had been sick and had the flu.
29:29And so we were all just exhausted and worn out.
29:33Dead tired.
29:34And I get into the huddle in the biggest drive of my life.
29:38And I'm throwing up in the huddle.
29:40Which was nasty.
29:41Guys were saying, oh, get out of here.
29:44And maybe it was some comic relief.
29:47I don't know.
29:47This feels impossible.
29:49America's team, 89 yards to win the game.
29:53I mean, this is when Dallas is great.
29:55But Joe comes in the huddle, just has that look on his face.
29:59Looks up and says, we're going to go down.
30:01We're going to score a touchdown.
30:02We're going to win this game.
30:03And we're going to stick it in their ear.
30:05With the Cowboys expecting Montana to pass,
30:08Bill Walsh decided to play smash mouth football.
30:11The play calling on that whole drive was incredible.
30:14It was just the greatest chess match of all time.
30:18Look who's making the big plays.
30:20You know, Linville Elliott, former Cincinnati Bengal halfback,
30:24who was cut in the preseason and then re-signed,
30:27is running left on 18-Bob.
30:29He's running right on 18-Bob.
30:31Unusual call.
30:33But a victim.
30:33They're crossing up the Cowboys.
30:35We still got the feeling that, wow, we got them off balance.
30:38And then they were pursuing so hard,
30:41Bill comes up with the great call of the reverse.
30:45See reverse.
30:46And the running play.
30:48And the reverse to Solomon.
30:50Going around inside the 45-40.
30:53He's down at it.
30:53About the time that we thought we were going to run it,
30:56we would throw it.
30:57First down, he throws to the sideline.
30:59And it is caught by Clark at the 25.
31:02It was out of bounds.
31:04A brilliant throwing catch.
31:10Elliott's final carry brought the ball to the six-yard line.
31:15The next play would mark the end of one dynasty
31:18and the birth of another.
31:21We're going to call a sprint option.
31:23He's going to break up and break into the corner.
31:25You got it?
31:26Dwight, we're clear.
31:27Dwight is in here sliding back out.
31:30This is great when they're tired and they're confused.
31:33They want to get back to Dallas.
31:34This is when you knock their ass off.
31:36If you don't get what you want,
31:37you'll just simply throw the ball away.
31:38If you're not there, you're ready to go to Dwight.
31:41You got it?
31:41There wasn't a doubt in our mind
31:44that we were going to score on Dallas.
31:46They knew that they couldn't stop us.
31:49You only had to look across the line of scrimmage to know that.
31:51We had Joe.
31:54Who is this guy, Montana?
31:57I'm John Wayne.
31:59I'm John Wayne.
32:01And John Wayne never loses.
32:05I'm making this throw.
32:06So fasten your seatbelts down.
32:09We've got turbulence and plenty of it here in Candlestick Park.
32:12How is this one going to end?
32:15Montana winds up at the five.
32:17And on third down and three,
32:19he rolls right, looking to throw.
32:21Looking to throw.
32:23And he throws it at the end zone.
32:25Touchdown.
32:26Touchdown.
32:27A stop pass for this goal.
32:30By Dwight and Boris.
32:32He was very high at the end.
32:43That goes back now to the improv,
32:48to what Joe brought to the offense.
32:50And it goes back to that chemistry
32:53of the two guys we thought were basketball players
32:56when they got there, Joe and Dwight,
32:58to what they could do together.
33:09I don't think Dwight had ever jumped that high before,
33:12and I know he hasn't jumped that high since.
33:19After Joe throws the ball,
33:20he gets knocked to the ground,
33:22and he's laying there,
33:24and he hears the roar of the crowd.
33:25Two-Tall Jones told Joe that, you know,
33:27you just beat America's team.
33:29Joe said, well, you can sit at home
33:31with the rest of America and watch the Super Bowl.
33:34Well, that's pretty good.
33:36That's pretty quick-witted for that moment.
33:40Joe had had some death threats that week,
33:43and as the clock's ticking down, you know,
33:46it's 5, 4, 3, and we had the ball,
33:48so we had to kneel.
33:50He kneels down and just goes.
33:53He's got a security guard.
33:55And ran out of the end zone
33:57because he didn't want to stand around
33:58because of the death threats.
34:00There were some people talking that
34:02that was a safety
34:03that would have given the Cowboys the win.
34:06That would have been interesting,
34:08but I think in the locker room,
34:11it seems like Joe hyperventilated or something.
34:13He was down for the count there for a little while.
34:17That was the beginning of being Joe Montana.
34:20It was the abnormality of a once-normal life
34:24from that point on.
34:26The 49ers, in one of the best drives in NFL history,
34:30scored with under a minute to go,
34:31and they beat the Dallas Cowboys 28-27,
34:34and now it's on to the Super Bowl for the Niners.
34:37Number one!
34:38Number one!
34:39Super Bowl!
34:40We talked about being champions from July 7th.
34:44We're champions right now.
34:46We've got one more to go.
34:47Congratulations for a tremendous effort.
34:49Tremendous effort!
34:52Dwight Clark has it!
34:54It's a touchdown for the 49ers!
34:57I've been told that there was a poor Asian kid
35:03born on the January 10th, 1982,
35:07and his name is Dwight Clark Mitamuzzo.
35:10So I don't know if that's true,
35:13but for his sake, I hope not.
35:16But that's quite an honor if it is true.
35:22It's humbling, really.
35:24I feel honored.
35:25People are still talking about it 25 years later.
35:32I'm honored to be able to be a part of a play
35:35that was kind of the culmination
35:39of just this incredible surprise season.
35:43It's great to give 49er fans that moment.
35:50That they can relive over and over and over,
35:53and I know they do because when I'm in San Francisco
35:55or a lot of places,
35:57people want to talk about that play,
35:58how it crushed the Cowboys
36:00and sent them into submission for a decade.
36:06Sent them into submission for a decade.
36:08They went to the NFC Championship again the next year.
36:13Then they went to submission for a decade.
36:17They spent more time on this than the actual Super Bowl.
36:22I never get tired of talking about it.
36:25I never get tired of seeing it.
36:27Because I, you know, sign pictures and send them to people,
36:30I see that catch every day.
36:32I may sit and think about that moment,
36:37you know, a couple times a year
36:38and, you know, how awesome it was to be a part of,
36:42to be a part of that play
36:43and be a part of the 49ers in, you know, the 80s.
36:50I mean, it's hard to get any better than that.
36:57There will never be Disneyland like that in my life again.
37:03It was a day I wish my son could have.
37:07Every sports fan or everybody that plays any sport could have.
37:11As long as we're alive.
37:13It wasn't the Super Bowl.
37:27You are looking live at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan,
37:32where the San Francisco 49ers and Cincinnati Bengals
37:35are getting ready for Super Bowl XVI.
37:38This is an event, of course,
37:39that has come to the frigid northern climes
37:41for the first time ever.
37:42And how is the weather outside this beautiful arena?
37:45This weather sucks.
37:47I'm freezing.
37:48That's a...
37:48The wind chill factor is down to a minus 22.
37:53You see that monitor?
37:54We're looking like...
37:55You may have to cover us all day
37:56if that traffic jam doesn't lose enough down there.
37:58We were told absolutely, positively,
37:59do not go to the stadium early.
38:02We win.
38:03Uh-huh.
38:03Okay.
38:04And about eight or nine of us got in cabs
38:07and went to the stadium early
38:08and we missed the Vice President Bush traffic jam.
38:11But most of the team,
38:13including Bill Walsh and Joe Montana,
38:15was stuck in gridlock.
38:18For some reason, people weren't showing up.
38:21People who weren't there.
38:22And we were going,
38:23what the heck is going on?
38:25Are they five or six miles still, Jeff?
38:27It's going to be a half hour before they get here, though.
38:29Joe had this music box
38:31and he was playing This Is It.
38:33So they played that all the way there on the bus.
38:36This is it.
38:38They played it a couple times in the locker room
38:40and then turned it off.
38:41Bill came back through there
38:42and said to turn it back on.
38:44He wanted to hear it some more.
38:46I guess he thought it was sending the right message.
38:48This is it.
38:49This is it.
38:50Don't make any mistakes about it.
38:51It's it.
38:52It's the moment.
38:54Make no mistake where you are.
38:56This is it.
38:58Your back's to the corner.
39:01This is it.
39:02To hear that song before that game,
39:05pregame speeches,
39:06Bill didn't give pregame speeches.
39:08That song said more than any pregame speech.
39:12I love this song.
39:13You should ever say.
39:15It's here.
39:16The moment is now.
39:18This is the Super Bowl.
39:20I'm playing in the Super Bowl.
39:22This is it.
39:25Make no mistake where you are.
39:27This is it.
39:29You're going no further.
39:32This is it.
39:33It's 20 to nothing at the half.
39:36What I remember is making the mistake of thinking at halftime,
39:40this thing's kind of over.
39:42We're going to smoke these guys.
39:45Wrong.
39:46To me, the signature moment.
39:48They almost, they showed him.
39:50They really showed him who the originator of the West Coast offense was.
39:56You forgot the guy on the other side also worked with Bill Walsh.
40:00Ken Anderson.
40:03The Bengals actually scored more touchdowns in the Super Bowl and lost.
40:09Only time that happened.
40:14Of that game was Dan Bunz making that tackle.
40:19Late in the third quarter, Dan Bunz made the pivotal play in the greatest goal line stand in Super Bowl
40:26history.
40:27Alexander does not get in.
40:30Dan Bunz is the 49er who hit him at the half yard line.
40:37To be able to hit somebody that weighs 20 pounds heavier than you, to stone them.
40:44We all look for moments in sports where we feel that we own that moment.
40:51Danny Bunz would always own the moment of one of the greatest plays in Super Bowl history.
40:59We've got to go again, and that's what Forrest Gregg has already said.
41:02Go for it.
41:03We've got to go for it.
41:04We've got to go for it.
41:10From the two-foot line, calling signals on fourth down, has the ball, has it off.
41:15He's hit at the goal line.
41:16I don't believe he got in.
41:17I don't believe he's in there.
41:19The 49ers have held and missed it to the Niners crowd across the way.
41:30Johnson's big behind was 10 pounds wider.
41:33He could have jumped over.
41:36We've done it.
41:37We're world champions.
41:39I don't know if there will ever be another team like that team.
41:44Why do I say that?
41:46Because Joe Montana wasn't Joe Montana.
41:48I wasn't Ronnie Lyle.
41:50We didn't have what the Dallas Cowboys had.
41:53We didn't have any prime time players.
41:55Man, but what we had is we had heart, an insatiable heart of what it takes to win.
42:0249ers have won it.
42:04Bill Walsh and his staff and a team that comes from the pro football observers throughout the year.
42:10There has to be a bond between the players and the coach, a personal close bond.
42:16And we had it with him.
42:18He was this professor.
42:19He was this genius.
42:21He was, you know, the stone-faced guy.
42:25But to us, he was a lot more than that.
42:27I mean, he was a coach.
42:28He was a motivator.
42:29He was a friend.
42:31To see those guys pick him up and do that, there's nothing about that other than helping him enjoy what
42:38we've done.
42:45You're the world, Sam.
42:47You are.
42:48You are.
42:48You're the world, Sam.
42:51Mr. D, or whatever.
42:54Addie DeBartolo, who made it all happen.
42:57Did you ever doubt it?
42:58No!
42:59I am.
43:04And now we get to do it again.
43:07The 49ers hadn't won much of anything in their 36-year history.
43:10But now, said a fan, San Francisco is number one in two things, being weird and football.
43:16There are a few moments in my life I'll always be in the moment.
43:21I'll be there when my kids were born.
43:23You know, I'll be there when a lot of tragic things have happened to our country and other things in
43:29my life.
43:30But for me, I will always, you know, be in that season, in that moment.
43:39There you go.
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