Sports Illustrated The San Francisco 49ers at 75

By The Editors of Sports Illustrated

Celebrate the championship glory, Hall of Fame personalities, and passionate fans that make the San Francisco 49ers one of the most beloved franchises in football

The oldest professional sports team in the Bay Area, the San Francisco 49ers have thrilled their loyal fans for seven and a half decades. Founded in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference, the 49ers joined the NFL when the leagues merged in 1949.

Playing in old Kezar Stadium at in Golden Gate Park, the 49ers found fleeting success in their early years, reaching the playoffs just once in the 1950s and '60s. From those humble beginnings emerged one of the NFL's most successful franchises.

Seven Super Bowl appearances, five Super Bowl victories. A head coach in Bill Walsh who forever changed the sport. And a roster of Hall of Famers: Y.A. Tittle, Joe Montana, Steve Young, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott, and more.

Sports Illustrated celebrates the franchise with The San Francisco 49ers at 75, an extraordinary collection of classic stories and photographs from the pages of SI. This commemorative book also solutes, in words and pictures, the 49ers' dedicated fans.

From Kezar to Candlestick to Levi's, fans will unearth golden nuggets from the 49ers's past on each page of this diamond celebration.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sports Illustrated
• Release date: Nov 9, 2021
• ISBN: 9781641257725

Book preview

Contents

The Players

A selection of the many players who turned the 49ers into an iconic franchise

Steve Young | John Brodie | Y.A. Tittle | Joe Montana | Joe Perry | John Henry Johnson | Jimmy Johnson | Hugh McElhenny | Ronnie Lott | Dave Wilcox | Charlie Krueger | Leo Nomellini | Fred Dean | Bob St. Clair | Dwight Clark | Jerry Rice | R.C. Owens | Roger Craig | Gordon Soltau | Charles Haley | Tom Rathman | Terrell Owens | Bryant Young | Frank Gore | Vernon Davis

The Stories

A collection of the finest stories on the 49ers from

Sports Illustrated

The 49ers Lose Their Cool and Get Hot by Tex Maule

There’s Gold In Them Thar Spills by Tex Maule

Hitter with Heart by Jill Lieber

An American Dream by Leigh Montville

Nothing Short of Perfection by Rick Telander

The Greatest of Rivals by Austin Murphy

On Top of the World by Michael Silver

The Top of His Game by Michael Silver

The Kap Effect by Greg Bishop and Ben Baskin

The Super Bowls

In their first five Super Bowl appearances, the 49ers were 5–0

49ers by the Numbers

The Covers

The 49ers took the field for a game against the Giants at Candlestick Park in 2012.

Tommy Davis attempted a kick against the Packers in 1962.

Jimmy Johnson always put his speed to good use on the defense.

Passion for the 49ers runs deep in the Bay Area.

The Players

Beginning with their inaugural NFL season in 1950, a succession of stars helped turn the 49ers into one of the league’s premier franchises

Leo Nomellini (73) and Clay Matthews Sr. (83) during a game against the Los Angeles Rams in 1954.

Steve Young

• Quarterback 1987–1999

• Three-time Super Bowl champion

• Two-time NFL MVP

• Three-time All-Pro

• Seven-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 2005

• San Francisco jersey #8 retired 2008

Once the eighth-string quarterback at Brigham Young University, Steve Young began his professional career in the USFL before joining the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1985. A trade to the 49ers offered Young a fresh start, but he found himself backing up Joe Montana for four seasons. Young finally got his chance in 1991, then won the NFL MVP award in 1992 and again in 1994, the same season he led the Niners to victory in Super Bowl XXIX.

When finally given the chance to start for the Niners, Young made the most of it.

The battle for the Niners’ starting quarterback job between Young and Montana kept fans debating for years.

Needing a way to get around campus at BYU, Young’s father delivered his son his Oldsmobile with more than 200,000 miles on the odometer.

John Brodie

• Quarterback 1957–1973

• NFL MVP 1970

• All-Pro 1970

• Two-time Pro Bowl selection

• San Francisco jersey #12 retired 1973

John Brodie is the longest-tenured player in team history; his 201 games as quarterback far outpace Joe Montana (167) and Steve Young (150). An Oakland native who played college football at Stanford, Brodie joined the Niners in 1957 and became the starting quarterback in 1961 after Y.A. Tittle was traded to the New York Giants. Though the team missed the playoffs from 1958 to 1969, Brodie was a steadying presence and became the first Niner to win the NFL MVP award in 1970. He retired third in NFL history in passing yards, trailing only Johnny Unitas and Fran Tarkenton.

Brodie’s ascendancy led partly to the Niners’ trading Y.A. Tittle to the New York Giants.

Brodie led his team through the mud against the Browns at Kezar Stadium in 1962.

Brodie’s reward for his day in the mud was a 13–10 defeat.

Brodie spent 17 seasons in San Francisco, amassing a 74–76–8 record as a starting quarterback.

Y.A. Tittle

• Quarterback 1951–1960

• NFL MVP 1963

• Three-time All-Pro

• Seven-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1971

Yelberton Abraham Tittle Jr. set school passing records at LSU before starting his professional career with the Baltimore Colts in the AAFC. He joined the Niners in 1951 and by 1953 was part of the so-called Million Dollar Backfield, composed of four eventual Hall of Famers. Believing Tittle to be past his prime and looking to make John Brodie the starter, the team traded the 34-year-old quarterback to the New York Giants in 1961, where he led his new team to three NFC Championship Games and broke his own single-season record for touchdown passes in 1963.

Tittle was drafted by the Niners after the Colts folded following the 1950 NFL season.

Receiver Billy Wilson (left) and quarterback John Brodie (12) looked on as trainer Henry Schmidt treated Tittle’s injured legs in 1957.

Joe Montana

• Quarterback 1979–1992

• Four-time Super Bowl champion

• Three-time Super Bowl MVP

• Two-time NFL MVP

• Five-time All-Pro

• Eight-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 2000

• San Francisco jersey #16 retired 1997

Joe Montana’s case as the greatest quarterback in NFL history is simple: a 4–0 record in the Super Bowl, three Super Bowl MVPs, and the championship game’s all-time highest passer rating (127.8), which included 11 touchdown passes and zero interceptions. Over 14 seasons in San Francisco, Joe Cool teamed with head coach Bill Walsh to revolutionize the NFL with their West Coast offensive system.

Montana’s regular-season record as San Francisco’s quarterback was 100–39.

Montana scrambled toward daylight against the Dolphins in Super Bowl XIX.

Joe Perry

• Running Back 1948–1960, 1963

• Two-time All-Pro

• Three-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1969

• San Francisco jersey #34 retired 1971

The first Black player in Niners history, Joe The Jet Perry was the first NFL runner to record back-to-back 1,000-yard rushing seasons. He spent 14 years in San Francisco, and his 8,689 career rushing yards remain second on the franchise’s all-time list, behind only Frank Gore; he remains the franchise leader in rushing touchdowns, with 68. When Perry retired in 1963, he was the league’s all-time leading rusher, and was the first member of the Million Dollar Backfield to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, in 1969.

No Niners running back scored more touchdowns than Joe Perry.

John Henry Johnson

• Running Back 1954–1956

• NFL champion 1957

• Two-time All-Pro

• Four-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1987

Perhaps the most rugged member of the Million Dollar Backfield, John Henry Johnson made his impact felt during his three seasons with the Niners. Born in Louisiana, Johnson played high school football at Pittsburg in Contra County before going to college at St. Mary’s and later Arizona State. In 1954, he finished second in the NFL in rushing behind Joe Perry, for whom he served as a primary blocker. Football was like a combat zone, Johnson said. I was always told that you carry the impact to the opponent. If you wait for it, the impact will be on you.

Johnson rushed for 12 touchdowns during his three seasons in San Francisco.

Jimmy Johnson

• Cornerback/Wide Receiver 1961–1976

• Eight-time All-Pro

• Five-time Pro Bowl selection

• Pro Football Hall of Fame 1994

• San Francisco jersey #37 retired 1977

A track star at UCLA, Jimmy Johnson had no plans to