The start of a beautiful friendship
Clark reached out to Walls after ‘The Catch,’ and he’s returning favor for ill 49er
There was cash to be made from “The Catch.” Even for Everson Walls. And he never would have known about the money if not for Dwight Clark.
In 1983, a year after Clark famously soared over Walls in the end zone at Candlestick Park, the 49ers wide receiver approached the Cowboys cornerback at an NFL awards banquet. Clark didn’t want to rub it in. He wanted to fill him in. He informed Walls that he’d been compensated by Kodak, which was using “The Catch” as part of an advertising campaign. Clark had creatively managed to make sure his buddy, Joe Montana, received a check by telling the company “He threw the pass!”
And he approached Walls with similar enthusiasm. His message: Let’s get you paid.
“I really didn’t know him, but Dwight didn’t even say hi,”
Walls said. “He came right up to me with a sense of urgency. And for him to give a crap about if I got my money? I know a lot of guys. Black, white, whatever. They wouldn’t do that. That goes to show how in tune he was as a peer. And that gave me pause: ‘Hey, this dude here is pretty cool.’ ”
The unexpected gesture launched an unlikely friendship: Who could have guessed that Clark, whose best professional moment was Walls’ worst, would later share special moments together?
Now, many joint autograph signings, countless laughs and 35 years later, Clark, the man forever flying over Walls in NFL lore, is stricken and Walls is flying from Texas to the Bay Area to honor him.
Sunday, on Dwight Clark Day at Levi’s Stadium, more than 30 members of the 1981 49ers will reunite to celebrate their 60-year-old teammate who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS.
Clark is in a wheelchair. Walls has heard he’s lost 50 pounds.
He will be the only member of the 1981 Cowboys to attend.
It’s the latest sweet gesture by Walls, who donated his kidney to his friend, former Cowboys running back Ron Springs, in 2007. Walls is the first professional athlete to give an organ to a teammate.
“Everson is just a wonderful guy,” said former 49ers linebacker Keena Turner, who invited Walls to the event. “He’s a very classy guy in the way he approaches things. For me, I don’t know if I could get over ‘The Catch,’ you know what I’m saying?”
Walls says Clark helped him make the best of it.
Their good-natured backand-forth over the years proved cathartic, and there was this: After Kodak refused to pay him, Walls successfully filed a lawsuit against the company.
Roared Walls: “I ended up getting a lot more than Joe and Dwight got put together!”
But Walls, 57, paid a price for what happened 35 years ago.
Before Clark’s play gave the 49ers a 28-27 win in the NFC Championship Game, Walls had made three huge plays.
“I was balling out, dude,” Walls said, laughing.
The undrafted rookie corner from Grambling had two interceptions and a fumble recovery; the second pick of a Montana pass came on the 49ers’ drive that preceded their 89-yard march that culminated with Walls looking up at Clark.
Clark’s fingertip catch obscured Walls’ brilliant game and foreshadowed what was to come in his 13-year career. Walls, a four-time Pro Bowl selection, ranks 13th in NFL history in interceptions (57) and is one of two players to lead the league in picks in three seasons.
Yet, many know Walls only as the flat-footed figure trailing Clark in one of the most iconic plays in NFL history. The image was captured on a Sports Illustrated cover, which Walls has often signed in the presence of Clark and adoring 49ers fans.
“I got to listen to people gush all over him and wait for people to finally pass it over to me so I could sign at the very bottom of it,” Walls said. “You know what I mean? His signature is all over the top. … And Dwight was very sensitive to that. Always.”
Walls and Clark have done a half-dozen or so autograph signings over the years, and Walls, remembering Clark’s gesture in 1983, often called him to let him know of an upcoming event.
Like many ex-Cowboys, Walls remains a huge figure around Dallas and has been in demand since his career ended in 1993.
Walls was struck by Clark’s grace over the years. As fans fawned over Clark, he deflected praise to Montana and other teammates. And when Walls fired sarcastic barbs at him, Clark, sensitive to Walls’ role in the play, always allowed him the last word.
So Clark would mostly grin as Walls noted how the legend of “The Catch” grew over the years, while his “little-bitty meek self kept flailing away in the end zone.” First, Walls says, Montana said he was throwing the ball away. Then, he says, Montana claimed he was throwing it to a spot where only the 6-foot-4 Clark could catch it.
“Then they started saying ‘Coach (Bill) Walsh, he’s a great coach,’ ” Walls said. “‘We worked on that in training camp because …’ And it was like ‘OK, guys. Let’s just stop. We’re getting a little carried away.’ ”
Walls offered this with yet another laugh. He’s clearly not bitter.
At one point, in fact, he had to stop himself from praising Montana: “I appreciated his fight. His heart. Well, I don’t need to be gushing over Joe. Joe’s got enough gush on him to last two lifetimes.”
Along with Clark, Walls counts two other members of the 1981 49ers, defensive backs Eric Wright and Dwight Hicks, as close friends. And he’s established a bond with Turner, whose charity golf tournament he’s attended in Tracy several times in recent years.
Both Walls and Turner joked about the fierce rivalry between the 49ers and Cowboys.
Turner, smiling, said he’s fairly certain Walls was the only ex-Cowboy on the guest list for Sunday’s celebration. And Walls howled, “Hell, no,” when asked if any other teammates would attend.
But Turner turned serious and noted how NFL players are bonded through their unique shared experience.
“I doubt that Everson would have come out the year after ‘The Catch,’ or would have come to my golf tournament, necessarily,” Turner said. “But there’s a connection with guys that have lined up. Because you know the sacrifice. You know what that guy has been through. And what he did to play. There’s a brotherhood.”
Indeed, Walls is brokenhearted and angry about NFL brothers such as Clark who are suffering. He is outraged that the league has been so slow to acknowledge the longterm effects of concussions, and to take other steps to enhance player safety.
One of his best friends, safety Dave Duerson, a teammate with the Giants, shot himself in the chest in 2011. At his request, Duerson’s brain was examined, and it was discovered he had trauma related to his playing career. In March, it was revealed that one of Walls’ heroes, Hall of Fame running back Gale Sayers, had dementia believed to be tied to football. Clark has said he suspects football has caused his condition.
“These are my peers,” Walls said. “The fans can hate all they want, but the players are really family. When you see your family members being afflicted in this manner, it is extremely upsetting. It makes you want to hit something.”
For his part, Walls remains in relatively good health after a long career that also included a Super Bowl victory. In January 1991, nine years after his first Sports Illustrated cover, he appeared again with his arms raised triumphantly after the Giants won a title.
“I tell people my life is about yin and yang,” Walls said. “You’ve got this. So don’t be sad or pissed off about that.”
Indeed, Walls, whose friend, Springs, died in 2011 from complications from diabetes, knows about sorrow and joy. And he expects to experience both emotions Sunday when he sees Clark, with whom he’s exchanged text messages since Clark revealed his condition in March.
How will he feel when he sees the stricken friend who will forever soar above him?
“I don’t really want to think about that right now,” Walls said. “I just want to make him feel better.”
“Everson is just a wonderful guy . ... For me, I don’t know if I could get over ‘The Catch,’ you know what I’m saying?” Keena Turner, ex-49er, on former Cowboys player Everson Walls (left)