49ers lineman became successful architect
Defensive lineman Stan Hindman, who spent his entire sevenyear, 76game career with the 49ers before becoming a successful Bay Area architect, died July 15 at age 76.
Hindman, who lived in Oakland, passed away about four years after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s.
Hindman, the No. 11 pick in the 1966 NFL draft, also was selected by the Houston Oilers with the No. 12 pick in the 1966 AFL draft. He joined the 49ers after a standout career as a twoway lineman at Ole Miss, where he was a threetime, AllSEC guard and a firstteam AllAmerican as a senior, when he was also a cocaptain.
Hindman is a member of the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and was selected to Ole Miss’ Team of the Century in 1993.
He made 40 of his 45 career starts with the 49ers in his first four seasons, before suffering a serious knee injury. Hindman retired in 1971 and returned to play in eight games in 1974 when injuries depleted the team’s defensive line.
After the NFL, Hindman earned a degree in architecture from UCLA and spent more than 30 years designing homes, opening his own practice after working at a few small firms.
Hindman was an academic AllAmerican in 1965 and earned an NCAA postgraduate scholarship in 1966. In a 2007 story in the Oakland Tribune, Hindman said architecture was the pursuit from which he derived the most “inner satisfaction” in his life.
Hindman’s son, Cylus, described his dad as a “gentle giant,” a man whose few words often contained wisdom and humor.
“People who knew my dad back when he was playing football knew him as kind of a Renaissance man,” Cylus Hindman said. “He was premed before he played for the 49ers, and he was very interested in art and sculpture.”
Hindman is survived by his wife of 24 years, Anna, and two other children, Mattie Hindman and Kate Parks.