TEARS, TRIBUTE FOR 49ERS LEGEND
Clark stricken with ALS: “I think you all know I’m going through a little thing right now. And I need your prayers and thoughts.”
S.F. receiver who made ‘The Catch’ speaks slowly, but with a strong voice
SANTA CLARA >> Joe Montana and Dwight Clark were training camp roommates during their rookie year of 1979. One of the things Montana remembers most is that Clark never bothered to unpack his bag.
“He always thought he was going to get cut,’’ Montana told a hushed Levi’s Stadium crowd Sunday. “But here he is. He’s stood the test of time.”
The receiver is still here, now and forever. As a salute to his lasting impact, and as a thank you for the countless lives he altered, the 49ers held “Dwight Clark Day” on Sunday.
“(Teammates) love helping him button shirts. Helping him put on a jacket. Helping him in a chair. It’s like, ‘It’s no problem. He’s my brother.’ ” — Carmen Policy
It made for an afternoon that was, in the words of former 49ers executive Carmen Policy, “amazingly special, but at the same time amazingly bittersweet.”
Clark, 60, the man behind “The Catch,’’ is battling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease.
This was his Lou Gehrig moment. In the most famous speech in sports history, the ailing Yankees slugger told a teary-eyed crowd in 1939 that: “Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”
Clark knows the feeling. “I think you all know I’m going through a little thing right now,’’ he told the crowd in a halting voice. “And I need your prayers and thoughts. I appreciate those that you’ve been giving me.”
Clark spoke from a private suite high above the playing field during halftime of a 40-10 loss to the Dallas Cowboys, the team he beat for “The Catch.”
Throughout his speech, former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo stood to Clark’s right while occasionally dabbing tears from red and sorrowful eyes.
Clark is in a wheelchair because of the terminal neuromuscular condition that affects his ability to move, speak, eat and breathe. Physically robust even long into retirement, he’s suddenly down about 50 pounds from his playing weight of 212 pounds.
Clark spoke slowly Sunday, but his voice was strong. So was his message. In fact, he went into overtime after the PA announcer prematurely cut off his remarks like the orchestra playing off an Oscar winner.
Clark simply waited out a few bars of Tina Turner’s “The Best” and picked up where he left off. There was still more he wanted to say. And he knew this might be his last chance to say it publicly.
Clark wasn’t going to surrender the microphone without thanking DeBartolo.
“Forty years later, he’s still taking care of me,’’ he said. “He’s called all over the world trying to find the best remedy for ALS. He’s sent me to Japan to get medicine there. I think I can never, ever thank the DeBartolo family and Eddie D for what he’s done.”
Clark revealed in March that he was battling the fatal disease. The 49ers asked him what they could do. A fundraiser? A function? Clark’s answer was that he wanted a reunion of his teammates. “So I could see them one more time,’’ he said.
The 49ers responded on Sunday by reuniting 37 members of the 1981 Super Bowl-winning team, the one that launched a dynasty behind Montana’s golden throw and Clark’s magnetic fingertips.
They gathered en masse behind Montana at halftime, although it would be inaccurate to call them former teammates.
They are fighting with Clark, still.
“They love helping him button shirts,’’ Policy said. “Helping him put on a jacket. Helping him in a chair. It’s like, ‘It’s no problem. He’s my brother.”
Clark is best known for his 6-yard grab with 58 seconds left against the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC Championship Game on Jan. 10, 1982. They showed played a mini-documentary of the play during halftime Sunday, with Vin Scully providing the narration.
Scully was the man behind the microphone for CBS when “The Catch” gave the 49ers a 28-27 victory over the Cowboys and forever altered the NFL landscape. (For one thing, it was Scully’s last call as a football broadcaster.)
The 49ers would go on to play bigger games, including five Super Bowl triumphs, but no moment better defines the franchise.
During the halftime tribute Sunday, Montana acknowledged that Clark needed no introduction.
“He’s very well known to all you 49ers fans — and, oh, yeah, to you Cowboys fans, too,’’ the Hall of Fame quarterback cracked, smiling wide. “Any time you turn on the NFL and you’re watching TV, you’ll see him flying high in the back of that end zone and making one of the most iconic catches in NFL history.”
Behind the scenes Sunday, players talked more about Clark’s heart than his hands. The smoothtalking charmer from Kinston, North Carolina, was a popular player from the moment he arrived as a 10th-round pick from Clemson in 1979.
Mike Wilson, a former 49ers receiver who shared a locker next to Clark for eight seasons, recalled that the receiver never stopped counting his blessings.
“Dwight would always sit there and pinch himself. He could not believe he was playing this game,’’ Wilson said a few hours before kickoff. “He gave a lot of credit to Bill (Walsh) for seeing something in him that nobody else saw.”
Steve Bono, the former 49ers backup quarterback, never played with Clark. But as the alumni coordinator, he’s been part of numerous events with the charismatic two-time Pro Bowl selection.
“Three days ago, I had lunch with him and even in the condition that he’s in he still has a smile on his face,’’ Bono said.
Because Clark’s ability to speak is fading, he might someday turn to a voice recognition system to help convey his thoughts. Bono said they’d better program it with the phrase: “Good gosh, almighty!” because it’s one of Clark’s favorite sayings.
Clark was bon vivant in part because he knew his entire career was the result of a happy accident. Walsh discovered him in 1979 when the coach went on a scouting mission to Clemson to check out a promising quarterback named Steve Fuller.
Clark was headed out for a round of golf when he got an invitation to go catch the passes during Fuller’s workout.
“Only one guy impressed Bill,’’ former 49ers offensive lineman Randy Cross said this weekend, “and it wasn’t Fuller.”
People remember Gehrig’s speech mostly for his “luckiest man” line. Oft forgotten is how he ended: “I might have been given a bad break, but I’ve got an awful lot to live for.”
Clark got a reminder of that Sunday. Good gosh, almighty, did he ever.