A story related to the 49er's and Super Bowl.
My Superbowl story is from not quite 41 years ago. Our daughter was just 10 years old and an avid sports fan. Being born in 1979 and growing up in the Bay Area in the 80's and 90's she just assumed that her local football team (the 49er's and, when they were in Oakland, the Raiders) and her local baseball team (the Oakland A's and the SF Giants) would be winning championships almost all the time. My wife had no interest or knowledge of sports other than an occasional name. No facial recognition of players. In the late '80's she was on an NIH advisory committee and regularly flew to Washington for one day meetings. Of course the government would only pay for coach travel, but as a super frequent flyer, she always got free upgrades to business or first class. It was in February of 1989, and George Bush (senior) had just been sworn in as the new president. The 49er's had won their third superbowl and she was flying to DC. As normal, she was oblivious to her surroundings in the airplane, focusing on the documents for the next day's meeting.
However, when she got off the plane, she noticed that there were a very large number of young men around her who were departing, and some other passenger said, "look, the 49er's". She got on the shuttle to the main terminal, and being in business class, it was the first one to depart, filled with other business class passengers, including the 49er's. She did notice a grey haired man sitting across from her, and recognized the 49er's coach, Bill Walsh. Pulling a yellow pad out of her case, she asked him for an autograph for our daughter. Next she thought of the only player she knew, Joe Montana. However, she had no idea what he looked like. She knew he was white, so she looked for the biggest white person on the bus, thinking that must be the best player. She had him sign her yellow pad. Looking at it, she knew the signature wasn't Joe Montana. (It was Riki Ellison - a linebacker!). So when they got to the terminal, rather than just leaving with her carry-on, she followed the 49er's to the luggage carousels and asked one of the players where Joe Montana was. He pointed across the way to Joe and his wife Jennifer (whom my wife thought was extremely thin.) She was also very surprised at how small Joe was (about my size). Joe was very cordial and signed the yellow sheet, with a greeting to our daughter, also named Jennifer.
We later found out that the 49er's were coming to the White House to meet the president after their super bowl victory, and that they were taking a commercial flight, rather than a charter - taking up most of the first class and business class sections of that flight (TWA).
My wife did remember that during the flight, people seemed very happy and there was this quite short man, running up and down the aisles of the plane, exuberantly greeting the players (probably owner Eddie deBartolo). Of course, the punch line, was that after returning home and gifting our only child with this precious souvenir, our daughter responded - "Why didn't you get Jerry Rice?"
Larry
My Superbowl story is from not quite 41 years ago. Our daughter was just 10 years old and an avid sports fan. Being born in 1979 and growing up in the Bay Area in the 80's and 90's she just assumed that her local football team (the 49er's and, when they were in Oakland, the Raiders) and her local baseball team (the Oakland A's and the SF Giants) would be winning championships almost all the time. My wife had no interest or knowledge of sports other than an occasional name. No facial recognition of players. In the late '80's she was on an NIH advisory committee and regularly flew to Washington for one day meetings. Of course the government would only pay for coach travel, but as a super frequent flyer, she always got free upgrades to business or first class. It was in February of 1989, and George Bush (senior) had just been sworn in as the new president. The 49er's had won their third superbowl and she was flying to DC. As normal, she was oblivious to her surroundings in the airplane, focusing on the documents for the next day's meeting.
However, when she got off the plane, she noticed that there were a very large number of young men around her who were departing, and some other passenger said, "look, the 49er's". She got on the shuttle to the main terminal, and being in business class, it was the first one to depart, filled with other business class passengers, including the 49er's. She did notice a grey haired man sitting across from her, and recognized the 49er's coach, Bill Walsh. Pulling a yellow pad out of her case, she asked him for an autograph for our daughter. Next she thought of the only player she knew, Joe Montana. However, she had no idea what he looked like. She knew he was white, so she looked for the biggest white person on the bus, thinking that must be the best player. She had him sign her yellow pad. Looking at it, she knew the signature wasn't Joe Montana. (It was Riki Ellison - a linebacker!). So when they got to the terminal, rather than just leaving with her carry-on, she followed the 49er's to the luggage carousels and asked one of the players where Joe Montana was. He pointed across the way to Joe and his wife Jennifer (whom my wife thought was extremely thin.) She was also very surprised at how small Joe was (about my size). Joe was very cordial and signed the yellow sheet, with a greeting to our daughter, also named Jennifer.
We later found out that the 49er's were coming to the White House to meet the president after their super bowl victory, and that they were taking a commercial flight, rather than a charter - taking up most of the first class and business class sections of that flight (TWA).
My wife did remember that during the flight, people seemed very happy and there was this quite short man, running up and down the aisles of the plane, exuberantly greeting the players (probably owner Eddie deBartolo). Of course, the punch line, was that after returning home and gifting our only child with this precious souvenir, our daughter responded - "Why didn't you get Jerry Rice?"
Larry
