Founding 49ers
Subtitle: the dark days before the dynasty
By: Dave Newhouse
Publisher: Black Squirrel Books
Published: 2015
Language: eng
Number of pages: 240
ISBN-13: 9781606352540
Subjects: San Francisco 49ers (Football team); History
Description: "The San Francisco 49ers are among the most dynamic franchises, not only in the National Football League, but in all of professional sports. They have won five Super Bowl titles and have produced some of football's most dynamic players in Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott, all of whom were coached by Bill Walsh, one of the game's most innovative thinkers. The 49ers' greatness did not come until 35 years after the franchise began in 1946. During those early years, they achieved no conference or league titles, even though they produced eight Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the celebrated "Million Dollar Backfield." Offering a detailed look at the 49ers' prolonged growing pains, from the 1940s through the mid-1970s, Founding 49ers focuses on that mostly unfulfilled time before the DeBartolo family rescued the franchise. Author Dave Newhouse provides a fascinating look at the 49ers' formative years through the eyes of the players who gave the franchise its foundation. Ex-49ers from the 1940s, 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s share their tales, including two members of the original 1946 team; Lou Spadia, the last surviving member of the 49ers' original front office; former 49ers coach George Seifert; and Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts, son of an early 49ers broadcaster. These mostly forgotten 49ers didn't win like their successors, but they were highly entertaining, they broke down racial barriers, and they turned San Francisco into a major-league city. Founding 49ers captures the history of those pre-Walsh 49ers like no book before it"--Back cover.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (page 227) and index.
Table of contents: title: Introduction; title: Pre-1946: Football in the Fog; title: 1946-47: The GI Joe League; title: 1948: Racism on the Gridiron; title: 1949: The Maestro; title: 1950: Stubbing Their Toe; title: 1951: The Bald Eagle; title: 1952: The King; title: 1953: Canadian Sunset; title: 1954: Buck Stops Here; title: 1955: Worth a Million; title: 1956: Favorite Son; title: 1957: Alley Oop; title: 1958: Club Hangover; title: 1959: Heir, Apparently; title: 1961: Ring Out the Old; title: 1962: The Dark Ages; title: 1963: Playing Hurt; title: 1964: The Rainbow Runner; title: 1956: Parks and Wreck; title: 1966: Money Talks; title: 1967: Executive Suite; title: 1968: Turning the Corner; title: 1969: Eyes on Texas; title: 1970: Deliverance; title: 1971: Nasty Man; title: 1972: The Waiting Line; title: 1973: Stroke of Bad Luck; title: 1974: Look, Toto, Kansas; title: 1975: Ladies in Charge; title: 1976: Winds of Change; title: 1977: New Boss Man; title: Epilogue.