SAN JOSE – Brock Purdy sat rapt with attention on the California Theatre stage. Next to him, Steve Young, Jeff Garcia and Alex Smith reminisced about their best playoff wins as 49ers quarterbacks when, organically, it was time to teach the new kid about storied Candlestick Park.
“It’s too bad, Brock, as much as Levi’s is a beautiful stadium, that you didn’t get to experience Candlestick,” Garcia said of the 49ers’ 1971-2013 home.
“Candlestick breathed,” Young chimed in. “The whole thing kind of moved with you.”
Added Smith: “Every time I’m driving by Candlestick Park — the (freeway) sign still says Candlestick Park – I have my kids in the car and they are very tired of hearing about it. I can’t get it out of my head how electric it was to be a part of that.”
That trio then described the swirling winds, a “creepy” tunnel to the locker room, a soggy field that played mind games with opponents, and, storybook victories that vaulted the 49ers among the NFL’s elite franchises.
Of course, the most famous game at Candlestick saw the 1981 team overtake the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC Championship to launch a dynasty. And it took a go-ahead score on “The Catch” by Dwight Clark, who passed away five years ago after battling ALS.
Thursday night, the aforementioned four 49ers quarterbacks made for a captivating panel at the fourth annual Dwight Clark Legacy Series, which raises money for the Golden Heart Fund benefitting 49ers alumni.
Also during the 2 ½-hour program, Dre Greenlaw received the Dwight Clark Award from fellow linebacker and 2022 recipient Fred Warner, while defensive backs Ji’Ayir Brown and Renardo Green sat in on a panel with Eric Wright.
The main event showcased Purdy, in his blue jeans and boots, talking shop with three of his predecessors in the quarterback throne. They did not disappoint. There were laughs, inspirational words, and, historical revelations.
PLAYOFF TALES
The Candlestick chatter came off-script as Young, Garcia and Smith figuratively compared scars and medals from working that now-abandoned battlefield on south San Francisco’s shoreline.
Young reflected on the 1994 season’s NFC Championship Game breakthrough against the Cowboys, and how Candlestick’s quirks became a home-field advantage for the 49ers. Said Young: “It was wet, soggy. I remember we were warming up and Troy (Aikman, the Cowboys’ quarterback) saying: ‘What is this field?’ I’m, ‘Yeah, bro, it feels good to me.’ It was a unique place, with a unique feel.”
Garcia was the most gregarious speaker, and he was understandably sentimental about rallying the 49ers from a 38-14 deficit to beat the New York Giants in a January 2003 wild-card thriller. Recalling the 49ers’ calm approach, he vividly named out plays (shallow-cross to Terrell Owens, ‘Dragon’ route by Eric Johnson, ‘90 QB’ touchdown run by himself).
Said Garcia: “At the end of that game, walking through that tunnel, the baseball tunnel, back to our locker room, the feeling was awesome. It will live with me, it will live with that team, it will live with us forever.”
Smith also discussed that “100-yard tunnel, with pipes above you that are leaking,” as he recalled the 2011 team’s 36-32 divisional-playoff shootout with New Orleans. “The image of Candlestick, the back and forth with the fourth quarter, it was so loud, it did kind of come to life,” Smith said of the stadium. “There were so many of us who’d been through the seven coordinators in seven years: Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Joe Staley, Patrick Willis. We’d been through a lot of crap. It was certainly a moment for all of us to come together.”
PRESENT-DAY PURDY
Purdy is responsible for the 49ers’ last playoff win, when they rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to down the Detroit Lions in January’s NFC Championship Game. “All I remember, it was, ‘One play at a time from here on out.’ Everyone believed it. We had the guys to do it,” Purdy said. “… This was team football. It’s not one guy with the whole team on his back. It takes everybody in the organization.
“In that moment, I was, “This is not easy. The NFL is tough.’ To get to the Super Bowl, there’s going to be those crazy, nasty wins. That’s what comes to mind, how tough it is. But, man, is it worth it.”
A month into the offseason program, Purdy and the 49ers start organized team activities Monday. Unlike a year ago, Purdy and his throwing elbow are fully healthy, and with more game-time reps to learn from, he’s focused on improving “situational football” such as end-of-half scenarios.
“Obviously we have that taste in our mouth from last year, but we’re doing everything in our power for The Faithful,” said Purdy, noting that he’s already thrown passes to first-round draft pick Ricky Pearsall. “He’s a sharp kid, so he’s got a bright future.”
Brock Purdy, left, is joined by former San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Alex Smith, Jeff Garcia, and Steve Young during a panel moderated by Matt Maiocco at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at California Theatre in San Jose. (Cam Inman/Bay Area News Group)
ADVICE TO NOTRE DAME QB
Joe Montana was not part of this quarterback forum, but there was a quarterback from Notre Dame: senior Riley Leonard, who stood up in the audience and sought advice from the sage QBs. The condensed responses:
“Be confident in yourself. You’re good enough. … Whether you’re the first pick or the last, the road is not easy. There will be struggles. Embrace the struggles.” – Smith.
“Embrace the moment. You still have one more year of college football. You have an opportunity to be the best you can be for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Take advantage.” – Garcia.
Young asked Purdy to explain his “superpower of processing,” and Purdy relayed how his four years at Iowa State prepared him for NFL defensive schemes; Leonard is entering his fourth year.
SMITH’S LEARNING PROCESS
Drafted first overall in 2005, Smith began his eight-season tenure stricken by self-doubt and not enough offensive guidance. Once he made his starting debut in Week 5, the 49ers traded away Tim Rattay, leaving the untested Ken Dorsey and Cody Pickett as the 49ers’ other quarterbacks.
“I spent hours and hours by myself in the film room staring at a screen and not even knowing what I was looking at,” Smith said. “It was such a waste of time what I was doing. I was working really hard, putting in a lot of effort and it did zero results. I had no clue. I played in a shotgun, wide-open offense (at Utah). I didn’t even know West Coast terminology, and I struggled mightily.”
Adversity continued throughout Smith’s career, such as losing his job to Colin Kaepernick after a concussion midway through the 2012 season. But the biggest trial came when Smith sustained a life-threatening leg injury in 2018 with Washington. He won NFL Comeback Player of the Year in 2020 and then retired.
Said Smith: “The same self-doubt I dealt with as rookie was the same self-doubt when they were talking about cutting off my leg: ‘I’m stuck in a wheelchair, I can’t walk, and I’m thinking my life is over, I’ll never be able to play with my kids, I’ll never be able to go on a walk with my wife.’ We all deal with adversity and struggle.”
Smith coped with that adversity by channeling a motto (and pregame rallying cry) of former 49ers teammate Blake Costanzo: “Are you going to live today?”
––DATE TAKEN: 8/26/88— IJ FILE PHOTO: Bill Walsh confers on the sidelines with 49er quarterbacks Joe Montana, right, and Steve Young, left, during a preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks in 1988. — Martin E. Klimek — Marin IJ – Marin Independent Journal photo
BILL WALSH MEMORIES
Both Young and Garcia humorously and graciously reflected how the late Bill Walsh got them their 49ers’ start.
Young’s arrival came in a 1987 trade from Tampa Bay. “When (Walsh) offered the chance to come,” Young recalled. “he told me Joe just had two back surgeries and just had one a week ago, and ‘I don’t know how he’s going to recover.’ And I said, ‘Well I’m not happy to hear that. It’s a terrible thing. But if there’s an opportunity, I’ll take it. I’d love to take it.’
“I jumped in. I remember the first OTA or training camp practice and I got early and got dressed. I’d never met Joe my whole life, but obviously admired everything he did. The last guy out to practice is Joe and he comes running out, and the first thing I think is: he doesn’t look hurt. I turn to Coach Bill and say, ‘He’s not hurt.’ He did this many times (shrugs) and he’s famous for that. So off we went. … It was a mess, and it stayed a mess for a long time.”
Garcia drew Walsh’s respect as a fellow San Jose State product, but went undrafted and unsigned, so he played in the Canadian Football League. Garcia laughed as he told how Walsh thought Barcelona in the World Football League might be a shrewd move because of Garcia’s Mexican heritage. Eventually, Walsh signed him to the 49ers in 1999 as general manager.
“Brock was Mr. Irrelevant. I was more irrelevant, because I didn’t get drafted, looked at, signed or nothing,” Garcia said. “But that was OK. The little train still made his way up the mountain.”
Brock Purdy, left, is joined by former San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks Alex Smith, Jeff Garcia, and Steve Young during a panel moderated by Matt Maiocco at the Dwight Clark Legacy Series event on Thursday, May 16, 2024, at California Theatre in San Jose. (Cam Inman/Bay Area News Group)
QUEST FOR SIX
When the 49ers won their last Super Bowl 30 seasons ago, Young thew six touchdown passes in their win over the Chargers, but that left him two short of offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan’s emphatic goal of eight touchdown passes.
“Six touchdowns is kind of unusual. How do you throw six touchdowns? Go for eight,” Young said. “That’s the DNA that Brock inherits, because Kyle (Shanahan) and Mike are very similar dudes. He’s the kind of guy that will look in the eye and say there are eight touchdowns out there. We’re in good hands.”
Young’s left-handed throws weren’t so hot on Labor Day of his sophomore year at Greenwich High in Connecticut. He threw six interceptions as the junior varsity quarterback, and he vividly recalls seeing one ball slip from his hand and hover of his helpless body. “It was not going to go down like that. And I never threw six ever again,” Young said. “I threw six touchdowns, not six interceptions.”
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HAVING BROCK’S BACK
Purdy, with his surgically repaired throwing elbow, broke Garica’s single-season record (by two yards) with 4,280 passing yards last season. Garcia noted on stage he still totaled more total yards that 2000 season when factoring in his career-high 414 rushing yards to Purdy’s 144 rushing yards. “That is the bulldog at the pant leg of life,” Young interjected of Garcia’s yard-record objection.
Garcia and the other quarterbacks voiced staunch support for Purdy and the 49ers’ future. “With this man leading the pack, we’re going to compete in every single game,” Garcia said.
Added Young: “Brock’s now our leader. It’s a fun time to be a 49er fan.”
“Listen, Brock doesn’t need any advice from me,” Smith said. “What Kyle and John have built, this sustained level of success, is really rare. You hope the experience these guys had last year of getting that close to the top of Everest and not quite getting it, is maybe just what they needed, as hard as it is to take. You’re starting back over right now. We all feel the same way about what they’re capable of, and we’re excited to cheer them on this fall.”
FINAL QUOTE
“There is no greater feeling for an NFL quarterback than to stand in the pocket with someone bearing down on you and to not even flinch, to deliver a ball, take a hit and be accountable to the 10 other guys on the team to make that play, to be on your back and hear that roar. It’s certainly not being at the combine and running the 40 in your spandex.” – Smith.
