1 pick, 49ers figuring out how to take next step in Super Bowl quest, Ideal landing spots for the NFL's top 50 free agents: Here's where each player fits best, From Baroque to the big game: The fine art of the NFL playoffs, Where could Derek Carr land now? That era-defining play shifted the balance of power in the NFC, ending the hegemony of the 1970s Cowboys and launching the 49ers' dynasty of the 1980s. All stats courtesy ofPro Football Reference. In the Eastern time zone, Renfrow scored his touchdown on Jan. 10, exactly 35 years after Clark made "The Catch." Dwight Clark's catch beat the Cowboys and remains one of the iconic moments in NFL . The 49ers made the playoffs eight out of the next ten seasons and won three more Super Bowls in the 1980s, becoming the NFLs best dynasty of the decade. The "Good Morning Football" crew revealed New York Giants running back Saquon Barkley, San Francisco 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Seattle Seahawks quarterback Geno Smith for Comeback Player of the Year finalists. In 2002, the NFL ran a series of advertisements promoting the playoffs, using famous plays as a uniting theme. 3 of 5 4 of 5 Photographer John Storey visits Candlestick Park in San Francisco, Calif. on Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012, where he captured the iconic image of Dwight Clark's famous touchdown catch . Your email address will not be published. Clark disputes that assertion, claiming that it was a backup plan that they practiced many times. The Catch symbolized the end of the Cowboys' domination in the NFC since the conference's inception in 1970, and the beginning of the 49ers' rise as an NFL dynasty in the 1980s. Dwight Clark, a receiver for the San Francisco 49ers, is best known for making what is now seen as one of the most iconic catches during the 1981 NFC Championship. Then 49ers running back Bill Ring lost a fumble on his own 29, leading to White's 26-yard touchdown pass to Tony Hill that put the Cowboys up 107. "I thought it was too high," said the 6-3 Clark, "because I don't jump that well. The skills Clark displayed throughout the workout were something that the 49ers had never seen on tape before. At 6ft 4in (1.93m), his first love was basketball, but he accepted a scholarship to play college football at Clemson University.[9][10]. The fact that Clark got drafted, much less made it on the roster of an NFL team came as a surprise to many. He was Executive Vice President and Director of Football Operations from 1999 to 2001. The Catch refers to the winning touchdown reception by Dwight Clark off a Joe Montana pass in the January 10, 1982, NFC Championship Game between the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. Thirty years later, John Storey remains grateful it was Joe Montana scrambling to his right on that memorable January 1982 day. It wasn't a John Elway pass - that might have been somewhere in the bleachers, he threw so damn hard.". It's great to give 49er fans that moment that they can relive over and over and over, and I know they do because when I am in San Francisco and a lot of places, people want to talk about that play and how it crushed the Cowboys and sent them into submission for a decade. Montana threw the ball to a location where only Clark could reach it; if he missed the catch it would have sailed harmlessly out of bounds. A 22-year-old rookie free agent, Walls had led the NFL in interceptions that season with 11 a mark that went unmatched for 40 years until Cowboys cornerback Trevon Diggs did it this season. ", Holmes, of course, was heavyweight champion Larry Holmes. The San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals shared a moment of support for Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin before the teams' Week 18 matchup at Levi's Stadium. "Back then, you didn't know (at first) if it was sharp.". Clark spent the entirety of his nine-year career with the 49ers, ranking third and fourth in franchise history in receiving yards (6,750) and receptions (506), respectively. Though the ball looked like it was heading out of bounds, Clark made a successful leaping grab and tied the game. He was 61. Watch highlights of linebacker NaVorro Bowman performing at the 2010 NFL Scouting Combine. So, Montana had to improvise. The Catch is widely regarded as one of the most memorable events in NFL history. As a sophomore, he was named the starter at strong safety, but he disliked the position and left school to go back to his hometown in Charlotte instead. I didn't want to take a loss in that situation. Learn how your comment data is processed. That allowed the newspaper to fill its front page with the image of Clark reaching for the heavens to catch Montana's pass. After a couple of early-season losses in 1981, San Francisco, with Montana in charge, cruised into the playoffs with a 13-3 record, which included a 45-14 thumping of the Dallas Cowboys earlier in the year. He was second on the team with 11 receptions for 207 yards and 2 touchdowns, including a career-high 68-yard touchdown catch against the University of Maryland that helped the Tigers win the ACC Championship. One of the most dramatic plays in NFL history took place 35 years ago. [21] He served as a team executive for the 49ers until 1998, when he resigned to become the first General Manager in the expansion era of the Cleveland Browns, after following Carmen Policy who would run the team under the ownership of Al Lerner. In fact, before his infamous part in The Catch, the Cowboys cornerback had recovered a fumble by the 49ers Walt Easley. 'The Catch' at 40: 5 things to know about that 49ers-Cowboys game. In retirement, Clark expressed remorse about the end of Candlestick Park, saying that "It was a dump [but] it was our dump, so we could talk bad about it, but we didn't want anybody else to talk bad about it. Ahead of Sunday's matchup with the Los Angeles Rams, the San Francisco 49ers unveiled statues depicting "The Catch" -- Dwight Clark's iconic game-winning touchdown in the 1981 NFL. The game was broadcast nationally in the United States by CBS. The argument could be made that Walls was an indispensable piece of a Cowboys defense that helped the team reach the NFC Championship that year. Dwight Clarks The Catch is now immortalized in the sporting world. Dallas responded with Danny White's 20-yard pass to Butch Johnson setting up a 44-yard field goal by Rafael Septin. Clark stayed with Cleveland until 2001. Dwight Clark catches the ball! Montana completed two quick passes to Clark and Solomon respectively and the 49ers called a timeout with the ball on the Dallas 12. Jim Stuckey recovered for the 49ers and the rest is history. He caught 80 passes including eight touchdowns in 1980 from quarterbacks Steve DeBerg and Joe Montana. I see that catch every day. His senior season, he hauled in an amazingly few number of receptions at 11. He scored a pair of touchdowns. Our hearts and prayers are with his wife Kelly, his children and the entire Clark family.". It was just a great life. In 2021, Kroichick earned an Associated Press Sports Editors Top 10 award for his feature on Stanford quarterback Tanner McKee conquering cancer. Things got even better for Dallas when Walls recorded his second interception from Montana on the next drive at the Cowboys 27. The Catch is widely regarded as one of the greatest plays in National Football League (NFL) history. In 2018, he was inducted into the South Carolina Football Hall of Fame. Vin Scullys call, his last on footballfor CBS: "Of course for the upstart 49ers they are 6 yards from (the Super Bowl in) Pontiac (Mich.) Third and three. The browser you are using is no longer supported on this site. Future Hall of Fame DB Ronnie Lott was flagged twice for crucial pass interference calls that extended Cowboys drives. Dallas responded with an 80-yard drive, including a controversial pass interference penalty on 49ers defensive back Ronnie Lott which nullified his interception and gave the Cowboys a 35-yard gain to the San Francisco 12-yard line. The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge (v80 and later), Firefox and Safari. The San Francisco 49ers defense is the Nickelodeon MVP of Week 13, 2022. Meanwhile, the Cowboys, one of the most successful NFC teams in the 1970s with five Super Bowl appearances and two wins, never made it back to the Super Bowl in the 1980s. Montana, looking looking throwing in the end zone. George Rose/Getty Images. "I will always remember Dwight the way he was -- larger than life, handsome, charismatic and the one who could pull off wearing a fur coat at our Super Bowl parade. This was a team, Joe Gergen wrote in The Sporting News, that bypassed mediocrity. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. He went on to become Director of Football Operations for the reconstituted Cleveland Browns from 1999-2002. He was a member of two Super Bowl-winning teams (XVI and XIX). San Francisco wide receiver Dwight Clark made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone to complete a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana, enabling the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28-27. His wife . Montana lines up at the five and on third down and three he rolls right, looking to throw looking to throw and he throws into the end zone Touchdown! The drive began with an incomplete pass to Lenvil Elliot. The "Good Morning Football" crew broke down the top storylines following the San Francisco 49ers win vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Levi's Stadium. [24] He would later return to North Carolina to run his real estate business. Dwight's personality and his sense of humor endeared him to everyone he came into contact with, even during his most trying times. Although Pete Carroll seems to want QB Geno Smith back in 2023, the Seahawks HC said Tuesday that picking at the No. Getty Dwight Clark Dwight Clark, the beloved wide receiver for the the San Francisco 49ers during the 1980s, died on Monday. On television, Vin Scully called the play-by-play and Hank Stram did the color commentary. [18] Clark finished the game with eight receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns. Here's NFL Network's list of everything you need to know for the 49ers Week 14 matchup vs. the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Cowboys managed to make the playoffs in the 1983 and 1985 seasons, only to be knocked out in their first game (Wild Card round in 1983; Divisional round in 1985), then failed to reach the postseason for the rest of the decade. In 2017, Clark shocked the sports world when he announced that he had been diagnosed with Lou Gehrigs Disease or ALS. It was supposed to be a pass to Freddie Solomon, who scored on the play earlier in the game. This would be the final professional football game that Vin Scully would call the play by play as well as the final game that Pat Summerall did color commentary before moving to play-by-play announcer for the rest of his broadcast career (Summerall had moved from color commentator to play-by-play midway through the 1974 season; working color commentary here as a substitute for Jack Buck's regular radio partner Hank Stram; who was also Scully's main television broadcast partner during the 1981 season). However, the Cowboys soon returned the favor with Danny White's interception to linebacker Bobby Leopold, and this time the 49ers converted, regaining the lead at 2117 with a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Johnny Davis. The team retired his jersey in 1988. They might not have finished the job without big plays from Eric Wright (game-saving tackle), Lawrence Pillers (forced fumble) and Jim Stuckey (fumble recovery) on Dallas' last-chance drive. It's like a championship fight, like Snipes knocking down Holmes. This meant Montana had to improvise. The sideline was crowded with people, as usual, but he found a desirable spot along one side of the north end zone - across the field from where Montana scrambled. Following the Gatorade logo, the real version was shown with Dwight Clark's completion. Throughout the game, player momentum shifted equally between the two teams. On October 21, 2018, the 49ers unveiled a statue outside Levi's Stadium depicting The Catch. The representative of the 49ers on the other end managed to convince Clark to serve as Fullers receiver during his workout instead of playing golf. Here's NFL Network's list of everything you need to know for the 49ers Wild Card matchup vs. the Seattle Seahawks. Use Next and Previous buttons to navigate. After retiring Dwight Clark remained a part of the 49ers organization working as an executive in the front office. 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