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The Genius: How Bill Walsh Reinvented Football and Created an NFL Dynasty
by David Harris
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Product Description: The Genius is the gripping and definitive account of Bill Walsh’s career and how he built a football dynasty from the rubble of a fallen franchise. David Harris gives a stellar account of the silver-haired sophisticate from humble working-class roots who was hired as head coach and general manager of the San Francisco Forty Niners in January 1979 and became the architect of what is arguably the greatest ten-year run in NFL history.
With unmatched access to players, fellow coaches, executives, the reporters who covered the Niners’ heyday, and Walsh himself, Harris recounts how Walsh, through tactical and organizational genius, created a football juggernaut. There were also the demons that pushed and haunted Walsh throughout his career: his clash with his former mentor, Paul Brown, who denied Walsh his first pro head-coaching job with the Cincinnati Bengals; Walsh’s struggle with self-doubt and criticism; the toll his single-minded devotion to football exacted on his family; and his complex relationship with the Forty Niners’ owner, Edward DeBartolo, Jr.
Walsh’s pre-Niners coaching odyssey was arduous–a longtime assistant coach, he developed his legendary and now-standard pass-oriented West Coast offense during stops at all levels of the game. Despite never having run a team’s draft before, Walsh, along with his right-hand man John McVay, quickly built the foundation for a dynasty by drafting or trading for a durable core of stars, including Joe Montana, Fred Dean, Hacksaw Reynolds, Dwight Clark, and Ronnie Lott. (Walsh would later restock the team with such players as Jerry Rice, Steve Young, and Charles Haley.) The key to Walsh’s genius perhaps lay in his keen understanding of his athletes’ psyches–he knew what brought out the best in each of them. But the scope of Walsh’s impact on the game extended well beyond the field and locker room. The Forty Niners’ life-skills counseling program, which Walsh spearheaded with the sports sociologist and activist Dr. Harry Edwards, and the internship program Walsh devised to bring minority coaches into the game have since been adopted by the NFL for all league franchises.
In the annals of sport, few individuals have had as great an impact on their game–or on its relevance to life outside the lines–as Bill Walsh. With knowledge, skill, passion, and a critical eye, David Harris reveals the brilliant man behind the coaching legend.
The vision Bill Walsh brought to all his pioneering efforts was a function of his perception of himself as someone who was far more than a football coach. He cherished his standing and participation in the larger world outside the NFL and nurtured them at every opportunity.
“Knowing Bill Walsh was kind of like the blind man describing an elephant,” one of the sportswriters who covered him observed. “We all knew just one little piece of him. But he had all these other areas we knew nothing about. He dealt with lots of people outside of football, outside of our scope entirely. He was able to deal with politicians, people who were intellects in other areas. They were impressed by him.”
–from The Genius |
Then Steve Said to Jerry: The Best San Francisco 49ers Stories Ever Told (Best Sports Stories Ever Told the Best Sports Stories Ever T) with CD (Best Sports ... Ever Told the Best Sports Stories Ever T)
by Steve Silverman
We Were Champions: The 49Ers' Dynasty in Their Own Words
by Phil Barber, San Francisco 49Ers (Football Team)
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| Book Description: For 15 NFL seasons, during which they won five Super Bowl titles, no team in pro sports captured the public's fancy like the San Francisco 49ers. Thanks to a roster filled with superstars such as Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, and Ronnie Lott and an innovative coaching staff headed by the legendary Bill Walsh, the 49ers exuded an aura of invincibility in a sport in which every victory is hard fought. This is the story of the San Francisco dynasty in the players' own words, reflections and insights shared with the perspective of time, as they analyze the elements that combined to create pro football magic. Beginning with a stunning victory over the Dallas Cowboys and a berth in Super Bowl XVI and continuing through a victory in Super Bowl XXIV, the vital figures in 49ers history recall the pivotal moments, the clutch plays, and the smooth transitions that pointed toward the top of the NFL mountain. \"When people ask me how many Super Bowl rings I have,\" lineman Jesse Sapolu says, \"I don't mean to show a disappointed face, but I just say, `Four.' And they say, `You don't look very excited about it.' And I tell people, `Well, I lost five NFC Championship Games. That's a lot of big games to lose.' When I look back on my career, I should be sitting here with at least six, maybe seven Super Bowl rings.\" We Were Champions features the rare behind-the-scenes photography of Michael Zagaris, the 49ers' club photographer for more than two decades, in the definitive look at one of the most storied sports franchises. |
San Francisco 49ers: Where Have You Gone?
by Matt Maiocco
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| Product Description: In San Francisco 49ers: Where Have You Gone? many memories are revisited through profiles of 49 former players, ranging from colorful Visco Grgich, an original member of the organization, to Steve Young, the latest from the organization to be inducted into the Hall of Fame. Long before Young was honored in Canton, Ohio, in 2005, the 49ers have been well-represented in the pro football mecca. Among the Hall of Famers from the team's rich past are Joe Perry, Hugh McElhenny, Y.A. Tittle and Bob St. Clair. What became of those players? We have the answers in this book. Many former 49ers players' accomplishments after their playing careers concluded are just as noteworthy and amazing as what they did on the football field. John Woudenberg, Clay Matthews, Bernie Casey and John Frank each left the game at a young age to begin carving out ultra-successful careers outside of athletics. There are plenty of inspiring stories throughout the pages of San Francisco 49ers: Where Have You Gone?, such as John Brodie demonstrating an indomitable spirit after nearly losing his life to a stroke in 2000; David Kopay coming out of the closet to be a leader in the gay and lesbian community; Eason Ramson turning his life around after drugs and crime nearly destroyed him; and Jeff Fuller living a full and rewarding life after his promising career came to a sudden end with one of the scariest moments in franchise history. The answers are here for the question every die-hard fan has asked through the years, San Francisco 49ers: Where Have You Gone? |
Game of My Life San Francisco 49ers: Memorable Stories of 49ers Football (Game of My Life)
by Dennis Georgatos
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