You get it from somewhere.. After calling a timeout, White took the first down snap and was sacked by Lawrence Pillers, fumbling in the process. He was 61 years old. Another quarterback might not have artfully lobbed his pass high into the end zone the way Montana did. pic.twitter.com/k2cpWiUr42, Jimmy Garoppolo Cheated Death Immediately After Being Traded to the San Francisco 49ers, Who knows how many times you get your bell rung, Clark said on the 49ers Insider Podcast. And I encourage the National Football League Players Association (NFLPA) and the NFL to continue working together in their efforts to make the game of football safer, especially as it relates to head trauma. Elliot then set up a third-and-four with a six-yard run. This article has all the answers that you need. In 1988, he was inducted into the Clemson Hall of Fame. Actor Don Cheadle demonstrated the height of Clark's catch by standing on a stepladder in the end zone. Dwight Clark celebrates 35th anniversary of 'The Catch' with Clemson national title, Predicting the 2023 starting QB for all 32 NFL teams, from the locks to the wild cards, 49ers All-Pro Nick Bosa will 'break the entire bank,' but it might take time, A new home for Michael Thomas? Solomon caught a quick sprintout pass from Montana for an 8-yard score. Jim Stuckey recovered the dropped ball, giving the 49ers offense possession near midfield, and allowing Montana to kneel down twice and run out the clock. Clark played for the 49ers throughout his nine-year career. George Rose/Getty Images. Dwight Clark catches the ball! Video: FoxM9NJ In a touching tribute. [18] Clark finished the game with eight receptions for 120 yards and two touchdowns. In the Sports Illustrated article, Montana explained that he never saw The Catch, since he had just been knocked to the ground by Jones, but "I saw Dwight's feet touch the ground. His classic shot shows Clark high in the air, stretching skyward to corral the pass as Cowboys cornerback Everson Walls watches helplessly. Following his sterling career on the field, Clark worked his way through San Francisco's front office, ultimately rising to general manager. Clark was on the receiving end of the iconic game-winning touchdown -- memorialized as "The Catch" -- in the 1981 NFL Championship Game. He had two cameras, one with a 400-millimeter lens for capturing action at a distance. He said he suspected numerous concussions during his playing days contributed to his disease. Not only did San Franciscos winstart a dynasty, but its victory over Dallas also signaled the impending end of another: theCowboys underlegendary coach Tom Landry. The 49ers and Cowboys meet again this weekend in the NFL playoffs, and youll likely see and hear a lot about the iconic play. The following browsers are supported: Chrome, Edge (v80 and later), Firefox and Safari. In the October 16, 2001 episode "My Old Lady" of the American television sitcom/medical drama Scrubs, when a dying patient David asks if anyone has ever heard of The Catch, Turk comes in and says, "Niners-Cowboys, Joe Montana to Dwight Clark deep in the end-zone, zero time left. Five seasons after The Catch, Clark took a job in the 49ers' front office, where he won three more rings. Clark spiked the ball. Touchdown! Scott Ostler. Copyright 2023 Sporting News Holdings Limited. [16][31], Clark married Kelly Radzikowski in 2011. On 3rd-and-3, Clark leaped and caught a 6-yard pass from quarterback Joe Montana in the back of the end zone to tie the score, and Ray Wersching's extra-point kick advanced the 49ers to Super Bowl XVI. While the 49ers had begun the 1970s winning three consecutive NFC West titles (19701972) and losing two NFC Championship Games (1970-1971 seasons) to the Cowboys, they had spent the remainder of the decade as a losing team. Dallas managed to pick up a few first downs, but were forced to punt, and White's kick gave San Francisco the ball at their own 11 with 4:54 left in the game and three timeouts. His senior season, he hauled in an amazingly few number of receptions at 11. 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. Montana was flushed from the pocket, and as he faded backward and was hit, he lofted a high pass to Clark in hopes he could come down with it. 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark delivers a go-ahead touchdown in the 1981 NFL Championship Game against the Dallas Cowboys, ranks No. [11] After returning to the team, he was a backup wide receiver and finished with five receptions for 99 yards and a 19.8-yard average. "The Catch," 40 years ago this week, capped a magnificent 89-yard drive, a breathtaking 6-yard pass play, designed by coach Bill Walsh and executed spectacularly by quarterback Joe Montana and. NFL+ gives you the freedom to watch LIVE out-of-market preseason games, LIVE local and primetime regular season and postseason games on your phone or tablet, the best NFL programming on-demand, and MORE! Three of the Cowboys' defenders, defensive ends Ed "Too Tall" Jones and Larry Bethea and linebacker D. D. Lewis, chased a backpedalling Montana toward the sideline, and seemed certain to either send him out of bounds or sack him. [13] New head coach Bill Walsh had visited Clemson to scout quarterback Steve Fuller, Clark's roommate. 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. I don't know how I caught the ball. NFL Network broke down why WR Brandon Aiyuk and LB Dre Greenlaw are under-the-radar players to watch for in the NFC Championship Game. Here are five things you might not know about the teams, the players, the game and, yes, The Catch, from the pages of The Sporting News: TSN ARCHIVES: Swing right option dooms Dallas. Montana looking, looking, throwing in the end zone Clark caught it! On radio, it was Jack Buck and Pat Summerall doing the play-by-play and color respectively. Give us another down to make a play.". In the Eastern time zone, Renfrow scored his touchdown on Jan. 10, exactly 35 years after Clark made "The Catch.". 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. [19] During the 1981 season, Walsh had Montana practice that part of the play back in training camp. Clark tallied 506 catches for 6,750 yards and 48 touchdowns, along with 50 rushing yards in his nine NFL seasons with the 49ers. This page was last edited on 28 February 2023, at 14:31. 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. His wife . 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. On second-and-ten, Elliot ran the ball for six yards, to the Dallas six yard line, setting up a third and four for the 49ers, with a possible first down to be made at the 2-yard line and the ball spotted between the hashmarks as the team called their second timeout.[2]. Two subsequent touchdown passes by the 49ers to win home playoff games with the team trailing and facing 3rd and 3 with less than a minute to go have also been named after The Catch: 1981 NFC Championship Game: NFL Full Game, Last edited on 28 February 2023, at 14:31, 2019 College Football Playoff National Championship, "Jim jividen: Every NFC Championship Game in San Francisco 49ers History-Part 1", "1982 San Francisco 49ers offensive playbook", "49ers finally put away Cowboys To begin their Super Bowl run", "The backstory to Walter Iooss' photo of", "New England Patriots vs. Oakland Raiders Recap", "Joe Montana on 'The Catch' statues: 'An honor to be remembered forever', "100 Greatest Plays: Numbers 5-1 | NFL 100", @NFL: "No. This ended a remarkable period that saw the Cowboys play in 10 of 13 conference championship games, while Danny White, who had become Dallas' starting quarterback in 1980, drew criticism for "not being able to win the big game," despite leading the team to successful winning seasons. (Original Caption) San Francisco 49ers Dwight Clark (87, WR), goes up in the air in the end zone for the game-tying touchdown pass from Qb Joe Montana to set up the PAT which beat the Dallas . The NFL's 2023 Hall of Fame Game will feature the Cleveland Browns and New York Jets, the Hall announced Tuesday. How's this for an autograph gem: San Francisco 49ers legend Dwight Clark drawing up the play that was called on the famous "The Catch" in the 1981 playoffs. But they not only talk about it, they pass it down through the generations. "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. I am thankful for all of Dwights friends, teammates and 49ers fans who have sent their love during his battle with ALS. Yikes. After the workout was over, Walsh was impressed. Jets general manager Joe Douglas confirmed that Derek Carr will meet with the team a second time during the combine, but New York plans to look at every available option in the veteran quarterback market. However, Solomon, as Montanas intended receiver, was covered by the Cowboys. [23] In the 2018 NFL Films' "Dwight Clark: A Football Life", he was quoted as saying that it was probably a mistake to have accepted the position. The 49ers coach, Bill Walsh, assumed that it was a throw-away play and immediately began planning for the fourth down until he heard the cheers from the crowd. Clark played college football at Clemson University and was selected by the 49ers in the tenth round of the 1979 NFL Draft. He caught 80 passes including eight touchdowns in 1980 from quarterbacks Steve DeBerg and Joe Montana. 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. In the third quarter, San Francisco had another scoring opportunity when Dwight Hicks returned a punt 12 yards to midfield. Overseeing the entire operation was Hall of Fame owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who released his own statement on Clark's passing: "My heart is broken. Lined up in the slot on the right side in the first quarter, 49ers receiver Freddie Solomon took off for the flag as Clark, lined up wide right, curled inside. Dwight Clark! New San Francisco 49ers head coach Bill Walsh visited Clemson in 1979 to take a look at quarterback Steve Fuller, Clarks roommate. Not only did the winning touchdown catch lift the 49ers to their first-ever Super Bowl, but it has made history as one of the greatest catches in the history of the NFL. The Catch was the reason for a resurgence in visitors to the city after a tough couple of years caused by lots of negative press coverage. It was the second of three straight NFC title game losses for Dallas. You get dinged and you go back in or you stay in.. He was 61. A photograph of the catch by Walter Iooss, Jr., with Clark at the height of his leap and Everson Walls reaching out to try to block the ball, was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated the following week.[5]. It's a touchdown for the 49ers! However, Solomon slipped while running his route, thus ruining the timing of the play, as Clark was no longer in position to impede Solomon's defender. Before that, Walls had intercepted Montana twice. He scored a pair of touchdowns. New offseason, old question: What will 49ers do at quarterback? document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. The fact that Clark got drafted, much less made it on the roster of an NFL team came as a surprise to many. 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. In the Niners' version, Montana's first read was supposed to be receiver Freddie Solomon, who was supposed to shake loose via pick, just as Renfrow did. After a less-than-memorable rookie season where he caught just 18 passes, Dwight Clark made his mark with the 49ers catching 80 passes in 1980 from quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve DeBerg, including eight touchdowns. The crowd erupted. At Clemson, he wore #30, posting only 33 catches for 571 yards, 3 touchdowns and a 17.3-yard average (seventh in school history). 49ers: 30 years ago, photographer caught The Catch, SF 49ERS DWIGHT CLARK MAKING " THE CATCH " 49ERS VS. DALLAS COWBOYS, 10 JAN82, 1981 NFC championship game in San Francisco. The Examiner sold thousands of extra editions on Jan. 11, 1982, and even turned the photo into a modestly profitable poster. But the lingering image quickly became The Catch, partly because of Storey's shot and another famous photo by Sports Illustrated's Walter Iooss Jr. (which ran on the magazine's cover). Dwight Clark was never destined to be a star in the NFL, let alone make one of the greatest catches in NFL history. Its the same play Niners QB coach Sam Wyche called from the coaches booth on third and 3 from the Cowboys 6 with 58 seconds to play. The NFL has many notable moments. The San Francisco 49ers selected Clark with the first pick of the tenth round (249th overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft, even though some people in the organization questioned the selection at the time, considering he was seen as an undrafted free agent. With under a minute remaining and facing 3rd-and-3 from the Dallas 6-yard line, Montana rolled right, pump-faked, then fired to Clark, who made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone. The Catch and Ray Werschings ensuing PAT gave the 49ers a 28-27 victory over the Dallas Cowboys. "[18], Clark died of the disease on June 4, 2018. He led the NFL in receptions (60) during the strike-shortened 1982 season and made the Pro Bowl twice, in 1981 and 1982. As such, the Cowboys were able to cover Solomon perfectly. Things got even better for Dallas when Walls recorded his second interception from Montana on the next drive at the Cowboys 27. It's a madhouse at Candlestick! Sports enterprise reporter Ron Kroichick has worked at The San Francisco Chronicle since 1995, when he came from The Sacramento Bee. The rest is history, as Montana-to-Clark became one of the greatest connections in NFL lore. CNN Former San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Dwight Clark died Monday at age 61 after a battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or ALS. To his credit, when he did catch the ball, he made it count and averaged 18.8 yards per catch. Montana completed a 6-yard pass to Freddie Solomon to get the first down, then handed off twice to Elliot who gained eleven and seven yards respectively, but dropped a second incomplete pass on second-and-three from their own 41-yard line. This included a 45-14 win over the Dallas Cowboys earlier on in the year. "I would have been happy to be 8-8, team president Ed DeBartolo Jr. said on the eve of the NFC title game against the Cowboys. On June 4, 2018, Dwight Clark died from the disease. He also earned All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors in 1982 and won an additional Super Bowl in 1984. [11] Unheralded as a collegian playing alongside wide receiver Jerry Butler, Clark felt fortunate to get to the NFL.[12]. Clarks discovery was a complete accident, so the fact he was drafted and then made the roster of a respected team was seen to be quite surprising. 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