Sports Byline USA Insight
I recently had the opportunity to share in the honoring of a cherished and special friend. Ed DeBartolo, Jr. was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame. He’s the BASHOF’s first Sports Special Achievement inductee. The honor is certainly well deserved, but what I’ll always remember is how one man touched so many lives in so many unique, wonderful and special ways.
There has been a handful of sports team owners who have been fan, community and socially oriented. In the NFL, I think of the late Chiefs’ owner, Lamar Hunt, the late Wellington Mara of the Giants and the Rooney family, owners of the Pittsburgh Steelers. They all cared about their fans, the communities their teams represented and the players who made up their football families. You can certainly add Eddie DeBartolo to that exclusive list.
Our thirty-one year friendship has allowed me to witness something I’ve never seen in sports before. Eddie’s journey along this life and sports path is a unique and interesting one. He said it best, during his BASHOF induction speech, when he said, “My life began thirty-one years ago.” Thirty-one years ago, at the age of thirty, is when DeBartolo became the youngest owner in the National Football League. Unlike the other owners I mentioned above, Eddie was the least likely owner of the San Francisco 49ers. Hunt, Mara and the Rooney’s owned teams close to their roots and certainly in known, comfortable areas. Eddie, who grew up in the industrial town of Youngstown, Ohio, owned his NFL team in the “Disneyland” of America, San Francisco. Compared to Youngstown, San Francisco was like going to another planet.
I smile and laugh when I think of Eddie’s early ownership days. It was a baptism of fire, on and off the field. As I think back, those days were the first indication to me of his character and caring nature. He was brash, unsure of himself and even afraid that he might fail and bring embarrassment to his family. His closeness with his Dad probably also brought the fear of disappointing him. Not easy things to deal with at thirty-one and far away from his homeport of Youngstown.
Eddie’s “saving grace” in those early, difficult and challenging days was his enthusiasm for the team and his sincere, caring nature. Of course, that meant little to hardcore 49er and longtime Bay area sports fans as they watched their team lose week after week. If he couldn’t win on the field in those early days, he certainly could try to win the hearts of the fans. He mingled with the fans, he gave free tickets to kids who otherwise wouldn’t have seen the games and he promised the 49er faithful he would use every resource he had to give them a winner.
The hiring of Bill Walsh in 1979 is the most significant event in Bay area sports history. Its importance is marked not so much in what Walsh’s teams accomplished in winning Super Bowls, but more importantly in what his successful teams did in healing San Francisco and the Bay area. Two events, the Jonestown massacre and the assassination San Francisco Mayor George Moscone and city Supervisor Harvey Milk tore the town and area apart and thrust the community into shame and deep self doubt. DeBartolo and Walsh’s winning of Super Bowl XVI brought the city and Bay area together in joyful celebration that started a healing process that continued and was enhanced by the four Super Bowl Championships that followed. I hope Eddie can enjoy what his ownership and building the team did in making San Francisco and the Bay area a positive, productive community again.
With wealth and financial success comes responsibility and opportunity. Eddie has always understood and appreciated his fortunate position in life. Also, it can be a burden. I know how hard it is for Eddie to say “no” to someone. Having money is one thing, using it wisely and in a beneficial way is another. A person’s position in life has never been a factor in Eddie’s giving and caring. Yes, he took care of his players, their wives, children, also his friends, colleagues and those who work for him with thoughtful gifts and remembrances. But, also he was there to help those he casually or barely knew who also needed help. His heart has always been in the right place.
At a cocktail part of his family, friends, colleagues and former players, to celebrate his induction into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, I was struck by what quality people his former players had become. The days of pain, the disappointment in losing and the joy of winning are now just memories, but each of them have gone on to have fulfilling, rewarding, post football lives. Some in business, some in education and others in broadcasting. Again, Eddie has helped them as any head of a family would. The love for him crosses all racial, ethnic and social lines. In Eddie’s world, people are what count.
The stories, the adulation, the expressed love for a man who came from Youngstown and at thirty-one owned a football team filled a weekend of celebration. Eddie’s never comfortable hearing and having people tell him how much they love him, and thanking him for being in their lives. As a friend, I hope he finds at least one moment when he can reflect and enjoy knowing the happiness, joy, pride and success he brought to so many. And, I hope the next time we have a chance to celebrate it will be at his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. The kid from Youngstown deserves to be there.
I’m Ron Barr.
Ron Barr is an Emmy award winning writer and the host of the nationally and internationally syndicated sports talk show, Sports Byline USA.
A note from Eddie Debartolo, Jr....
Dear Ron,
I am truly at a total loss for words. Thank you is, by no stretch of the imagination, adequate. You are and always have been--and always will be ---one of my closest and dearest friends. I have never read, or had said of me, anything like you wrote. My deepest and heartfelt thanks to you my dear, dear friend from not only me-----but my entire family.
With deep gratitude and affection,
Eddie
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