Walsh looks back on 49ers past and ahead to future

With Joe Montana under center, Bill Walsh led the 49ers to four Super Bowl titles in 10 years of coaching the 49ers. Manny Rubio/WireImage.com

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By Michael Silver

(Editor's Note: This is a reprint of a story SI.com first published in January 2007.)

As he battles leukemia and comes to terms with, in his words, "the final stage of life," Bill Walsh has been doing a lot of reminiscing. For all of the football moments in his memory bank -- and given that Walsh is one of the NFL's greatest-ever coaches, and pro football's preeminent franchise-builder, there are many -- one image, in particular, has retained its high-def clarity.

Twenty-five years ago today, Walsh was the third-year coach of the upstart San Francisco 49ers as they hosted the Dallas Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship game at Candlestick Park. Trailing 27-21 in the final minutes, the Niners pulled off an 89-yard touchdown drive that ended in Dwight Clark's leaping, fingertip grab of Joe Montana's pass in the back of the end zone.

Because it launched a 49ers dynasty and helped trigger the end of a long run of excellence by the Cowboys, The Catch ranks with the most significant plays in NFL history. Two weeks later, when the 49ers defeated the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, the city of San Francisco had its first major professional sports champion, and the man who'd orchestrated it all was on the road to a Hall of Fame career.

Walsh, 75, was near death in November, and he received calls, letters and personal visits from former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, a certain ex-bodybuilder who has gone onto higher-profile occupations, and others. Walsh is feeling better now, at least for the time being, and on Tuesday he sat down for an interview over iced teas at the Sharon Heights Country Club in Menlo Park, Calif.

I've met Walsh in the summer of 1989, when I was a rookie beat writer for a now-defunct paper in Sacramento and he'd just accepted a job as NBC's lead NFL analyst, having resigned as the Niners' head coach after winning his third Super Bowl five months earlier. But in the interest of full disclosure, I'd grown up as a passionate 49ers fan who marveled at the man's impact on a perpetually woebegone franchise. And, truthfully, I remain awed by him, given how many of his philosophies -- and his direct and indirect coaching ancestors -- are still a part of the game.

Much of what Walsh and I discussed on Tuesday will be included in a forthcoming article for Sports Illustrated, but here are some of the highlights, including Montana's scariest moment against the Cowboys, the coach's rocky relationship with Howard Cosell and what still bothers him about the '81 NFC Championship game a quarter-century later.

Silver: It's good to see you.

Walsh: Yeah, trust me, it's good to be here. Four weeks ago I was in really, really bad shape. I went about a month where the only thing I could eat was crackers, and my body couldn't fight off any infections: My face was all swollen in two places, and the doctors were extremely concerned. But I've been going to the hospital three days a week and getting blood transfusions, and I'm doing a lot better. I've got hope, now. And I should find out very soon if my blood levels are what they want them to be or if they've slipped back. That would be ironic if I got sick again, because I've just gotten a taste of normal life for about four days, now. So, God, if I sink back, how many times do I have to go through it? Boy.

Silver: How long have you been dealing with the leukemia?

Walsh: Five months, actively. Before that there was some activity, but nothing that kept me off the streets. Before that they were treating anemia. Then my blood levels got so low that they thought they'd do a bone-marrow test, and that's when all hell broke loose. I wasn't producing anything. I took chemotherapy twice, and the medication was making me so sick. I don't even know if I was getting better or not. How can you tell? But my blood tests are improving. They really are.

Silver: Eddie DeBartolo got on a plane to come visit you. Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, and on and on -- how does all of that support make you feel?

Walsh: It's very gratifying. At one point I needed every phone call I could get. But I wasn't able to answer them. You get so disabled, physically. The phone could be right there, but I wouldn't even bother to answer it or call.

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