August 2, 2007
Remembering Bill Walsh
A public memorial is all set to honor Bill Walsh. It'll be held at Candlestick at 11 AM on August 10th and among the speakers will be Joe Montana and Eddie De Bartolo. A private ceremony will be held on August 9th at the Stanford Memorial Church. Speakers there will not only include Montana and DeBartolo, but NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and Dianne Feinstein. Rumored to attend are Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State George Shultz who were friends of the Genius. Current owners of the 49ers, John and Denise York have also asked that the Governor declare a Bill Walsh Day.
The 49ers have also gotten permission to wear a decal honoring Walsh and a moment of silence will be held before the first exhibition game on August 13th.
Fans have been trying to come up with other ways to honor the coach, including having the Niners wear throwback uniforms of the '81 team (the first team that won the Superbowl) as well as naming either Candlestick or Stanford Stadium "Bill Walsh Stadium." Those 1981 uniforms were pretty kick ass too.
The Walsh family has asked that instead of sending flowers, donations be made in Walsh's name to a charity your choice.
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Will someone please explain to this transplant what Mr Walsh did that was so meaningful? Is this one of those Niners things that I'm just never going to understand?
he did a lot for football and brought a lot of excitement to the bay area but, in the end, i think people just really thought he was a genuine person. i suppose that's rare to find, for the most part, in major sports in the recent past.
Thank you for the explaination. Sports are not my thing, but your note and a chat I had with someone last night put the man in perspective. It seems a true loss for the Bay Area.