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FROM THE
The receiver who
made 'The Catch'
remembered
When I was a student at UGA, I took a French class
in which a test question involved writing a paragraph
in French about what historic sporting event you
wished youd been able to attend. For that test, I recall
selecting the famed 1982 U.S. Open golf duel between
Jack Nicklaus and eventual champion Tom Watson
along the cliffs of scenic Pebble Beach that occurred
two years before I was even born.
But in hindsight, there was another famous sporting
event in Northern California earlier that same year that
I easily could have chosen. The date was Jan. 10,1982,
and the place was gusty Candlestick Park, located at
the former site of a landfill along
the west shore of the Frisco Bay
in southern San Francisco. The
event is simply known as “The
Catch”, and the man who became
a football legend that day died on
Monday, June 4.
Dwight Clark and I had just
two things in common. Were
both 6’4”, and were both from the
South. But beyond that, Dwight
Clark experienced a life that few
others could even comprehend.
Clark, a lanky 10th round draft
pick out of Clemson in 1979, not
only became a San Francisco 49ers football superstar,
but he won two Super Bowl rings, was best friends
with arguably the biggest sports icon of the 1980s, Joe
Montana, and once dated Miss Universe.
After retirement in 1987, the two-time Pro Bowl
receiver settled in to a nearly two-decade career in
NFL front offices, including three more champion
ships while working for the Niners. But Clarks great
fortune changed dramatically over the past decade. A
real estate investor late in his life, Clark lost much of
his wealth in the 2008 housing bubble crisis while also
enduring a divorce from his wife of nearly 25 years.
While Clark built back his savings and eventually
remarried, it was in the past two years that he faced the
toughest setback of his life. Clark announced in March
2017 that he was suffering from Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS), better known as Lou Gehrigs Dis
ease. Many people first became aware of the incurable
motor neuron disease when the great Yankee slugger
Gehrig fell ill in the late 1930s. Others learned of it for
the first time just four years ago when the ALS research
organizations raised money via the viral Ice Bucket
Challenge. Despite millions of investment in research
to find a cure, sadly there’s still not one. And as a result,
Dwight Clark died at 61 from ALS complications on
June 4.
Clarks legacy reaches far beyond football. Univer
sally beloved in NFL circles as one of the most genu
ine, gregarious athletes ever, superstar teammates like
Montana and Jerry Rice weighed in with tributes to
Clark on June 4. But one other one piqued my interest
as well. New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady,
perhaps the greatest football player who’s ever lived,
posted an Instagram message about Clark on Monday.
Brady, a San Mateo, Calif, native, noted that he attend
ed the Niners’ 1982 NFC Championship Game against
the Dallas Cowboys as a four-year-old, crying because
he couldn’t see the field over the standing Niners’ fans.
Brady even said he met Clark a few years later in a Bay
Area orthodontist office, shaking his hero’s hand.
Few sports venues have ever been as maligned as
San Francisco’s Candlestick Park. With its swirling
winds, poor water pressure, intense fog and uneven
playing field, in many ways it was a professional sports
nightmare. But outside of the old Yankee Stadium,
I’m not sure there’s been an American sports venue
in the past century that has given sports fans as many
lasting memories. Legendary wordsmith Rick Reilly
once said the Stick was “a 70,000 seat toilet stall where
Picassos hung.” And the greatest “art” ever exhibited in
Candlestick was that created by Dwight Clark on Jan.
10,1982.
When Joe Montana and his sidekick Clark arrived in
San Francisco in 1979, it was fitting that the lowly 49ers
played their games on a dump site. But their arrival
occurred in tandem with that of new head coach Bill
Walsh, whose wide-open West Coast offense would
soon take the stolid NFL by storm. It was in 1981 that
Walsh’s vision would take shape, led by his unassuming
star quarterback and his sure-handed wide receiver.
After losing two of their first three games, the Niners
reeled off 13 wins in 14 contests, setting up a home
NFC title contest against the hated Dallas Cowboys.
Trailing 27-21 with 58 seconds left and facing 3rd-
and-3 at the Cowboys’ six-yard-line, Walsh called
a play known as “Change Left Slot — Spring Right
Option.” Clark, who was supposed to reverse his path
to the right corner of the end zone, was the secondary
option on the play. However, Montana was flushed well
out to his right by pressure from Dallas’ fearsome pass
rush. With the Cowboys’ Ed “Too Tall” Jones bear
ing down on him, Montana lofted a pass to the back
of the end zone. Clark leapt as high as he could and
reeled in the catch over Dallas corner Everson Walls,
tapping both feet down along the end zone line. The
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Lady Dawgs capture 12U rec softball title
(Above) The Lady Dawgs defeated the Orange Crush in the Monroe County Recreation Department 12U softball cham
pionship game on June 4. Lady Dawgs team members include: head coach Shirley Wall, Elizabeth Ackerman, Ella Britt,
Qua’Nesha Brown, Marleigh Encinas, Megan Grant, Peyton Hitt, Hannah Huff, Sarah Huff, Madison McKinnon, Juliana
Moss, Hannah Simpson, Lola Talton and Lonna Waites. Orange Crush team members include: head coach London Sparks,
Mary Ella Andrews, Taylor Black, Kuen Brown, Trystin Brummett, Ahzoria Hardy, Lindsie Jones, Anna Grace Mullis, Laney
Sparks, Heidi Sparks, Adelyn Turner and Alyssa Wilcox. (Below) The Diamond Divas defeated the Red Hots in the Monroe
rec 9U sotball championship game on June 4. Diamond Divas team members include: head coach Justin Hickman, Adyson
Andrews, Khyauna Buckner, Caroline Hickman, Isabella Hickman, Kalli Holderfield, Kenady Holliman, Brynleigh Newman,
Isha Patel, Ava Riley, Kylee Sanders, Kaiden Stancill, Ellie Taylor and Harmony Torbert. Red Hots team members include:
Skylar Amerson, Reagan Baggett, Mary Frances Britt, Payton Cauley, Sydney Collins, Jhonleah Johnson, Kadence King,
Joriya Knight, Jordan Lucear, Kate Nelson, Eva Powlas, Lucy Rankin and Anna Thompson. (Photos/Keith Edge)
No actual pickles involved
Rec director Keith Edge (right) exchanges postgame fistbumps after a hard-
fought pickleball contest on June 2. (Photo/Abby Cox)
By Abby Cox
Pickleball was invented in 1965 on
Bainbridge Island, near Seattle, Wash,
when three dads created it to entertain
their kids.
Although there is more than one
version of the history behind the
name of pickleball, it is rumored that it
originated after one of the co-founders’
family cocker spaniel, Pickles. The dog
would chase stray balls and hide them
in the bushes. Therefore, it was “Pick
le’s ball,” leaving the name to stick.
Being one of the fastest grow
ing sports in the U.S., pickleball is a
combination of badminton, tennis
and ping pong. Pickleball is played on
badminton-sized courts with a tennis
height net, a hard paddle that is wood
or composite and a perforated plastic
ball, similar to a wiffle ball.
The Monroe County Recreation
Department introduced this popular
sport to the community in March
2018 and now offers the chance to play
pickleball on Sunday nights from 6:30
p.m. to 9 p.m.
Keith Edge, recreation director,
eagerly welcomes newcomers and
expresses that he would “love for more
people to come.”
Edge said, “As the involvement
grows, we would like to potentially see
some tournaments that are categorized
by age, and it’s also in our plans to
build some outside courts.”
Pickleball is easy for beginners to
learn, but can develop into a fast-
paced, competitive game for experi
enced players. In addition, the game
has developed a strong following due
to its friendly, social nature, and its
multi-generational appeal.
“My favorite thing about pickleball
is that it’s for all ages,” Edge said. “But
right now, it’s kind of an introductory
sport. Doing things like this is a way to
raise awareness about it because when
someone says ‘pickleball,’ people don’t
normally know what you’re talking
about.”
Pickleball is now played all over the
world—through community groups,
PE classes, YMCA, retirement com
munities, local recreation centers,
parks and more. There are more than
two million people playing pickleball
in the U.S. alone, and the game is
growing exponentially.
Edge said, “Even though pickleball
is still growing, everybody that plays
always comes back.”
Monroe rec, MP team up for Aug. 11 football camp
The Monroe County Recreation
Department and the Mary Per
sons Bulldogs are teaming up for a
one-day Youth Football Camp on
Saturday, Aug. 11.
The camp, free to kids from 2nd-
6th grades, will be held from 9 a.m.
to noon at the MP Football Practice
Facility. MP head football coach
Brian Nelson and his staff, as well as
members of the MP varsity football
squad, will serve as instructors for
the camp.
The camp will include: a t-shirt (if
registered by July 20), lunch, offense/
defense drills, a tour of the MP foot
ball facility, game film, etc.
For more information, contact the
Monroe County Recreation Depart
ment at (478) 994-7795 or visit www.
mocorec.org.