2021 Dwight Clark Legacy Series

During the 49ers’ run to their first Super Bowl, the team’s defensive backfield took center stage in the organization’s turnaround season of 1981.

Forty years later, on a warm August evening at the Concord Pavilion, that group got together to share laughs, never-before-told stories and some poignant moments in front of a large gathering of fans, friends and former teammates.

Dwight Hicks, Ronnie Lott, Eric Wright and Carlton Williamson — forever known in 49ers lore as “Dwight Hicks and the Hot Licks” — were back on a stage of a different kind for the Dwight Clark Legacy Series.

Two-time winning Super Bowl head coach George Seifert, who was the defensive backs coach for that first Super Bowl season, joined the lively, wide-ranging panel discussion.

The fundraiser for The Golden Heart Fund, Clark’s charity of choice, brought together some legendary figures in 49ers history, including former team president Carmen Policy.

Current 49ers star tight end George Kittle joined the celebration. He was presented with the first Dwight Clark Legacy Award.

Brent Jones, one of the great 49ers tight ends of the past, presented the award to Kittle. As Jones described, the award reflects “that competitive nature, that intensity and the spirit of teamwork and camaraderie that Dwight personified.”

Kittle, who spent considerable time with members of Clark’s family that evening, never met the man who made “The Catch.” But he knew plenty about D.C.

“The amount of great things that coaches and teammates have to say about him is honestly just overwhelming,” Kittle said. “He was appreciative to play the game of football, for getting to make great friends, for getting to make all those incredible memories with all of them.”

All photographs below by Terrell Lloyd