2024 Dwight Clark Legacy Series
Dwight Clark was always a quarterback favorite. Big target, reliable hands and knew how to make the big catch. Just ask the Dallas Cowboys.
Dwight’s QB connection was on full display at The California Theatre in San Jose on May 16 when 49ers signal callers Steve Young, Jeff Garcia, Alex Smith and Brock Purdy gathered to share their stories with the fans at the 4th annual Dwight Clark Legacy Series event.
“These guys are warriors, and I would share the stage with them any day of the year,” Young said.
The four QBs headlined an event that generated more than $230,000 for The Golden Heart Fund, which supports former 49ers players facing a variety of challenges in their lives after football. More than 700 fans attended as did a couple dozen current and former 49ers. They were treated to a night filled with entertaining and inspiring stories, including this exchange on Candlestick Park:
“It’s too bad, Brock, as much as Levi’s is a beautiful stadium, that you didn’t get to experience Candlestick,” Garcia said of the 49ers’ former home stadium.
“Candlestick breathed,” Young said. “The whole thing kind of moved with you.”
“Every time I’m driving by Candlestick Park, the (freeway) sign still says Candlestick Park, I have my kids in the car, and they are very tired of hearing about it,” Smith said. “I can’t get it out of my head how electric it was to be a part of that.”
Playing the position and dealing with all the challenges the NFL presents, especially early on, helped Smith when he sustained a life-threating leg injury in 2018.
“The same self-doubt I dealt with as rookie was the same self-doubt when they were talking about cutting off my leg: ‘I’m stuck in a wheelchair, I can’t walk, and I’m thinking my life is over, I’ll never be able to play with my kids, I’ll never be able to go on a walk with my wife.’ We all deal with adversity and struggle.”
As for Purdy, everything happened so fast his rookie season. It was when he took the reins in year two when he felt the magnitude of the position he held.
“Going into my second year is when the thoughts of, ‘Man, I’m starting for the San Francisco 49ers,’” he said. "And then you got a standard that Joe and Steve set and all these guys up here. I think that’s when those thoughts start rolling in. There’s a standard here, and I have to live up to that standard.”
Before the QBs took the stage, 49ers linebacker Dre Greenlaw received the Dwight Clark Award from his teammate and 2022 recipient Fred Warner. The Dwight Clark Award is presented to the current 49er who best exemplifies Dwight’s spirit of teamwork and camaraderie. The show started with a remembrance of Hall of Fame cornerback Jimmy Johnson, who passed away days earlier. 49ers great Eric Wright discussed playing the position and meeting the standard Johnson set with two young DBs Ji’Ayir Brown and Renardo Green.
“In the spirit of the great Dwight Clark, the Pied Piper, and how we think the 49ers are a special place, it’s really in the name of him tonight,” Young said. “Every dollar we raise is going to The Golden Heart Fund, which is a fund for athletes who played for the 49ers who are struggling in their later years or who are down on their luck. We’re there to be the safety net to make sure they are okay.”
All photographs below by Terrell Lloyd
