49er tales a fun read
In an era before even bench-warmers got zillion-dollar contracts, playoff games had important financial implications. A victory meant bonus money for players. And, for some members of the 49ers, a playoff victory over the Detroit Lions in 1957 would have helped foot the bill for a weeklong vacation in Puerto Vallarta with their families.
Instead, the 49ers blew a 27-7 lead and lost 31-27.
Y.A. Tittle, Matt Hazeltine, Billy Wilson and Hugh McElhenny had to postpone their plans — for 15 years.
But they eventually made the trip, and hilarity ensued, according to “Stadium Stories: San Francisco 49ers,” an engaging new book by the Mercury News’ Dennis Georgatos.
Here’s the excerpt from the book:
During their stay, the players were tossing a football on the beach when a group of six college-age youths came along and challenged them to a game of touch football. To make the teams even, one of the youths joined the elder foursome. “He comes into the huddle — he doesn’t know who we are — and he starts saying how well he plays football and that he’ll be the quarterback,” Wilson said. “Then he tells Y.A., `OK, baldy, you go do a down and out and I’ll try to hit you.’ We all just start laughing, didn’t say a word, and did what we were supposed to do.”
After a couple of incompletions, Wilson tells his young teammate, “OK, why don’t you let the old guy throw the ball and you block.” Bam! Tittle started tossing one touchdown pass after another, taking turns hitting Wilson, Hazeltine and McElhenny as they scorched their young opponents on the makeshift sandy field.
“I’ll tell you, we were having a lot of fun, though we did beat them pretty bad,” Wilson said. “They were kind of shocked and wondering how we did it. We finally told them who we were. They got a kick out of it.”
And, in a way, so did the four of them. They got to take their trip at long last, and this time, they won the game.