Dwight Clark, former San Francisco 49er best known for “The Catch,” has died at the age of 61 from A.L.S. He announced in March of 2017 that he had the disease. You can read about it here.
This is a painful loss for those of us who lived in the Bay Area at the time the 49ers rose from mediocrity to greatness. Even people who weren’t big 49ers fans knew who Dwight Clark was.
I was sad to read a few months ago that Clark had ALS. One of my high school classmates died of the disease back in 2015 (fairly young, too), and it’s just horrible what victims and their loved ones have to go through.
I will always remember “The Catch”. Clark was a very underrated receiver, IMO.
I was fortunate enough to get my first post-college job in SF in the summer of 1981, when the Niners were coming off several bad years, and season tickets were relatively cheap. Only time in my life I’ve timed a market correctly, as the greatest team of all time, up to then anyway, began their dynasty under Walsh, Montana, and Clark, among many others (despite following NFL football to this day, the early 80’s Niners is still the only team I could name all 22 starters).
I had no idea Clark was ill, let alone ALS. Makes the stuff I bitch about seem trivial. I hope he’s in the big all-star game in the sky.
ALS is a fucking insidious disease. A good friend from college has it, and its tough to see what it does to a person. 
Rest in peace, Dwight Clark, and thank you for the great 1980s 49ers memories.
The last few years of Clark’s life have been fairly well publicized here in the Bay Area; he’s had a weekly lunch with a litany of former teammates and other pro athletes, which has garnered a lot of attention. It’s been heartwarming to see how much love people had for the man.
A few weeks ago, SI ran a story about a gathering of former Niners, and other friends of Clark’s, that Eddie DeBartolo hosted in Montana in April. It was clearly going to be the last time that most of them were going to be able to see Clark, but I’m still astonished that he’s gone, not two months after that gathering.
Great article. Thank you for the link.
Here’s a replay clip of Clark’s other TD catch in that game. Slick route running.
Great double move, he faked Dennis Thurman out of his socks.
I won’t say I remember that game like it was yesterday, but it was one hell of a game. My recollection (the box score at Pro Football Reference.com sucks; can’t find a good one) is that the Cowboys scored to go ahead 27-21 with more than just a couple minutes left. Three and a half minutes? Five minutes? Something in that range.
And they went into their ‘prevent’ defense, as if the clock was under 2 minutes. Big mistake. Because Walsh and Montana took full advantage of having time to work with. They didn’t play it like a regular drive - there wasn’t that much time - but along with the usual two-minute-offense sorts of plays, they mixed in runs and short passes that the ‘prevent’ defense gave them almost for free. It was a fucking brilliant drive.
Okay, for someone who doesn’t follow football, what was “The Catch”?
The game-winning touchdown catch in the 1982 playoff game between Clark’s 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys. Not only was it an amazing feat of athleticism, it symbolically marked the end of the Cowboys dominance in the 70s and the beginning of the 49ers dynasty of the 80s.
A short (3 1/2 minute) clip from NFL Films on The Catch:
Isn’t ALS another degenerative neurological disease linked to NFL football, concussions, etc?
I’m not sure if the link has been fully proven, but there have been a number of former players who have developed it, including Clark, Steve Gleason, and Kevin Turner, and researchers do suspect that there is a link.
Turner died in 2016 (Gleason is still alive), and an autopsy revealed CTE in his brain.
It’s what took down Heisman Trophy-winner Stephen Hawking.
Alright, that is fucking funny! 
Yeah that was funny!
Wiki has a page for List of NFL Players with ALS.
And also a page for List of people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. I’d forgotten that the following people had ALS:
— Jim “Catfish” Hunter – MLB pitcher
— Jacob Javits - U.S. Senator from New York
— David Niven – actor
— Sam Shepard - actor