Right you are, Shores.

I was looking through the Sept. 20 1971 issue of Sports illustrated. One of the very few with a Niner cover picture (John Brodie) and feature story (Look out for the 49ers). There are some great color pictures, including a double page spread that is worth the process of searching that issue out on on Ebay. Frank Nunley has his back to the Packer's Jim Grabowski, barely able to keep upright as he holds off both Grabowski and a blocker (number 54?). Each Packer is battering him with their respective elbows as he manages (with his head twisted sideways) to hold up the play enough for good old long forgotten Roland Lakes to come over and finish up the tackle. The kind of unglamorous trench work he was really good at. While flashier Dave Wilcox got most of the attention. Which he earned. And there`s a picture of Charlie Krueger towering over youngster Cedric Hardman, who at 6`3`was dwarfed by the enormous Krueger. And with Brodie, Gene Washington, Ken Willard, Doug Cunningham, Bruce Taylor and more in the color spread, it really brings back memories. In fact, I`ve started to add lots of autographs from that era Niner edition. Which I must confess, was still my favorite to follow as a fan. At their best back then they realistically could have won a Superbowl. Maybe even two. but Dallas squelched those dreams three years in a row. 1981 was a decade away, and the intervening years got incrementally worse. But sometimes the teams you follow in your youth have more sentimental resonance than even the slickest, most skilled elite championship teams. And without video documentation, it`s easier to stoke that nostalgia with still pictures, memorabilia and statistical comparisons to the rest of the league in those days.

Last Edited By: Arnold49 02/18/13 06:13 AM. Edited 1 times.