Bill Walsh spent 10 seasons with the 49ers active the West Coast offense, but for one half, of one game, he fabricated a seismic shift: He shelved his advocate advance for the wishbone.
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No, seriously.
Thirty years ago, on Oct. 5, 1987, the 49ers played conceivably the best surreal bold in the franchise’s 72-season history. And Walsh’s accommodation to run a absolutely non-NFL breach was amidst the abounding oddities.
In the aboriginal “Monday Night Football” bold played during the 1987 players’ strike, the 49ers’ backup players — dubbed the “Phony Niners” — exhausted the Giants 41-21 afore added than 60,000 abandoned seats at 77,172-seat Giants Amphitheater in the Meadowlands.
It was the aboriginal nonsellout of the 11-year-old amphitheater afterwards added than 40,000 tickets were refunded. One assurance in the stands: “Stay On Strike. We Get Bigger Seats.”
Two canicule afterwards the game, 12 associates of the 49ers, including Joe Montana, Roger Craig and Dwight Clark, beyond the blockade band and abutting the aggregation for the final two amateur of the 24-day strike.
But the 49ers were about bugged during their backup opener, which counted in the regular-season standings. There was no Jerry Rice, but there was a Jerry Keeble. Tom Rathman was absent, but there was Tom Henley.
“There was a football bold activity on, and it was absolute football bold in agreement of how it’s actuality presented, in agreement of TV and otherwise,” recalled 49ers President Carmen Policy, who watched the bold with Eddie DeBartolo from the visiting owner’s box. “And whoever wins is activity to be actively counted in agreement of the season’s result. But, my gosh, it aloof didn’t assume real.”
The game’s arch rusher, fullback Mike Varajon, had been in Detroit cat-and-mouse to apprehend from Chrysler about a aegis job aback the 49ers called. And he wasn’t alone. Bouncer Limbo Parks, who had aloof accomplished his career at Arkansas, was alive as a Pizza Hut deliveryman in Fayetteville, Ark. Linebacker Carl Keever was active at his brother-in-law’s seafood aggregation in San Francisco and was an abettor drillmaster at Mills Aerial in Millbrae.
The bold apparent the alone time in a 214-game amount from Nov. 9, 1986, to Jan. 3, 2000, that Joe Montana or Steve Young wasn’t on the 49ers’ roster. (Montana was on afflicted assets for allotment of 1986).
However, addition allegorical figure, Walsh, was present and he approached the bang amateur with a admiration to win, and a blink in his eye. He told reporters the amateur reminded him of his time apprenticeship the semipro San Jose Apaches 20 years earlier: “I’ll be able to get out the old notes,” he said.
And he told his new players they would be active the wishbone, which hadn’t been apparent in the NFL aback Chuck Fairbanks acclimated it with the Patriots in the mid-’70s. Walsh installed the run-heavy advance because one of his backup quarterbacks was Mark Stevens, a abrupt agent who had led a agnate offense, the veer, at Utah.
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“We came in one day and he put in the wishbone offense,” Stevens said. “People were like ‘Um, OK.’ No one was activity to catechism Bill Walsh.”
With Walsh handing off play-calling duties to avant-garde receivers drillmaster Dennis Green, the 49ers led 17-7 at halftime beneath the administration of quarterback Bob Gagliano, who would accomplish 12 added NFL starts with the Lions and Chargers.
In the third quarter, Walsh amidst Stevens, a Canadian Football Alliance amateur who had not had an NFL attack and didn’t comedy in the alliance afterwards the strike. However, Stevens was ablaze adjoin the abashed Giants. Arch drillmaster Bill Parcells smiled beyond the acreage at Walsh aback the wishbone was apparent with a 5-yard run by Stevens on the aboriginal comedy of the third quarter.
“Parcells was hilarious,” Policy said. “He looks over at Bill afterwards that comedy and in a Jersey appearance was like, ‘What’s up?’”
Walsh’s response? Above 49ers arch drillmaster George Seifert, afresh the arresting coordinator, laughed at the memory: “Bill affectionate of smiled and shrugged his amateur like, ‘I apologize, but I’m activity for the win.’”
And Stevens closed the victory. Arena best of the additional half, he rushed for 36 yards on seven carries and had a 9-yard touchdown run. He additionally completed 2 of 2 passes for 52 yards, including a 39-yard scoring bung from the wishbone formation.
Perhaps fittingly, the bigger brilliant of a backup bold couldn’t abstain a base moment. Afterwards Stevens’ touchdown run, he about face-planted aback aggravating to fasten the brawl because of a glossy breadth in the end zone.
“And you apperceive what — my son saw that comedy on a boner reel,” Stevens said. “So his acquaintance of me arena in the NFL? It’s on a boner reel.”
Stevens was sensational. And so was Walsh, who auspiciously installed the breach afterwards consulting during the bang with Dick Vermeil. The above Philadelphia arch drillmaster had run the wishbone at UCLA.
“It was a way to advice us win,” Seifert said. “It absolutely bent the Giants off guard. It was allotment of the ability of Bill. At the aforementioned time, he was accepting fun with it, too. Acceptable was the capital point, but you could acquaint the way he laughed and joked about the convenance acreage that he was accepting fun with this.”
When it became bright the bang amateur would calculation in the standings, the 49ers’ avant-garde appointment was additionally austere about winning. Players such as Keever, who had been cut during training affected that summer, were contacted afore the bang started.
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The result: Sixteen of the 46 players on their agenda had antecedent NFL experience, and abounding had been in the accomplished two camps with the team. The Giants, who were arresting Super Bowl champions, replaced Phil Simms and Lawrence Taylor with a agenda that included aloof four players with NFL experience. Twelve of their players were taken from the Connecticut Giants, a semipro team. In The Chronicle, Ron Thomas wrote that the Giants’ best noteworthy amateur was avant-garde receiver Edwin Lovelady, “whose name is added memorable than his talent.”
Against the 49ers, the Giants had four turnovers, a punt blocked that resulted in a touchdown and a shotgun breeze that skipped accomplished quarterback Jim Crocicchia, who recovered it for a 19-yard loss. In the fourth quarter, Giants arresting lineman Reggie Carr was sitting on the bank with his arch formed back, as if he were napping. Explained Carr to reporters: “I wasn’t asleep; I was annoyed from losing.”
The Giants additionally accustomed the 49ers to balance an “onside kick” that catholic 40 yards downfield. Keever recovered the apart brawl amidst a accumulation of opponents who affronted into spectators.
“They were aloof continuing around,” Keever recalled recently. “I ran bottomward and jumped on top of the ball.”
Asked afresh about his best active memories of the game, linebacker Ron Hadley had a accessible response: “Well,” he began, “they weren’t a lot of bodies in the stands.”
But there were some affronted bodies alfresco the stadium.
Their aggregation bus was met by about 50 arresting associates of the Giants and Jets, who accustomed the replacements with catcalls and atrocious gestures. Parks, the abhorrent guard, recalled admirers throwing altar at the bus and casting blame at him afterwards kickoff.
“I bethink all the pleasantries from the New York Giants’ fans,” said Parks, who becoming $5,000 a game. “One guy told me that I sucked. And I told him I was 21 years old and authoritative added money than his pops. He approved to appear on the acreage and aegis had to grab him.”
Parks had company. The backup players were beheld derisively by admirers and the media, and referred to as “scabs.” At the Meadowlands, one fan captivated a assurance that read: “National Football League. Anybody Can Play.” So did it bite to be alleged the “Phony Niners?”
“When you’ve played football all your activity — and afresh to accept the befalling to comedy again?” Keever said. “You don’t affliction about what added bodies think. Especially actuality a average linebacker. All you appetite to do is hit people.”
It was a sparsely abounding bold captivated during a bang that drew afflictive television ratings. That is, the few who witnessed the odd activity apparently accept abundantly abandoned it.
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However, 30 years later, the replacements admire the memories.
For Stevens, his NFL admission was additionally a homecoming. The bold was played about 5 afar from his hometown of Passaic, N.J., and a host of accompany and ancestors attended.
Keever? His conflicting dad, watching in Anchorage, Alaska, accomplished out to reconnect afterwards seeing him on civic television. They had a accord until Frank Keever died of blight in 1994.
Hadley affectionately recalls arena linebacker abutting to Keever, his above assistant at Boise (Idaho) Aerial School, while 49ers radio anchorperson Wayne Walker, addition Boise Aerial alum, alleged the action.
“It was so fun for our aerial academy coaches and teammates,” Hadley said. “We were able to adore it in the moment and we still do today.”
Parks, who is now a aerial academy abecedary and football drillmaster abreast Kansas City, Mo., roared with amusement aback contacted by a reporter: “How did you acquisition me?” he said to alpha a 20-minute interview.
On Oct. 5, 1987, abounding of the backup 49ers accomplished an NFL dream. They went 3-0 during the strike, allowance the 49ers to a 13-2 division that concluded with a bounded playoff accident to the Vikings.
Policy said the backup players would accept been arrive to that season’s Super Bowl in San Diego if the 49ers had advanced. They didn’t get that trip, but didn’t avenue emptyhanded.
Stevens accustomed a applique for acceptable the NFC West and a agenda from Walsh and Policy thanking him for his contribution. And Stevens additionally accustomed the adventure of expertly accustomed out the agrarian abstraction of one of the best coaches in NFL history.
Still, the administrator of the wishbone does accept a cartilage to aces with the aggregation 30 years later.
“They would accept admired to accept kept me, but they had Joe Montana and Steve Young,” Stevens said, laughing. “Even admitting I ability accept been bigger than them. Hey, it charge accept been a numbers game.”
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Eric Branch is a San Francisco Chronicle agents writer. Email: ebranch@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @Eric_Branch
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