Customer Reviews

Glenn Dickey's 49ers: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of the NFL's Greatest Dynasty

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In this book, Glenn Dickey provides an insightful and objective view of the 49ers' history during the ownership of Eddie DeBartolo. In the process, he revealed information about DeBartolo, other team executives, and players that was generally known only to insiders and reporters but not the public.

Dickey has never been one to pull punches in his opinions - anybody who read his book "Just Win Baby, Al Davis and his Raiders" would know that Dickey writes about sports figures' character flaws as well as their virtues. This book is full of praise for players, coaches, and executives who deserve it, but it also contains many criticisms of the same people. Consequently, this book is likely to anger obsessed 49er fans who still think that Steve Young should have been traded in order to keep Joe Montana or that all would be well with the 49ers today if Eddie DeBartolo remained the owner. In my opinion, the real strength of the book is that it takes a critical view of the 49ers and isn't written like a marketing brochure or a team press release.

Among other things, this book recalls just how badly Eddie DeBartolo blundered during the initial stages of his ownership, especially by hiring the mercurial former Colts general manager Joe Thomas (at the recommendation of Al Davis). Thomas badly mismanaged the drafts and trades. The only thing he managed well was alienating everyone including the players, the media, the fans, former 49er players, SF politicians, and the entire SF community. Had Thomas remained more than two years, he would have surpassed Davis and Charlie Finley as the most despised sports executive in Bay Area history. Dickey showed how DeBartolo wised up and hired Bill Walsh, effectively rescuing the franchise.

49er fans knew of DeBartolo's generosity in terms of paying high player salaries. Few knew, as this book reveals, that DeBartolo had a penchant for excessive drinking, gambling, and womanizing and that it took a combination of his father, Edward DeBartolo Sr., and Carmen Policy to effectively babysit Eddie and rein in his behavior. The fans and the community might not have been so charitable had they known of DeBartolo's behavior as well as the fact that during several alcohol-induced rages he ordered Bill Walsh fired only to have Policy "forget" until he sobered up.

Dickey wasn't shy about criticizing other flaws in the organization such as head coach George Seifert's meddling in the offense even though he knew little about offense or Vinnie Cerrato's poor judgement with the 49er drafts in the post-Walsh era. Dickey also stated that Steve Young was superior to Joe Montana by 1992 when 49er fans were calling for Montana to start despite not playing for two years. Even Walsh does not escape criticism since his personnel decisions since returning as GM have been less than stellar. There is an obvious implication that Walsh's time as a top NFL executive has passed.

The book is not without some errors. In one instance, Dickey referred to Vikings WR Chris Carter as having a great game in Minnesota's win over SF in the 1987 playoffs. That, of course, was Anthony Carter; Cris (without an 'h') still plays for the Vikings. He also referred to Chris Bahr as having kicked the winning FG in the NY Giants 15-13 playoff win over SF in January, 1991 - actually, it was Chris' brother Matt. Chris kicked for the Raiders and had retired by then. Those are minor though and this book makes excellent reading for fans who are not mere cheerleaders for the 49ers.

Glenn Dickey, sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle, is the writer that many fans "love to hate." Mostly, this because he is never afraid to present perspectives that are highly critical of hometown teams and personalities. In taking this iconoclastic perspective, occasionally he has committed memorable gaffes--for example, his suggestion years ago that Joe Montana and his wife should have foreseen that Jennifer's January due date for giving birth would be a distraction for Joe during the playoffs. Such displays of poor judgment aside, however, Dickey remains a highly insightful and skillful writer whose column is practically always a good read.

Aside from writing columns, Dickey has written fifteen books, including works on the Raiders and the 49ers. *Glenn Dickey's 49ers* is an all-too-short but still highly valuable recent history of the Bay Area's most successful franchise, and I recommend it to all fans of the red and gold.

Over the years, Dickey has spent time one-on-one with many of the principal personalities involved with the "rise, fall, and rebirth of the NFL's greatest dynasty," and consequently has had access to insights and information that make for fascinating reading in this book. Although Dickey has a reputation for being harsh in his judgments and appraisal of people, he actually is careful here to present both the strengths and weaknesses of the "heavies" in 49ers history, including Walsh, DeBartolo, Policy, Seifert, etc. Only that jerk of legendary proportions, Joe Thomas, is portrayed in an unrelentingly negative light.

On the basis of reading this book, fans will come to realize that Eddie Debartolo's ultimate self-destruction as an owner and as a person was almost inevitable from the start and, in fact, reflected the flip side of the very human qualities that made him such an endearing and generous team owner. Dickey is also careful to point out that the recent downfall of the team was really inevitable, and should not be blamed on any particular decisions by anyone, including former team President Carmen Policy.

Overall, then, Dickey presents a balanced and realistic view of the team's recent history, one that all fans of the franchise should enjoy. The book is flawed, however, in being a bit on the brief side--by expanding somewhat on the book's 262 pages, Dickey could easily have presented more highlights and information about the team's past twenty years. Perhaps more important, however, is his inexplicable inclusion of numerous silly factual errors, errors that careful editing or even proofreading should have caught and eliminated. A previous reviewer has presented some of these mistakes. Others include identifying Roger Craig as the Most Valuable Player of the Superbowl played in January 1985 (it was actually Joe Montana), and the misspelling of the name of 49er defensive lineman Kevin Fagan as "Fagen." He also misquotes Eddie DeBartolo's memorable exclamation at the news conference anouncing George Seifert's resignation and Steve Mariucci's hiring as head coach. When asked about the fate of then offensive coordinator Marc Trestman, DeBartolo blurted out, "He's gone!" Dickey writes that DeBartolo said, "He's toast!"

These are small errors, to be sure, but cumulatively they leave the reader with an impression of carelessness that detracts from the overall impact of what otherwise is a fine book about the San Francisco 49ers.

Glenn Dickey serves as a well-informed tour director as he guides you through two decades of intense, magical, and sometimes crazy 49ER history. His ability to draw upon a vast reservoir of knowledge and information enables him to provide his readers with the feeling that they are observing the inner working s of the 49ER dynasty from the position of an insider. The Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Forty Niners will prove to be interesting reading to any sports fan or student of organizational psychology.

As a long time Forty Niner fan, I found this book a fascinating read. Throughout their long run as the preeminent franchise in the NFL, the Forty Niner PR machine always created an image of cool effeciency and smooth sailing. In this book, Glenn Dickey gives you a look at often tumultous goings on behind that facade. If you are a Niner fan, or are just interested in seeing how an empire can be built, and then destroyed by those who built it, I think you would enjoy this book.

Dickey uncovered the nasty, behind the scenes goings on in 49ers: The Rise, Fall and Rebirth the NFL's Greatest Dynasty. DeBartalo's love/hate relationship with his "genius" coach was certainly not well known nor was Walsh's with Montana. No one would have dreamed that Walsh's job security was in a constant state of flux. George Siefert's handling of the Montana/Young controversy was also very interesting. These are but a few of the many, many stories related in the book that obviously came from many hours of close up and personal contact with those people involved. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

This is a gossipy, entertaining book about what really happens with a pro football team. I'm a 49er fan, but I think even those who are fans of other teams would love the inside stuff in this book. The chapter about Eddie DeBartolo's rollicking ride through Las Vegas is a classic, and I got a totally different view of Eddie D after reading about all his conflicts with Bill Walsh, Carmen Policy and his sister. Great fun.

Since leaving San Francisco 10 years ago, I've had to follow my beloved 49ers from a continent away. Now, with Glenn Dickey's book, I can catch up with what I missed. Finally, I know why Joe Montana left and what they were thinking - or not - when they drafted Jim Druckenmiller. I even learned about things I thought I already knew from the years I watched as a season ticket holder. I would never have guessed about the friction between Bill Walsh and Montana, for instance. This is a must-read for 49er fans.

this is a good book for all 49er fans, but if Dickey, who lives in the Bay Area is a 49er fan like he says, he wouldn't have made so many mistakes.
he talks more about what took place off the field than on.
he goes very briefly through the 49er games and rarely talks about some of the players and their achivements.
for the 1998 season, he never mentions Terrell Owens catching 14 tds and never mentions Garrison Hearst's 96 yard TD run vs. the Jets.
Dickey also makes very carless mistakes.

Roger Craig didn't win MVP of Super Bowl 19 like Dickey says and at times his writing is to repetive.

this book is mostly concerened about what the team did off the field, behind close doors. Dickey mentions Joe Montana's and Bill Walsh's fued, and how Debartalo was going to fire Walsh about 4 times but Carmen Policy stopped him. he also talks about the disaster behind Jim Druckenmiller and how the 49ers came to chossing him.

Dickey says that the 49ers were going to take a QB, and Walsh studdied 4 of them and said that Jake Plummer reminded him of Joe Montana, but he wasn't worth a 1st round pick. So the 49ers took Druck and it turned out to be a horrible pick.

Dickey also says that Bill Walsh was behind the pick of Reggie McGrew despite his knee injury.

what i don't like about this book is that i want to know more about what is going on on the field. the trades, the moves, some of the games, that stuff, this is mostly off the field.

good book though.

Glenn Dickey is one of the senior sports writers in the San Francisco Bay Area and the nation. He has covered the San Francisco 49ers as long as anyone in the team's history and his book "Glenn Dickey's 49ers" covers the Eddie DeBartolo era that included winning five Super Bowl championships and the events that shaped the organization.

The book gives an entertaining and accurate view of events that took place out of the public's view. It gives readers the opportunity to learn information about the organization that they would have never learned if they had not read this book. It also provides super information that can help people understand how the 49ers became one of the most powerful names in the sports world.

I highly recommend reading "Glenn Dickey's 49ers" because it provides an entire ride on the 49ers roller coaster that went from a 2-14 season through five Super Bowl championship seasons into a rebuilding era.

This book deserves FIVE stars.

Gary Peralta

The San Francisco 49ers made three straight playoff appearances in the early Seventies, but otherwise the franchise was unsuccessful in its first few decades in the NFL. That changed in the late Seventies with the arrival of coach Bill Walsh and quarterback Joe Montana. In the following two decades the 49ers would establish themselves as a marquee NFL franchise, and in this book author Glenn Dickey chronicles the team's most successful era.

Eddie DeBartolo became the owner of the 49ers in the Seventies. His teams were successful on the field, but he himself was volatile off the field, and Dickey describes the tension between him and other team officials. Bill Walsh was rightly noted as a great innovator on offense, and the author tells the story of how the coach turned a 2-14 team in 1979 into Super Bowl champions two seasons later.

Dickey recalls the key players and games of the Eighties and Nineties, when San Francisco won five Super Bowls and recorded an almost incomprehensible 16 straight 10-win seasons. The quarterback controversy between Joe Montana and Steve Young was perhaps the thorniest in NFL history, and that situation is reviewed thoroughly. Dickey recalls the George Seifert era and then recalls the conflicts and decisions that led to the team's downfall in the late Nineties.

There are a couple of errors in the book, and the author perhaps could have gone into a bit more detail considering the book covers more than two decades of history, but all those interested in the history of the NFL, not just Niners fans, would find this a good read.