Why 49ers GM John Lynch has Bill Walsh to thank for Hall of Fame career in football
John Lynch, a right-handed pitcher with a promising arm, was a fledging baseball prospect who famously threw the first pitch in the history of the Florida Marlins organization in 1992. Yet little did the Erie Sailors hurler know his career in sports was about to take a U-turn even after the Marlins made him the club’s second pick of its first-ever draft.
Lynch, the two-sport star at Stanford, was in positional flux with the football program headed by former 49ers coach Bill Walsh. Lynch played quarterback when he first got to school but struggled to solidify himself, so he went the baseball route. Then Lynch eventually got pushed to return to football, the sport that had his heart.
“I remember getting a call from Jane Walsh, who was Bill Walsh’s assistant, saying ‘Coach Walsh would like to speak with you,’” Lynch said Sunday morning over Zoom hours before the Chiefs and Buccaneers squared off in Super Bowl LV.
“And got on the phone with coach and he asked me when I got back to the Bay Area if I could come in and meet with him. And I’ll never forget as long as I live, he said, ‘I understand the great opportunity you have in baseball. But I believe that you can be an All-Pro safety in the NFL.’”
Lynch continued: “It took all my courage to say, ‘With all due respect, coach Walsh, I played one year at safety and I played half the snaps, if that. What leads you to believe (I should go back to football)?’”
Then Walsh offered another example why he’s regarded as one of the best football minds in history.
“The detail that coach Walsh went through,” Lynch said, “he had made a tape and it was a play that I made my junior year, and then a play that Ronnie Lott had made the previous year. And then a play that I made blitzing the quarterback and a play Ronnie Lott had made. And I think of all the people who spoke this into existence, and coach Walsh was so instrumental because I would have just gone off and played baseball.”
Lynch celebrates Hall of Fame inclusion
What Lynch didn’t know at the time was his conversation with Walsh it would lead to a Hall of Fame career in the NFL.
Lynch was named a member of the 2021 Hall of Fame class Saturday night alongside defensive back Charles Woodson, receiver Calvin Johnson, offensive lineman Alan Faneca and quarterback Peyton Manning. Former Raiders coach Tom Flores also made it, as did former Steelers scout and executive Bill Nunn and former Cowboys wideout Drew Pearson.
“Opponents knew him as a smart and physically intimidating player, while his coaches and teammates knew him to be a tremendous leader,” 49ers CEO Jed York wrote in a statement. “Over the last four years, John’s leadership has been instrumental in building a sustainable championship culture here with the 49ers. We are so happy for the Lynch family as they celebrate this wonderful accomplishment.”
Lynch was an eight-time finalist before getting the nod over the weekend. He was taken by surprise by the hall’s chairman, David Baker, who knocked on Lynch’s front door in San Diego with a big contingent of unsuspecting family members two weeks before the announcement was made public. Only Lynch’s wife, Linda, knew Baker would be knocking on the door that Sunday afternoon.
Manning, who was also on Sunday’s Zoom call, wouldn’t let that nugget go without taking a lighthearted jab at his close friend. Lynch and the Manning brothers, Peyton and Eli, recently went on a golf trip and sipped champagne to celebrate their looming inductions in secret.
“I just want to make a little side note,” Manning quipped, “I’m a little disappointed in John’s Stanford education not having a little bit of a clue that he’s having a family reunion at his house and something special is not going to happen. I got to tell you, even a Tennessee grad could have figured that out.”
Lynch getting inducted into the Hall of Fame this year comes with serendipitous details. The fact Walsh convinced him to stick to football long before he wound up general manager of the 49ers is one. Going in with Manning, his close friend who also finished his career in Denver, as Lynch did, is another. The Super Bowl being played in Tampa, where Lynch was drafted, while the Buccaneers became the first team to play for the Lombardi Trophy in its home stadium is also fitting.
“I feel like this is just meant to be, that we’re here in Tampa,” Lynch said from a room on Harbor Island, where he first lived in Tampa when drafted by the Buccaneers.
Lynch and Manning’s friendship
Lynch (nine) and Manning (14) had 23 Pro Bowl nods combined and overlapped for seven. They got to know each other over Mai Tais back when the game was played in Hawaii, and their families got to know each other during those vacations.
“What was cool about it was you got to know these people you were competing against, and got to talk to them about how they worked in the offseason, the kind of film study and I really cherished those opportunities to be around those other great players,” Manning said. “... But every year, we were together, and what (Lynch) forgot to mention is that those Mai Tais, we (billed) whoever the rookie Pro Bowl participant was. We’d get his room number — all those Mai Tai’s were being bought by a kicker for the Buffalo Bills.”
During football seasons before the sweet cocktails beachside, Lynch was a key member of four defenses that ranked in the top three in total defense, passing defense and scoring defense. He’s one of five safeties in league history with at least 1,000 tackles, 25 interceptions, 15 forced fumbles and 10 sacks.
But none of that would have happened if Walsh didn’t convince him to stick to safety, with the help of those Ronnie Lott highlights that showed how good Lynch could eventually be.
“I signed with the Marlins, my heart was with football,” Lynch said. “But I said, hey, I got a future in baseball. And until coach Walsh told me otherwise, that’s where I was going. So I certainly would not be here without Bill Walsh and God bless his soul. I know he’s looking down smiling.”
This story was originally published February 7, 2021 at 10:56 AM.
