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McCaffery honored twice
Named Bart Starr Award winner as well as Comeback Player of Year
The festivities and coverage leading up to this year’s Super Bowl featured a couple of 49ers as commentators as well as focusing some attention on the ‘Niners most valuable player Christian McCaffrey.
For a Cal guy, I have to overcome a gut bias against anything Cardinal, but once he puts on the Santa Clara uniform (oops, San Francisco uniform) it’s a different story.
You have to admire his effort this year, running for more than 1,200 yards and adding another 924 receiving, just missing the second double 1,000-yard season of his career. Particularly impressive given how depleted the 49ers receiving core was throughout the season.
He deservedly picked up the National Football League’s Comeback Player of the Year award last week during the NFL Honors ceremony at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco. He also was a finalist for league MVP and also won the league’s Salute to Service award. He played all 17 regular season games plus two playoff games this year after being limited to just four games because of injury in 2024.
Fittingly, he was joined in the ‘Niner spotlight by the original 1000-1000 man, running back Roger Craig from the glory days of the 1980s. Craig won election into the Hall of Fame in a week when the headlines went to passing over Bill Bellicheck for first ballot admission to the hall.
McCaffrey, an outspoken Christian like his dad, former Stanford and Denver star Ed McCaffrey, also was honored Saturday Super Bowl Breakfast. He received the annual Bart Starr Award recognizing his character, service and ability. During his talk, McCaffrey talked about how important his faith and scripture was to him while sidelined in 2024.
Former 49er tight end Brent Jones, also a Bart Star winner, flew in from his Dallas home to emcee the sold-out event and present the Gospel message. John Lynch, the 49er general manager and another former winner after playing at Stanford, Denver and Tampa Bay, was on hand to join the celebration. Among the speakers was Andrew Luck, now the general manager of Stanford football.
Incidentally, for those of us who have followed the 49ers for decades, we lived the magical rollercoaster of the 1980s live when Coach Bill Walsh guided them from the depths to the pent house. Driven by quarterback Tom Brady, a ‘Niner fan growing up on the peninsula, AMC did a four-part series on those teams. Entirely worth watching to relive that time.
The team chaplain in that first championship year, Pat Richie, lives in Danville and we got to know each other casually a while back. I remember Pat telling our men’s group that tight end Jamie Williams had promised to give all glory to God when they won the title and then did so on national television. I cannot say that was the first time—given the number of football players know do that –but it was a memorable for me.
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