SANTA CLARA — For the first time since the place opened three years ago, Levi’s Stadium will show a proper reverence for the 49ers past on Saturday night.
Reacting to what the team called “overwhelming fan demand,” the 49ers moved this offseason to add more images of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott and other symbols of the team’s five Super Bowl titles.
The biggest addition — and a sticking point in fan feedback — is a prominent Ring of Honor saluting the team’s honored players.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Keena Turner, a former Pro Bowl linebacker who now serves as the 49ers vice president of football affairs, said Wednesday.
“To look up and see that history staring back at you, it’s something for all of us fans, the organization, the alumni players and the current players to be proud of.”
The Ring of Honor features players in the 49ers Hall of Fame, and they are listed by jersey numbers only — no names — so younger fans might want to have Google at the ready. For the record, here’s who is honored (the answer key is at the bottom of this story): 8, 12, 14, 16, 27, 33, 34, 35, 37, 39, 42, 64, 70, 73, 74, 79, 80, 82, 87 and 94.
Al Guido, the team’s president, led a tour of the stadium upgrades this week in advance of Saturday’s preseason game against the Denver Broncos, the first home game of the 2017 season.
He did so a day after Rice and Steve Young — the real ones, not the banners — attended practice and mingled with current players.
General manager John Lynch (who played for Bill Walsh at Stanford) and Coach Kyle Shanahan (whose father Mike was part of a Super Bowl-winning coaching staff with the 49ers) have been vocal about creating a more welcoming atmosphere for past players.
Walking around the renovated main concourse at Levi’s Stadium on Tuesday, Guido pointed to a new banner commemorating the night Rice broke Jim Brown’s all-time touchdown record.
“That one got Jerry’s approval,” Guido said with a smile.
There are also large banners celebrating players such as Roger Craig, John Taylor, Patrick Willis and Dwight Clark.
There are posters featuring great moments like Young’s wild 49-yard, game-winning scramble against the Minnesota Vikings in 1988. The words say, “Young Gets Away Again” — as a nod to Lon Simmons’ breathtaking radio play-by-play call.
Guido said there are more changes to come, even as the season goes along.
“As you can imagine, there is a lot of, ‘Why this, not that?’ even on the player graphics,” he said. “Guys on the team this year were like, ‘Why am I not up?’ Well, we’re going to rotate those out throughout the year.”
Why did it take so long? One factor was that the 49ers incorporated a Hall of Fame and Museum in the stadium from the start; those halls opened before a game was ever played at Levi’s. But fans weighed in that they wanted team’s history part of the game-day experience.
Turner, who swings through the museum every day, said he considered the past properly represented. But he’s come to understand how people who head straight for their seats would miss the salute.
“I think what’s tough is that we have our 60,000-plus fans in here on a given Sunday and not everybody can go to the museum and see it in its glory,” he said.
The 49ers say that they are working to address other Levi’s Stadium concerns that were relayed through 130,000 survey responses, many of them having to do with the parking and traffic issues which have haunted Levi’s Stadium since the beginning.
Fixing those problems could take a while. But Guido said improving the infrastructure surrounding the stadium could also ultimately boost the team’s chances at hosting another Super Bowl. He said the NFL is currently putting out bid packages for Super Bowls 57, 58 and 59. The timing of the 49ers’ bid will hinge on the timing of their Levi’s Stadium improvements.
For now, at least, they’ve been able incorporate a few Super Bowls of yore. The game-day schedule this year will include Dwight Clark Day (on Oct. 2 before a game against the Dallas Cowboys), the induction of Tom Rathman into the 49ers Hall of Fame (Sept. 10 vs. Carolina) and the annual alumni weekend (Nov. 5 vs. Arizona).
“We’re excited about John and Kyle and Al’s support to recognize what we we’ve accomplished here,” Turner said.
Here’s the answer key to numbers in the Ring of Honor:
8 Steve Young
12 John Brodie
14 Y.A. Tittle
16 Joe Montana
27 R.C. Owens
33 Roger Craig
34 Joe Perry
35 John Henry Johnson
37 Jimmy Johnson
39 Hugh McElhenny
42 Ronnie Lott
64 Dave Wilcox
70 Charlie Krueger
73 Leo Nomellini
74 Fred Dean
79 Bob St. Clair
80 Jerry Rice
82 Gordy Soltau
87 Dwight Clark
94 Charles Haley
