Eddie D back? Nope, but his nephew has his style...
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/1344406.html
Jed York steps forward as face of 49ers
By Matthew Barrows
mbarrows@sacbee.com
Published: Sunday, Oct. 26, 2008 | Page 1C
SANTA CLARA – The dark hair and dark eyes. The boyish face. The certain calm and comfort under the media glare.
The Bay Area and beyond did a collective double take Tuesday when a figure in a navy blue suit appeared before them to announce that 49ers coach Mike Nolan had been fired.
Eddie D?
The face at the lectern, however, didn't belong to Edward DeBartolo Jr., the beloved and longed-for former owner of the 49ers. It belonged instead to his 27-year-old nephew, Jed York, who has run the 49ers' day-to-day operations for months but who until Tuesday had stepped aside while his father, John York, handled big, football-related news.
It wasn't just the fans laying eyes on the younger York for the first time who were struck by the family resemblance.
John McVay was hired by DeBartolo in 1979 and was the team's director of football operations throughout its glory days in the 1980s and 1990s.
"I have a great sense of him," McVay said of York. "What I see in him is Eddie all over again. … He looks like him. He's built like him. And I see a lot of Eddie's charm in Jed. Just the way he reaches out to people. He's not standoffish at all."
For many longtime fans and observers, a fresh face is exactly what the 49ers need. The team's faithful had grown restless not just with Nolan, who had failed to have a winning season in 3 1/2 seasons, but with the organization as a whole.
Two weeks ago, Philadelphia Eagles supporters arrived en masse at aging Candlestick Park in a game the 49ers let slip away in the fourth quarter. Today's game against Seattle nearly left the 49ers with their first television blackout since 1981.
York certainly isn't flying solo at 49ers headquarters. In fact, he insists his parents are the true owners.
"Put it this way," he said. "If Roger Goodell needed to call someone about the 49ers, he would call my mother (Denise DeBartolo York) and father."
Still, Jed York, listed as "Vice President of Strategic Planning/Owner" in the team's media guide, is the only one of the three who works continuously out of the 49ers' offices in Santa Clara.
And he handled an awfully big piece of business last week.
Handling the dirty work
Shortly after the 49ers fell to the New York Giants for their fourth consecutive loss, the Yorks decided to fire Nolan and replace him with Mike Singletary. But they wanted to do so after today's game against the Seattle Seahawks, which precedes the team's bye week.
When ESPN reported as much Monday afternoon, Jed York thought the news would undermine the team's preparation for today's game. So he called his father, who was in San Francisco, and his mother, who was in Youngstown, Ohio, and the three agreed to fire Nolan that day.
And so he did in a one-on-one sit-down with Nolan. The two later were joined by general manager Scot McCloughan.
York has a small office that overlooks the team's practice fields. His desk is surrounded by family photos. Many are of Uncle Eddie or of his grandfather, shopping center developer Edward DeBartolo Sr., who bought the 49ers in 1977.
One of York's most cherished possessions is an old matchbook with the name of his grandfather's first construction company. Another is a framed dollar bill, the first dollar he ever made while working for the DeBartolo Corp. in Ohio in 1996. His grandfather, a product of the Great Depression, once had his first dollar framed and on display in his own office.
York also has several photographs of his father, with whom he is very close. Indeed, Jed York is the embodiment of two family lines 49ers fans see in opposite terms: the DeBartolos, who brought five championships to San Francisco, and the Yorks, whose 10-year reign has coincided with a fall to the bottom of the league.
The young owner may have the surname of the man 49ers fans don't trust, but he also has the ear of the man they adore.
Reached at the Tampa, Fla., headquarters of DeBartolo Sports and Entertainment last week, Eddie DeBartolo said he speaks with his nephew perhaps four or five times during the season and had talked to him that day.
"I don't think I've ever talked to John about the operations of the franchise," he said. "I've talked to Denise."
DeBartolo said he was certain his nephew will set the organization on the right course. And he said that for all the credit he's been given over the years, it's important to remember that he also had a rough start as team owner. The 49ers won a total of four games in 1978 and 1979 and allowed general manager Joe Thomas to gut the organization.
"I wasn't exactly endeared to the 49ers or their fans," DeBartolo recalled. "I had a very inauspicious first press conference that didn't go so well. At that time, there must have been 15 guys on the 49ers' roster that were older than me." (There are 21 players on the 49ers' roster older than Jed York.)
The former 49ers owner noted similarities between him and his nephew. After all, he was only 30 when he took over. But he said there are key differences, such as free agency and the salary cap, which make it more difficult to retain top players. He also said that when he took over the 49ers, he had a strong "street sense," something his nephew has not yet acquired.
"You have to deal with things that happen on the street," DeBartolo said. "Sometimes you have to get a little bloody. You have to know how to deal with that."
Said McVay of DeBartolo in the late 1970s: "No one ever thought of him as a young whippersnapper. I guarantee that. He always had a great presence about him. He had a sense of command about him, and he knew exactly what he was looking for."
DeBartolo also had a knack for surrounding himself with the right people, including McVay, Carmen Policy and Bill Walsh.
'Enough DeBartolo blood'
The 49ers' current front office, meanwhile, has been criticized as being shapeless and ever changing.
York said Friday that his two main lieutenants are chief operating officer Andy Dolich, who advises him on business matters, and McCloughan, the team's former personnel director, who handles football-related matters.
York said he was dismayed by how much attention Paraag Marathe receives from the local media. Marathe was part of the interview team when the 49ers sought a new coach in 2005, and his name often is invoked by critics who charge that the 49ers don't have enough people with NFL backgrounds in advisory roles.
"I'm not surprised that people bash us for having a losing record," York said. "But Paraag … his job is to negotiate salaries and manage the salary cap. He's not somebody that calls plays."
And, of course, York consults Uncle Eddie.
"It's not advice," DeBartolo said. "He's a very, very intelligent young man, and he's got his own views and his own opinion on what he thinks is best and what he thinks needs to be done."
DeBartolo said his nephew might struggle early on just as he did, but in the end he'll be fine: "He's got enough DeBartolo blood in him. Not York blood. DeBartolo blood."
