http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/story/13623254p-14465627c.html
Father-son dynamic isn't easily explained
By Matthew Barrows -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 25, 2005
SANTA CLARA - The Cowboys vs. 49ers may seem like a dead rivalry. But in the Nolan household, it's alive and kicking and, well, quite complicated.
Ever since Mike Nolan was hired in January, the 49ers' marketing machine has strived to paint the new coach and his father, Dick, who coached the 49ers from 1968 to 1975, as part of one big, happy 49ers family. Truth be told, Dick Nolan is more a Cowboy at heart.
After all, he and his wife, Ann, live in a Dallas suburb, he spent 15 years as a Cowboys assistant and had a close friendship with the late Tom Landry. The relationship spanned four decades and began when the two played cornerback for the New York Giants in the 1950s.
Nolan had the speed. Landry, older by eight years, had experience.
"He was the smart guy," Dick Nolan said last week from his Trophy Club, Texas, home. "That's what he had. He made up for his lack of speed with his brains."
Two years after Landry became the first head coach of the new Cowboys franchise in 1960, he asked Nolan to come to Dallas to help run the defense.
Nolan said he always thought of Landry as an older brother. And just as the younger brother dreams of topping his big sibling one day, Nolan wanted nothing more than to beat his mentor when Nolan got his own head-coaching gig with the 49ers in 1968.
"I think Dick got up a little more for those games," said Skip Vanderbundt, a 49ers linebacker during the Dick Nolan era. "You always want to play your best against your enemies and your friends. What do you want to do when you play racquetball with your best friend? You want to beat his brains out."
Adding to Nolan's desire was the fact that the Cowboys of that era were the class of the NFC. They were also a team the up-and-coming 49ers never could quite topple from their perch.
Dallas and San Francisco met in the playoffs three straight seasons beginning in 1970, and the Cowboys advanced with wins all three times.
No loss was more painful than the one that occurred at Candlestick Park on Dec. 23, 1972. Said Ann Nolan: "We still have nightmares about that one."
The 49ers were leading the defending Super Bowl champions by 15 points in the fourth quarter when they made perhaps their biggest mistake - knocking Dallas quarterback Craig Morton out of the game. In came a youngster named Roger Staubach, who immediately began carving up the 49ers' defense.
"When a team desperately is trying to go downfield, you hope they make a mistake, fumble the ball, and the game is over," said former linebacker Frank Nunley. "That didn't happen. Roger Staubach got hot and never cooled down."
The Cowboys got a field goal, then with 90 seconds left, Staubach threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Billy Parks to cut the 49ers' lead to five points.
San Francisco could have sealed the win by gathering up the ensuing onside kick, but it slipped through Preston Riley's grasp. Seconds later, Staubach threw another touchdown pass to Ron Sellers.
In the waning seconds, it looked as if the 49ers would get a chance for a game-winning field goal, but a holding penalty nullified a long gain into Dallas territory. The 49ers lost again, and the Cowboys advanced to face the Washington Redskins.
No one was more haunted than Riley. Vanderbundt said he recently got a call late one night from a forlorn Riley who, more than three decades after the game, asked if his old teammates still blame him for the loss.
"I told him I could think of 22 other guys who were responsible," Vanderbundt said.
Nolan and the 49ers never quite recovered, either. The coach never had another winning season in San Francisco and was fired three years later.
Now the onus of beating the Cowboys falls to his son, who was on the sideline for the three playoff defeats to Dallas and knows full well the history and emotion behind today's meeting. "As is the case in any rivalry, it's an issue of respect," the younger Nolan said. "And that's why it's the game it's been - because of the respect between these two teams."
The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.
Father-son dynamic isn't easily explained
By Matthew Barrows -- Bee Staff Writer
Published 2:15 am PDT Sunday, September 25, 2005
SANTA CLARA - The Cowboys vs. 49ers may seem like a dead rivalry. But in the Nolan household, it's alive and kicking and, well, quite complicated.
Ever since Mike Nolan was hired in January, the 49ers' marketing machine has strived to paint the new coach and his father, Dick, who coached the 49ers from 1968 to 1975, as part of one big, happy 49ers family. Truth be told, Dick Nolan is more a Cowboy at heart.
After all, he and his wife, Ann, live in a Dallas suburb, he spent 15 years as a Cowboys assistant and had a close friendship with the late Tom Landry. The relationship spanned four decades and began when the two played cornerback for the New York Giants in the 1950s.
Nolan had the speed. Landry, older by eight years, had experience.
"He was the smart guy," Dick Nolan said last week from his Trophy Club, Texas, home. "That's what he had. He made up for his lack of speed with his brains."
Two years after Landry became the first head coach of the new Cowboys franchise in 1960, he asked Nolan to come to Dallas to help run the defense.
Nolan said he always thought of Landry as an older brother. And just as the younger brother dreams of topping his big sibling one day, Nolan wanted nothing more than to beat his mentor when Nolan got his own head-coaching gig with the 49ers in 1968.
"I think Dick got up a little more for those games," said Skip Vanderbundt, a 49ers linebacker during the Dick Nolan era. "You always want to play your best against your enemies and your friends. What do you want to do when you play racquetball with your best friend? You want to beat his brains out."
Adding to Nolan's desire was the fact that the Cowboys of that era were the class of the NFC. They were also a team the up-and-coming 49ers never could quite topple from their perch.
Dallas and San Francisco met in the playoffs three straight seasons beginning in 1970, and the Cowboys advanced with wins all three times.
No loss was more painful than the one that occurred at Candlestick Park on Dec. 23, 1972. Said Ann Nolan: "We still have nightmares about that one."
The 49ers were leading the defending Super Bowl champions by 15 points in the fourth quarter when they made perhaps their biggest mistake - knocking Dallas quarterback Craig Morton out of the game. In came a youngster named Roger Staubach, who immediately began carving up the 49ers' defense.
"When a team desperately is trying to go downfield, you hope they make a mistake, fumble the ball, and the game is over," said former linebacker Frank Nunley. "That didn't happen. Roger Staubach got hot and never cooled down."
The Cowboys got a field goal, then with 90 seconds left, Staubach threw a 20-yard touchdown pass to Billy Parks to cut the 49ers' lead to five points.
San Francisco could have sealed the win by gathering up the ensuing onside kick, but it slipped through Preston Riley's grasp. Seconds later, Staubach threw another touchdown pass to Ron Sellers.
In the waning seconds, it looked as if the 49ers would get a chance for a game-winning field goal, but a holding penalty nullified a long gain into Dallas territory. The 49ers lost again, and the Cowboys advanced to face the Washington Redskins.
No one was more haunted than Riley. Vanderbundt said he recently got a call late one night from a forlorn Riley who, more than three decades after the game, asked if his old teammates still blame him for the loss.
"I told him I could think of 22 other guys who were responsible," Vanderbundt said.
Nolan and the 49ers never quite recovered, either. The coach never had another winning season in San Francisco and was fired three years later.
Now the onus of beating the Cowboys falls to his son, who was on the sideline for the three playoff defeats to Dallas and knows full well the history and emotion behind today's meeting. "As is the case in any rivalry, it's an issue of respect," the younger Nolan said. "And that's why it's the game it's been - because of the respect between these two teams."
The Bee's Matthew Barrows can be reached at mbarrows@sacbee.com.