Eddie DeBartolo Jr. Hall of Fame speech: ‘We weren’t just a family on Sunday’

DeBartolo opened by joking about the differences between him and his 2016 Hall of Fame classmates.

“I could be the only inductee of this great Hall who didn’t make his high school football team,” DeBartolo said. “To share this stage with these amazing gentlemen behind me today is more than humbling. We all may be wearing the same jackets, but they have shoes that I could never, ever fill.”

He thanked the selection committee and the 49ers fans who made the trek to see him honored, and he noted that this was really an experience of his life coming full circle.

“It is not lost on me that I was elected to the Hall of Fame at Super Bowl 50 in San Francisco, and that I stand here tonight about 40 miles from where I was born and raised in Youngstown, Ohio,” DeBartolo said.

DeBartolo spoke about his wife and daughters and the tremendous impact they’ve had on him as a man and the owner of the 49ers.

“Ultimately, family is what my life and career have been all about,” DeBartolo said.

As an owner, DeBartolo has a unique understanding of all of the people who work hard to ensure the success of an NFL team -- from the equipment managers to the bus drivers to the executive assistants -- and he acknowledged those people and their roles in his speech.

“We weren’t just a family on Sunday, we were a family every single day,” DeBartolo said.

DeBartolo acknowledged Bill Walsh and Joe Montana, and shared many fun anecdotes from his storied career. He revealed that he has the goalpost from “The Catch” in his backyard in Montana, and shared a story about Charles Haley being ejected from a game, running into DeBartolo and assuming he had also been ejected from the stadium. He also shared that Jerry Rice’s nickname as a young player was “Fifi,” and that Rice hated to be wet. DeBartolo said Rice would go into the locker room and change his uniform two to three times per game.

Under DeBartolo’s ownership, the 49ers were family. His priority was treating the players on the team like family, and he believes the NFL could use a little more of that approach today.

“I think we could use a little bit more of that sense of duty to one another and that sense of responsibility for one another,” DeBartolo said.

DeBartolo called 49ers fans the best fans in the world and said he truly believes that.

“We tried to show what they meant to us by winning,” he said.

He said he misses Walsh every single day, and that Walsh always believed DeBartolo would make it into the Hall of Fame. After DeBartolo’s selection was announced, he received a package in the mail from Bill’s son, which contained a 49ers helmet and a note congratulating him on his selection to the Hall. Walsh prepared this gift for DeBartolo prior to his death in 2007.

“From the very, very bottom of my heart, thank you for honoring me today, thank you for honoring my family, thank you for letting me be part of this great, fantastic game of football,” DeBartolo finished.

DeBartolo is one of the most celebrated owners in NFL history, but his way to the Hall of Fame seemed blocked for many years due to legal troubles that ultimately caused him to give up control of the 49ers to his sister, Denise York. He was suspended as owner of the team for one year following his part in the 1998 corruption case of former Louisiana governor Edwin Edwards.

Many assumed the league forced him to give up the 49ers, but DeBartolo insisted that he chose to do so after his one-year suspension. Some thought he was kept out of the Hall of Fame for so long due to the legal issues and his exit from the NFL, but nobody doubted his credentials.

The 49ers won all five of the franchise’s Super Bowls -- XVI, XIX, XXIII, XXIV and XXIX -- under DeBartolo. He was inducted in the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2008 and was placed on the 49ers Wall of Fame in 2009.

DeBartolo is famous for being loved by his former players. He was regarded as one of the more generous owners in the league, and developed a bond with just about every single 49ers legend out there, including Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and Steve Young, among other Super Bowl winners. DeBartolo was known for having a “family” approach to the way he ran the team, and the players bought into it in a big way.