Ex-49er Coach Bill Walsh Dies

Super Bowl chief and quarterback kingmaker was Frisco's coach of the 80s'
By Joseph Fasano,  Newser User
Posted Jul 31, 2007 3:04 AM CDT
Ex-49er Coach Bill Walsh Dies
San Francisco 49ers coach Bill Walsh is hoisted on the shoulders of his team after they defeated the Miami Dolphins 38-16 in Super Bowl XIX in this Jan. 20, 1985 file photo, at Stanford, Stadium, in Palo Alto, Calif. Stanford University has said that Walsh, a Hall of Fame football coach who guided the...   (Associated Press)

Bill Walsh, the coach who led the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl championships in the 1980s, died of leukemia yesterday at the age of 75. During his decade-long tenure, Walsh won six National Football Conference division titles, transforming a club that had won only 10 games in 1987 into a football dynasty within three years.

Walsh is perhaps best known for his grooming of Hall of Fame quarterbacks. He nabbed Joe Montana in the third round of the 1979 draft and later traded for a relatively unknown Steve Young. Walsh was elected "Coach of the '80s" by National Football League's Hall of Fame, finishing his career in that decade with a 102-63-1 record. (More Bill Walsh stories.)

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