With the 49ers and Chiefs looking to write a new chapter of football history Sunday in Super Bowl LIV, local coaches and faculty members recount their favorite Super Bowl memories of Big Games past.
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Super Bowl XVI
49ers 26, Bengals 21
“I was very fortunate when I was in the eighth grade, my dad had been a season ticket holder for the 49ers for years. He had always been going with these guys for years. ... When they finally made it to the Super Bowl for the first time, none of their wives would let them go. So, I got to go with my dad to Detroit. So, that was pretty cool. They were pretty crappy seats in the end zone, but they were in the end zone where the 49ers made their goal-line stand and they scored two of their touchdowns. So, that was pretty fun. That was pretty cool.”
— Chuck Velschow, Woodside vice principal
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Super Bowl XIX
49ers 38, Dolphins 16
“Probably my favorite, favorite memory would be Super Bowl XIX when they played at Stanford. This was back when the old TVs were like furniture and I just remember my dad ... we moved it out into the garage onto a table and we had a whole bunch of people over to the house. We all sat in the garage and watched the game. ... We swear to this day that we heard the celebration from Stanford after a Niners touchdown but it just may have been the whole Bay Area making noise. But every time the Niners would score we would go out front and then you’d hear this wave of noise ringing over San Mateo.”
— Mike Parodi, Hillsdale football head coach
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Super Bowl XLIX
Patriots 28, Seahawks 24
“The most exciting game, I still feel, was that Seattle game versus New England. I just think that one because the [Seahawks] had it all in their hands. Then one little play that people think was over-coaching (when Patriots cornerback Malcolm Butler intercepted Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson’s pass in the end zone), it was just a tremendous play on defense. ... It went to the last play, so that was just amazing.”
— Mike Molieri, M-A boys’ basketball head coach
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1981 NFC Championship Game
49ers 28, Cowboys 27
“I was like 12 years old. I basically remember the Niners losing. I was watching it downstairs at my house in Belmont ... I couldn’t take it so I just went outside and started shooting baskets. Then I just heard my dad and everybody screaming back in the house. So, I went back inside and ‘The Catch’ had just happened.”
— Ben White, Orosi High football head coach
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Super Bowl XXIX
49ers 49, Chargers 26
“My favorite team of all time was the 1994 Niners and the reason for that was, one, that was the first year the salary cap got put in place; and I remember the Niners kind of manipulating the system to get all these guys signed before the salary cap went into effect. ... Then they were able to totally revamp their system because they wanted to beat the Cowboys, who had beaten them in back-to-back years to go to the Super Bowl. ... They had tons of weapons on that team offensively and defensively. You look at the coaching staff, they were led by George Seifert then they had future head coach Mike Shanahan as the offensive coordinator. They had Ray Rhodes, future head coach of the Eagles as their defensive coordinator. ... Of course, you had Steve Young, a great quarterback who wasn’t able to get over the hump, and then that year he was able to do it. ... It was just a great football game to watch.”
— John Falabella, Jefferson boys’ basketball head coach
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Super Bowl XVI
49ers 26, Bengals 21
“My favorite Super Bowl memory was, and it really made me want to play football after that, was Dan Bunz’s open-field tackle at the goal line (during the 49ers’ infamous goal-line stand). That was the turning point. ... That was really what made me want to play football; one tackle did that.”
— Eric Jacobson, El Camino football coach
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Super Bowl XXXVI
Patriots 20, Rams 17
“I’m not a Patriots fan and I don’t hate the Rams, per se. When Tommy Brady won that first one ... when they won that first one, I was happy for Tom Brady, but I felt like (Brady’s mentor and former College of San Mateo head coach) Tom Martinez won ... and I have nothing but love for Tom Martinez. So I felt like, in a roundabout way, Tom Martinez had a say in the Big Game.”
— Keith Holden, Half Moon Bay football head coach
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Super Bowl XI
Raiders 32, Vikings 14
“As a young kid, I was a die-hard, throwing-temper-tantrums Raiders fan. That was back in the days of Kenny Stabler, Mark van Eeghan, Willie Brown; and the Niners were horrible. So, my birthday present every year was to go to a Raiders game ... and so, obviously, I’d had my heart broken when I was in third grade when they beat Miami (in the AFC Championship Game) but lost to Pittsburgh. And there were consecutive years of heartbreak. And then to break through and beat the Vikings down in Pasadena on Jan. 11 ... I was so happy. ... Of course, Old Man Willie’s return for a touchdown when they were a starting to get a little bit close, the Vikings were. I just remember that one, just feeling it, and how joyful I was that the Raiders were finally going to win the Super Bowl. That was super exciting.”
— Steve Sell, Aragon football head coach
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Super Bowl XLII
Giants 17, Patriots 14
“I grew up in Miami, and I’m a pretty big lifelong Miami Dolphins fan. Nobody knows that about me, especially because we’re supposed to be backing the Patriots because of our boy, (Woodside graduate Julian) Edelman. ... Growing up and always hearing about the 1972 team, and how they were the only team to ever go undefeated, I would have to say when the juggernaut Patriots, that year when they were 16-0 and about to be the next team to finally, finally break that record; and for them to lose in the Super Bowl, preserving the Dolphins as the only undefeated team ever, I think that’s the one that comes to mind because, to this day, the Dolphins are the only team to ever finish unbeaten.”
— Justin Andrews, Woodside football head coach
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Super Bowl XXIII
49ers 20, Bengals 16
“The unique job I had as the third-string quarterback for the 49ers in Super Bowl XXIII. At that time we hand-signaled in the plays from Coach Walsh to Steve Young, who then hand-signaled them in to Joe Montana. The hand signals we had were created by (Bengals head coach) Sam Wyche, when Sam Wyche was the offensive coordinator for the 49ers. My job was always to stand in between Steve Young’s signaling to Joe Montana, in between Sam Wyche so Sam Wyche couldn’t see the signals that were being sent in. ... I’m wearing my Super Bowl ring right now.”
— John Paye, Menlo girls’ basketball head coach
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