Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. is finally headed to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but his path to get there was anything but easy. We take a look at what Mr. D's legacy meant to the San Francisco 49ers then and what it means to professional sports today.
Sixteen playoff appearances. Ten conference titles. Five Super Bowl championships.
It's easy to quantify all of his accomplishments on the field. It's a much more difficult task to explain and truly appreciate the significance of those off of it. Yet for all that Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. achieved by the end of his tenure as the owner of the San Francisco 49ers, it's almost absurd to consider how much trepidation he met when it all first began.