SAN FRANCISCO — Fred Dean, a driving force who helped turn the perennially underachieving 49ers into one of the greatest dynasties in professional football, died Wednesday night. He was 68.
Dean, a fearsome defensive end who helped transform the position during an 11-year NFL career, was on a ventilator after he had been infected with the coronavirus, according to former San Francisco teammate Dwight Hicks.
“The entire Pro Football Hall of Fame family mourns the passing of Fred Dean,” Pro Football Hall of Fame President & CEO David Baker said in a statement. “He exemplified many of the values learned from this great game – commitment, integrity, courage – over the course of his life. Our thoughts and prayers are with Fred’s wife, Pam, and their entire family. We will forever keep his legacy alive to serve as inspiration for future generations. The Hall of Fame flag will be flown at half-staff in Fred’s memory.”
Dean won Super Bowls XVI and XIX with the Niners after he arrived from San Diego in a trade early in the 1981 season following a contract dispute with the Chargers. He finished his first season in San Francisco as a Super Bowl champion and an All-Pro selection.
In 1983, Dean was again named an All-Pro before capturing his second Super Bowl with the 49ers after the 1984 season. He retired after the 1985 season and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008.
For most of his career, the NFL did not compile sack statistics, but Dean racked up 17.5 sacks in 1983, good for second in the league that year behind the Jets’ Mark Gastineau (19).
“The 49ers family is heartbroken to learn of the passing of one of the game’s all-time greats, Fred Dean,” the 49ers organization said in a statement Thursday morning. “Fred not only impacted countless opposing quarterbacks throughout his career, but also the future of the game of football as one of the NFL’s first true pass rushing specialists. Although sacks did not become an official NFL statistic until Fred’s eighth season in the league, his 93.5 sacks would rank among the top 50 all-time to this day.
“From the minute he joined the 49ers, Fred immediately helped to change the team’s fortunes. In just his first game with the team, he put in an all-time performance against the Dallas Cowboys that not only helped defeat a nemesis but propelled the 49ers to our first Super Bowl Championship later that year.”
Dean was part of a fearsome 49ers defense that featured Ronnie Lott, Hacksaw Reynolds and Eric Wright, in addition to Dean and Hicks. The 1981 defense was second in the NFL in fewest points and yards allowed, while the 1984 team gave up the fewest points.
“So very sad to hear about the passing of @49ers great Fred Dean,” former 49ers defensive lineman Bryant Young tweeted. “My sincere condolences to the Dean family. May God provide you with strength in the coming days, months and years. Many are grateful to Fred for the legacy left behind. Salute my friend!”
Prior to becoming a second-round pick by the San Diego Chargers in 1975, Dean was a standout at Louisiana Tech, leading the Bulldogs to a 44-4 record from 1971 to 1974.
“Fred was a classmate of Kathy’s and mine, and we watched him every Saturday during Tech’s string of national championships in the early 1970s,” Louisiana Tech President Les Guice said in a statement. “It was great to see him rise from humble beginnings to become dominant as a pro, and then an NFL Hall of Famer. Fred remained loyal to Louisiana Tech and the Ruston Community. He will be greatly missed by the Tech Family.”
The 49ers, in the midst of an eight-year playoff drought, were 3-2 when Dean arrived from the Chargers.
Coach Bill Walsh envisioned using Dean on a part-time basis, believing he would be more effective in putting pressure on opposing quarterbacks on passing downs only.
Walsh also wanted Dean to use a standing start, which he felt would give him the freedom to move around and confuse offensive linemen and quarterbacks.
“I was used to playing every down,” Dean said in a 2008 interview with this news organization after he was elected to the Hall of Fame.
“Coach Walsh told me I would play a limited role as a pass rusher. In other words, I would be the 12th man. I didn’t really want to go that route at first. But then I thought about what he was saying and it made a lot of sense. And I went on to try it out for myself, and I liked it.”
Dean played his first game with San Francisco on Oct. 11, 1981, a 45-14 rout of the Dallas Cowboys in which the 49ers’ new pass rusher finished with a reported 2 1/2 sacks.
“Bill Walsh told me they hadn’t beat ’em in a while,” Dean said. “It was in the paper and everything about how they had not. For me, it was a platform for me to prove a point, that I still had it and could do it.”
San Francisco then won the rematch with the Cowboys three months later in the NFC title game 28-27 thanks to “The Catch” by Dwight Clark on a pass from Joe Montana. In all, the 49ers would go 13-1 in 1981 after Dean’s arrival, a season capped by a 26-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
Dean played four more seasons in San Francisco, winning a second Super Bowl after the 1984 season.
“As the 49ers marched through the NFL, often having opponents on the ropes early in games, Fred was referred to by his teammates as “The Closer” for his ability to deliver the knockout blow to opposing offenses,” the 49ers added in their statement. “One of the most feared defenders in the game, he is remembered as a quiet, fun-loving, sincere, country gentleman. Fred’s accolades were numerous, but his love for the game, his teammates and those close to him are what endeared him to so many.”
Dean was in his 18th year of eligibility when he finally received his call to the Hall. He was part of a 2008 class that included wide receiver Art Monk, cornerback Darrell Green, linebacker Andre Tippett, tackle Gary Zimmerman and cornerback Emmitt Thomas.
“My thing was I played for the love of the game and that was it,” Dean told this news organization that year. “People would tell me about the Hall of Fame, this and that and the other. And when you look at it you’re saying, ‘Me? Inducted into the Hall of Fame?’ And you question that. But I thank God I was, and that the committee found it in their heart to elect me as one of the few to be put amongst the greats.”
Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo introduced Dean at his Hall of Fame induction, saying, “While it cannot be said that Fred Dean’s greatness as an NFL player began when he came to the 49ers in 1981, I can say as the owner of the team that the greatness of the 49ers began with Fred Dean’s arrival in San Francisco.”
Dean had seven sacks, 93 tackles and four fumble recoveries in his rookie year. His career sacks total near 100, but the number is unofficial because sacks were not an official NFL statistic until 1982.
Unofficially, he had 15½ sacks in 1978. He contributed 12 sacks in 11 games with the 49ers in 1981. His career best was 17½ in 1983, including a then-NFL record six in one game against New Orleans.
“I could consider it being born by the Chargers but having a renewal life with the 49ers,” Dean said in his Hall of Fame speech. “And being with the 49ers, I found that on the other side of that bridge, on the other side was my rainbow, the true ending of a rainbow. Not financially, but with all the people there.”
The Associated Press and staff writer Michael Nowels contributed to this story.