49ers legend Jerry Rice not campaigning for Levi’s Stadium statue but would ‘gladly welcome’ one
SANTA CLARA – Statues of Joe Montana and Dwight Clark immortalizing “The Catch” gloriously rise behind Gate A at Levi’s Stadium. Those didn’t exist when the Super Bowl debuted there a decade ago.
Across the street, over the light-rail tracks and in front of a parking garage are statues of Steve Young playing catch with a young boy. Those were commissioned by the City of Santa Clara for Super Bowl 50.
Now comes Super Bowl 60 but without more bronzed sculptures, not that the 49ers lack worthy models.
After all, Jerry Rice has scored more touchdowns (207) and caught more passes (1,549) for more yards (22,895) than anyone in NFL history.
Statue-esque, no?
“I appreciate that. I leave it up to everyone else,” Rice said Monday when asked by the Bay Area News Group about a potential statue. “If they want to show me love like that, I’d gladly welcome that, but I’m not the type to push it.”
He’s really not. Contrary to viral reaction to that quote earlier this week, Rice initially wanted no part of such a campaign, backing away as he said: “No, no, no. I’m not going to get into that.”
The living, breathing, magnanimous version of Rice is already a constant presence at Levi’s Stadium, showing up for most home games, pandering to the crowd in pregame warmups, and sitting front row behind the south end zone.
Before serving as the NFC’s coach at Monday’s Pro Bowl practice, Rice blushed and acted humble about a potential statue: “I would love that, to be honest with you. We’ve had talks about that. It could happen. If it happens, I’m probably going to be so emotional and break down and cry.”
The next day, 49ers principal owner Jed York sounded amenable to a Rice statue, telling the Up & Adams Show: “He is the original G.O.A.T. Let’s commission that. J.R., you tell me wherever you want it, man, we’ve got you, bud. It’s something big, it’s something flamboyant. It’s something that matches the greatest football player ever.”
One catch: The 49ers already commissioned a statue of Rice, along with other members of their Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. Hall of Fame.
There are over 30 such statues behind lock and key inside the team’s museum, and that’s a shame. It is rarely open for public viewing.
Located on the north side of Levi’s Stadium, the museum is replete with items from the franchise’s origin, but it has not been sufficiently updated over the past decade. Aside from private tours and the limited hours before home games, it’s not exactly an open book to 49ers history, plus admission comes at an extra cost beyond a game ticket.
Moving those statues into a public concourse, such as flanking the west side’s suite tower, would give the 49ers Faithful better access to celebrating past glories of a franchise that has gone 31 years without adding to its collection of five Lombardi Trophies.
In the northeast corner of Levi’s Stadium in 2018, the 49ers unveiled statues of Montana and Clark to commemorate “The Catch” Clark made for a game-winning touchdown against Dallas to launch the 1981 49ers toward their first Super Bowl and ignite a dynasty of five Lombardi Trophies through the 1994 season.
To open this season, the New England Patriots debuted a 17-foot statue of Tom Brady outside Gillette Stadium. Sunday, the Patriots are in Super Bowl LX at Levi’s Stadium. Heck, if that’s the karma needed to spark a Super Bowl run, maybe the 49ers really should trot out a statue of Rice, Bill Walsh, Ronnie Lott, Eddie DeBartolo and more. So many legends, and if there’s only one statue allotment allowed at Levi’s, at least The Catch is the one.
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NFL stadium statues
Cleveland: Jim Otto, Jim Brown
Green Bay: Curly Lambeau, Vince Lombardi
Baltimore: Ray Lewis, Johnny Unitas
Indianapolis: Peyton Manning
New England: Tom Brady
Arizona: Pat Tillman
Dallas: Tom Landry
New Orleans: Tom Benson, Steve Gleason
Kansas City: Lamar Hunt
Carolina: Sam Mills
Detroit: Barry Sanders
Philadelphia: Nick Foles/Doug Peterson