Hall of Fame receiver Jerry Rice on Tuesday night modeled the coyote fur coat that Dwight Clark wore during the victory parade in downtown San Francisco after the 49ers’ first Super Bowl title.
The coat, donated by Jeff Clark, Dwight’s younger brother, will be displayed in the 49ers Museum at Levi’s Stadium.
Clark wore it once, producing an odd footnote to San Francisco’s first championship in any major professional sport. He almost immediately regretted wearing it, though he could laugh about it later.
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“What the . . . was I thinking?” Clark said during a lunch with friends in Capitola in January.
He recounted the story.
“Right after the (NFC) championship game, Joe (Montana) and I got these invitations from this coat, fur, whatever, shop on Union Square. If we’d come and take a picture, do an ad, they’d give us a coat. So Joe and I picked friggin’ fur coats to wear to Detroit.”
Despite the frigid conditions in Michigan during the week of Super Bowl XVI, Clark waited until the victory parade back in the Bay Area to make his fashion statement.
San Francisco 49ers
“Geez, I was trying to be Joe Namath,” Clark said. “Terrible.”
While Clark rode the cable car in the parade, some fans ripped fur off the coat for souvenirs, he said. Clark understood why animal-rights proponents would not be fond of his clothing choice. And he seemed to agree with them.
“I can’t even think about killing an animal now,” said Clark, who grew up in North Carolina. “I went hunting one time and killed a squirrel. It made me throw up. I’m not made for killing.”