Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 1, 2020)
B4 SPORTS East Oregonian Saturday, February 1, 2020 49ers, Chiefs go through fi nal Super Bowl practices By DAVE SKRETTA Associated Press DAVIE, Fla. — The Chiefs and 49ers went through their fi nal practices Friday in preparation for the Super Bowl, and both coaches said their teams have everyone healthy and available for when they step on the fi eld at Hard Rock Stadium. The Chiefs have listed four players on the injury report all week in defen- sive tackle Chris Jones, cen- ter Austin Reiter and tight ends Travis Kelce and Deon Yelder. But all of their inju- ries appear to be minimal, and Chiefs coach Andy Reid said that Kelce in par- ticular had a solid week of practice and was “moving around pretty good” on his sore knee. Their practice at the Miami Dolphins’ train- ing facility lasted about 1 hour, 15 minutes, and began with special teams drills before concluding with red zone work on offense and defense. Players did not wear pads as temperatures hit 80 degrees. “I thought they had good energy. Flew around,” Reid said. “Kind of polished it up. All-in-all another posi- tive day.” Chiefs chairman Clark Hunt and his family, which AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo throws during practice for the NFL Super Bowl 54 football game, Friday, Jan. 31, 2020, in Coral Gables, Fla. has owned the franchise since its inception in the days of the old AFL, watched the workout from the sideline. Hunt spoke briefl y to the team afterward. The Chiefs will have a mock game walk-through on Saturday, which gives them one last chance to get substitutions and other details in order. There is also the team picture to take and a few other odds and ends to fi nish up. “I don’t want to play,” Reid said, “but yeah, I’m ready to coach.” Just to the south in Coral Gables, the 49ers went through a 70-minute workout at the University of Miami practice facility and everyone participated. That included running back Tevin Coleman, who had been limited in practice the previous two days because of a shoulder injury. “He’s worked his tail off to get healthy,” San Fran- cisco coach Kyle Shanahan said. “He’s good to go. He’s confi dent.” The 49ers, who also will hold a fi nal walk-through Saturday, have kept things light in the days before the Super Bowl. Their bus actu- ally arrived at the facility about 45 minutes early Fri- day, so the players tricked their coaches by swapping jerseys — defensive end Nick Bosa and safety Jim- mie Ward switched, and Coleman wore fullback Kyle Juszczyk’s No. 44. “They surprised us with it,” Shanahan said. “They are loose and feeling good, and they had fun with it.” At the conclusion of practice, Shanahan asked AP Photo/Brynn Anderson Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Tyreek Hill (10) talks with quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) during practice Friday in Davie, Fla., for Super Bowl 54. left tackle Joe Staley — the team’s longest-tenured player — to break down the huddle. Shanahan’s 10-year- old son, Carter, also vis- ited practice and watched as they wrapped things up. “It was neat to bring him here,” said Shanahan, whose own father, Mike, led the Broncos to back-to- back Super Bowl wins. “I remember when I used to do it. He doesn’t realize how cool it is, but he’ll realize it later, just like I did.” The mission for 100-year-old veterans: Super Bowl coin fl ip There’s not a lot left to do at the age of 100 By TIM DAHLBERG Associated Press AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File Pittsburgh Steelers’ Troy Polamalu follows the action during the second half of a Nov. 10, 2013, NFL football game against the Buff alo Bills in Pittsburgh. Four safeties vying for Hall of Fame spot By BARRY WILNER AP Pro Football Writer MIAMI — There are 11 pure safeties in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Four more are seeking to join them when the Class of 2020 is selected Saturday. John Lynch, now the gen- eral manager of the 49ers who will play the Chiefs in Sunday’s Super Bowl, is up for the seventh time. Steve Atwater is a fi nalist for the third time. LeRoy Butler and fi rst-year eligible Troy Polamalu complete the quartet of safeties among the 15 fi nal candidates. “The Hall of Fame would be unbelievable. I’m humbled every year,” Lynch says. “I’ve been a fi nalist seven times now. I don’t know if it will neces- sarily change my life. I’ve been pretty blessed with my family, what I’ve been able to do in football. I’ve heard other people say that, and then they go in and say it’s like happening. You never know until you’re in there what it means to you. “It would be tremendous. I’d be incredibly humbled and honored. Hopefully this is the year on Saturday.” Butler, who starred for the Packers from 1990- 2001, has had the longest wait to get to this point. Butler won a Super Bowl for Green Bay, which had a quarterback named Brett Favre — a fi rst-ballot Hall of Famer — leading the way. Favre is adamant about Butler also deserving enshrinement. “LeRoy was as import- ant to our Super Bowl win and success as any other player on our team,” Favre says. “I couldn’t tell you the interceptions or tack- les — I know there were a lot — but his leadership and playmaking ability were outstanding. He had a knack for being in the right place at the right time. Being around the ball. “He wasn’t the most ath- letic guy and that might surprise a lot of people, but he was so instinctive. He made the plays; some guys get in position and don’t make the plays. He had a lot of charisma about him — he was the fi rst to jump into the stands. That’s no reason to put a guy into the Hall of Fame, but the career he had defi nitely is worthy.” Atwater was one of the hardest hitters at the posi- tion, an intimidating fi gure against the run but also a force in pass coverage. He played for a decade with Denver, winning two Super Bowls, then one year with the Jets. Polamalu was a do-ev- erything safety for the Steelers from 2003-14 and the 2010 NFL Defen- sive Player of the Year — the last safety to earn the award. He was a four-time All-Pro known for his free- lancing playmaking. The fi nalists from the defensive side also include lineman Richard Seymour and Bryant Young, line- backers Sam Mills and Zach Thomas. On offense, the candi- dates are receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt and Reg- gie Wayne; linemen Steve Hutchinson, Alan Faneca and Tony Boselli; and run- ning back Reggie Wayne. “I feel like the closer we get to that day, the butter- fl ies are going to start kick- ing in,” Wayne said on Siri- usXM NFL Radio. “I’m just enjoying the wave, excited to be in this position. I know being a receiver this isn’t the easy lock-in spot for the Hall of Fame. But man for me to be in this position on my fi rst ballot, words can’t describe it.” Wayne and Polamalu are the only fi rst-year eligibles on the ballot Saturday. The fi ve modern-day players elected will be inducted into the Canton, Ohio, shrine on Aug. 8. The Hall of Fame previ- ously elected 15 members of a centennial class. They included coaches Jimmy Johnson and Bill Cowher; contributors Paul Tagli- abue, the former NFL com- missioner, Steve Sabol, who along with his father Ed — already a Hall of Fame member — created NFL Films, and George Young, who built the New York Giants’ championship teams in 1986 and 1990. Ten former players also were selected by the special centennial committee: Dallas Cowboys safety Cliff Harris; Cleveland receiver Mac Speedie; Pittsburgh safety Donnie Shell; Green Bay safety Bobby Dillon; Detroit defensive tackle Alex Kar- ras; Eagles wide receiver Harold Carmichael; offen- sive tackles Winston Hill of the Jets and Jim Covert of the Bears; linebacker/ defensive end Ed Sprin- kle of the Bears; and Duke Slater, one of the NFL’s fi rst black players, an outstand- ing two-way player in the league’s earliest days. MIAMI — Charles McGee fl ew 136 combat missions in World War II as part of the famed Tuske- gee Airmen, attacking tar- gets in Italy and supporting the rescue of 1,000 prison- ers of war in Romania. He went on to become a colo- nel and fl y in wars in Korea and Vietnam. At the age of 100, his lat- est mission will be to han- dle the opening coin fl ip Sunday in the Super Bowl. “I’ll try not to make any mistakes,’’ McGee said. “I don’t have the special coin so I haven’t practiced.’’ McGee will be joined by three other centenar- ian World War II veterans for a coin fl ip that is far from ceremonial. In addi- tion to deciding which team gets the ball fi rst, the result of the fl ip will be closely watched by gam- blers across the nation who have money on Super Bowl proposition bets. They were asked by the NFL to participate to honor both their military heritage and the 100th anniversary of the NFL as a profes- sional football league. “It was quite a thrill to be asked,’’ McGee said. “I couldn’t say no.’’ The NFL didn’t have to look far for just the right veteran to handle the toss. McGee is cool under pres- sure, as anyone who sur- vived combat missions over Italy and parts of Europe would be. He’s still sharp and clear-headed, carrying on a phone conversation on Friday like he was half his age. “I just hope for a good game, and good referee- ing,’’ he said. “I’m looking forward to seeing the coin and then seeing the game.’’ McGee was home on holiday in Chicago cel- ebrating his 22nd birth- day when Japanese planes bombed Pearl Harbor in 1941, sending the nation into war. He remembers vividly being in the car with others in his glee club driving to perform at a South Chicago church when President Frank- lin Roosevelt came on the radio to announce the bombing. A few years into the war he would join the only Afri- can-American pilot squad- ron training in segregated Tuskegee, Alabama. He’s one of the last surviving airmen of the 996 pilots — 84 of whom lost their lives in the war — who trained in Alabama. “The Army policy at the time was we didn’t have the brainpower and moral fi ber to become pilots,’’ he said. “We dispelled that notion.’’ The other 100-year- old veterans who will join McGee for the coin fl ip are: Odon Cardenas — Cardenas fought in France and Germany as part of the Third Army under the command of Gen. George Patton. He was captured in the late stages of the war in Germany, serving briefl y as a prisoner of war before being liberated. Samuel Lombardo — Lombardo served as a rifl e platoon leader and com- pany executive offi cer, fi ghting in the Battle of the Bulge and other major campaigns in the fi nal months of the war. Sidney Walton — Wal- ton fought in the China, Burma and India theater after enlisting before the war with the stated desire of taking down Adolf Hit- ler. He and his son, Paul, have been on a tour vis- iting every state to raise awareness of the diminish- ing number of WWII veter- ans and the sacrifi ces they made. “By honoring these four veterans at the cham- pionship game, the league is preserving the national memory of the Greatest Generation and World War II,’’ said Holly Rotondi, executive director of the Friends of the National World War II Memorial. JUST RELEASED UMATILLA COUNT Y MEMORIES Hardcover book Limited supply $44.95 plus tax & shipping Heirloom quality, 144 pages • Historic photos of Umatilla County from the mid-1800s through 1939 • Books are selling quickly — order yours today! Learn more and order online at Umatilla.PictorialBook.com or call 800-522-0255
