NFL Network aired a special Thursday evening in which they introduced the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2016. The show featured interviews with the new members. Former San Francisco 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. had a few interesting things to say to Steve Wyche on NFL Network. Inductees Marvin Harrison, Tony Dungy and Kevin Greene were included in this interview group, while Brett Favre and Orlando Pace had a separate conversation.
DeBartolo, who has been inducted into the 49ers Hall of Fame as well as the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame, does not believe his Canton enshrinement has fully sunk in yet. DeBartolo has been to the ceremony several times, for players and coaches who were members of the 49ers family, but obviously this time it will be about him.
I'm still in a state of shock, so honored, so humbled.
Dungy and DeBartolo are the only members of this year's class who have already decided who will present them at the ceremony. DeBartolo stated it was a very easy decision to choose his eldest daughter, Lisa, to have the honor and added:
I just hope I can get through it. It's a culmination of your lifetime's dream.
When Wyche asked each inductee who they believe should be in the Hall of Fame that has has not been inducted yet, DeBartolo quickly replied 49ers RB Roger Craig and OL Randy Cross. The most interesting comment by DeBartolo, however, had to be about his methods as a owner that made him successful:
I think you surround yourself with good football people and step back and let them do their job.
This is not only interesting because fans have been clamoring for current CEO Jed York to be relieved of his duties, but because DeBartolo was involved with the goings on of the team, including ordering the firing of Bill Walsh more than once. In fact, former 49ers executive Carmen Policy revealed on NFL Network's, Eddie DeBartolo: A Football Life that he had been ordered to fire Walsh seven or eight times during his tenure as head coach. These orders were obviously never carried out, and it leaves one to speculate what might have happened if there was a Carmen Policy or mediator type of figure when Jim Harbaugh was around.