Eddie DeBartolo Jr. to be enshrined in Football Hall of Fame
Youngstown native Eddie DeBartolo Jr. will don the famous golden jacket in Canton Saturday night as he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
CANTON, Ohio - Youngstown native Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. will don the famous golden jacket in Canton Saturday night as he is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
DeBartolo is one of eight members selected to be part of the Hall of Fame's Class of 2016. He was voted in by the Selection Committee in February.
The Youngstown-born owner of the San Francisco 49ers will speak at the Hall of Fame's enshrinement ceremony at Saturday night.
DeBartolo, who currently lives in Montana, will be introduced by his daughter Lisa.
The ceremony begins at 7:00 p.m. at Canton's Tom Benson Hall of Fame Field.
DeBartolo will also be on-hand Sunday for an unscripted discussion at the Enshrinees GameDay Roundtable and the Class of 2016 autograph session.
The roundtable will take place at 12:30 p.m. at the Memorial Civic and Cultural Center.
The autograph session is scheduled from 3:00 to 4:30 p.m. at the Hall of Fame's Event Center.
As a member of the 2016 induction class, DeBartolo was chosen from a list of 18 finalists who had been previously determined by the Selection Committee.
DeBartolo, who had been a finalist three times before, was selected in September by the Hall of Fame's nine-member Contributors Committee.
According to the Hall of Fame, the Contributor category is for, "individuals who made outstanding contributions to professional football in capacities other than playing or coaching."
DeBartolo purchased the 49ers in 1977 and would transform the franchise into a dynasty during his tenure as the team's Chief Executive Officer.
The real transformation process began in 1979 when he hired then 47-year-old Bill Walsh to be the team's head coach and drafted a Notre Dame alum named Joe Montana to lead the team under center.
By 1981, the 49ers finished 13-3 to claim the NFC Western Division title and capped the year with a 26-21 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI.
The team went on to snag 13 division titles, make 16 playoff appearances, advance to the NFC championship game 10 times, and become the first franchise ever to win five Super Bowls, winning their other rings in 1984, 1988, 1989, and 1994.
The franchise posted the best winning percentage in the NFL in both the decades of the 1980s and 1990s, and DeBartolo was named the NFL Man of the Year by the Football News in 1989 as recognition as the nation's top sports executives.
DeBartolo's bust will join those of Walsh and Montana, as well as other storied 49ers Ronnie Lott, Steve Young, Fred Dean, and Jerry Rice in Canton's hallowed halls.
He will be inducted alongside the rest of the 2016 Class, including Tony Dungy, Brett Favre, Ken Stabler, and Marvin Harrison.
More information about and tickets to the Enshrinement Ceremony can be found here.
