YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio - Newly enshrined pro football hall of famer Edward J. DeBartolo, Jr. returned to his Alma Mater for a special ceremony Wednesday.

The long-time owner of the San Francisco 49ers joined the Hall of Fame President in recognizing Cardinal Mooney as a Hometown Hall of Fame School.  

DeBartolo and Hall of Fame President David Baker unveiled the plaque that will be permanently installed at Cardinal Mooney.  It's an honor that each hall of fame inductee gets to bestow on their high school. The award is sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. 


'This is a guy who sat where you're sitting now. He roamed these hallways, he sat in your classrooms," Baker told the students and crowd gathered in the Mooney gym.

DeBartolo, who won five super bowls during his 23 year ownership of the San Francisco forty niners, gives a lot of credit to his experience at Cardinal Mooney.

"Mooney shaped me. If I hadn't gone to Cardinal Mooney who knows where my life would be today," said DeBartolo.

After the ceremony DeBartolo was asked for his feelings on the national anthem protest by forty niners quarterback Colin Kaepernick. "As far as his beliefs and what he does, I think this is America, so you have a right so long as you're not desecrating something, I think you have a right to your opinion," DeBartolo said. 

On a lighter note, DeBartolo says he thinks he may be the only Pro Football Hall of Famer who didn't make his high school football team.