Grant Cohn: Catching up with the legend that is Eddie DeBartolo

SANTA CLARA - I waited in my car for Eddie DeBartolo to call.

His assistant, Valerie, told me he would call sometime after noon Mountain Time. So at 10:30 my time, I left the 49ers' media room inside Levi's Stadium, crossed Tasman Drive, walked to Yellow Parking Lot 2, sat in the driver's seat of my car and talked to myself for an hour and fifteen minutes, practicing my questions.

At one point, I heard tires grind against the gravel next to me. I woman parked her SUV, and we made eye contact as my lips were moving. I nodded to her. She didn't nod back. She looked away in horror. Probably thought I was a nut.

At 11:43, my phone buzzed.

“No Caller ID,” flashed on the screen.

“Eddie?” I said as I answered the call.

“Is this Grant?” he asked.

“It is,” I said. “Thank you so much for calling me. And congratulations on being inducted into the Hall of Fame and being honored this Sunday at Levi's Stadium.”

“Thank you very much,” he said. “But I have to ask. How old are you? You look fresh out of college in your picture.”

“I'm 28. I was born in 1988.”

“So you weren't even born yet when your dad was raking me over the coals.” He laughed.

“Yeah, I hear he was slightly berserk before he had me.”

“Oh, no, no,” DeBartolo reassured me. “He's a good man and a great writer.”

“Thank you for saying that.” I said. And then I began the interview. Take the stage, Eddie.

LIFE AFTER FOOTBALL

“What have you been doing recently, and how do you spend your time?”

“We're really busy in Tampa,” DeBartolo said. “Besides being involved in a lot of mortgage banking investing, we have a large real estate development company. Actually, we just opened up a large 2-million-square-foot mall in Oahu, Hawaii, a month ago.

“I'm probably as busy now as I've been. I can't say that I'm happy about it, but it keeps me busy. We have a really good staff, a really good group of people in our office, and we just keep plugging away. I'm also a big investor with Simon Property Group. They are a big real estate development company that's probably the largest in the world. We're their single-largest shareholder. That keeps us busy, too.

“We have some smaller investments that we just have to keep an eye on, and a large foundation which the girls run and handle things in Tampa. We give scholarship money out to needy people. We raised money with a gala in March, and we get a lot of ex-players, present players, different athletes from different sports down here. So, we're busy. It's quite busy.”

“As you look back on your life,” I said, “what makes you most happy?”

“Well, that's obviously, my family,” he said right away. “But what makes me most happy is my relationships that I had that will last a lifetime for me with my players and my ex-coaches and my staff. They were family and I love them and would do anything in the world for anybody that played for me or worked for me.

“As you get older, the most important things - and you will find this out, and I'm sure your dad will tell you - the most important thing is to have a really, really good relationship with your family, and to be able to spend time with them and enjoy them. Just live your life and be happy.”

“Are you still close with Joe Montana?” I asked.

Brief pause. “I'm so close to Joe Montana, I talked to him three times yesterday,” DeBartolo said as he laughed. “We're doing a few things together. I'm close to all these guys. We try to get together, maybe eight or 10 or 12 of us. Maybe every three months we'll go someplace and spend a couple of days and have dinner and just hang out and talk. Then again, I keep in touch with many, many, many ex-players that played for the team. I try to keep in touch by phone or, if they're in my area, we try to get together. Players that have had problems and are going through tough times - and there are a lot of them. That's almost a full-time job, too.”

“Which players in particular do you stay in touch with most frequently?”

“Probably Joe and Jerry, Ronnie, Roger Craig, Harris Barton, Bill Romanowski, Gary Plummer. Honest to God, I can name a lot of them because I talk to them all so often. It's almost like we're still together. We still have that family atmosphere.”

JOE

“What about Joe Montana's personality makes him special to you?” I asked.

“Well,” DeBartolo said after a pause, as if the answer wasn't as simple as the question made it seem. “It has changed so over the years. When he played, he had a way different personality. His personality now is really oriented toward Jennifer, his wife, and family.

“Joe loves to travel. And he's involved in some businesses, some really good businesses. He has been really smart with his investing. And he's got a great family, the boys and the girls. He spends most of his time with them. His attitude when he played, he was a different type of a person. You can tell that by the success he had on the field.”

“How would you describe his personality,” I said.

“You mean now?” DeBartolo said.

“No, when he played.”

“Oh. He was Joe Montana when he was off the field, but when he was on the field he became Superman. He was fearless. He was a phenomenal competitor. He was probably as great a quarterback that ever played at being able to read defenses, and I think that's what made him such a great, great player, besides just his intestinal willingness and wanting to win. That's what made him so great.”

You could hear love in DeBartolo's voice. He sounded as if he was describing a son.

THE STATE OF THE NFL

“Have you watched much NFL action recently?” I asked.

“You mean the 49ers?” He asked.

“No, the NFL in general.” We'd get to the 49ers soon.

“Oh, sure. Absolutely.” He said.

“What are your impressions of the play?

“Well, it's different.” He said, sounding diplomatic. “The game has evolved. There is so much money involved now. Back when we were doing our thing, we had five or six people in the front office. Now, these teams have 40 or 50 people. They're falling over one another. I don't know how they get anything done.

“But, the play is different. I'm really concerned with this concussion, CTE issue. I'm noticing it with a lot of players - not just our ex-players, but players that I've come across. Something has to be done. And I think the players' union and commissioner (Roger) Goodell are addressing it. Hopefully, it's going to be resolved down the road so we don't have these problems.”

“What would you do about it if you were commissioner of the NFL?”

“If I was what?” He sounded incredulous.

“The commissioner of the NFL. What would you do about this issue?”

“Well, I would do I think what Roger is doing,” he said. “They just made a $100-million donation toward this. It's something that is very, very serious because years later is when it really pops up.

“But the problem is that it starts even in grade school. These kids are playing tackle football in grade school, and then they move on to high school, and you don't know about the equipment. And then they go into college.

“If there's a problem, if they're having concussion problems or CTE problems, they may already be well on the way by the time they get into the NFL. So, this has to start when they're kids. And I mean kids.”

“Why do you think TV ratings are down this season?” I asked.

Deep sigh. “Well, you know, I don't know,” he said. “First of all, you were in the midst of a presidential election. That's No. 1.

“No. 2, I think that some of the fans are a little bit disgruntled with what has gone on with some of the teams and some of the players. I'm not saying they're right; I'm not saying they're wrong. It's one of those things. I don't know. I'm sure that the league office has got their fingers on it. I'm a little bit removed from that, so I really don't know.”

“When you said, ‘disgruntled,' what were you referring to? National anthem protests? Concussion issues?”

“I think a little bit of both,” he said. “The violence … you can see Cam Newton every week - he's getting creamed. And he's not the only one.

“It is violent. It's getting tougher. The guys are getting bigger. They're getting stronger. They're getting faster. So, I don't know how you can keep up with that equipment-wise, where you're going to be able to save or salvage players that are going to get hurt and are never going to be able to finish their careers. It's a problem.”

“Do you think Deflategate and the disciplinary tactics of the league office have played into any of this?” I asked.

“Ummm,” he said, thinking hard. “Maybe. You know, I think so … I guess all of this matters.”

“What do you think Goodell and the league as a whole can do to reverse this trend and stem the rising time?” I asked.

“I think he's doing it,” DeBartolo said with conviction. “It's got to start with the money that they're allocating toward this issue. And I think there's going to be some rule changes. That has to happen. I think they've already done that with kickoffs and different situations.

“I think that the commissioner is very, very, very cognizant of the fact that this game is very, very important. It's important obviously to the teams. It's important to the players. It's important to everybody. And he's got to keep this game where it's safe, and he's got to keep it where people are enjoying watching their favorite team or football in general, and not worrying about what's going to happen.”

THE STATE OF THE 49ERS

“Why don't you and Jed York talk much?” I asked.

“You know what, he's got his hands full,” He said. He sounded like a protective uncle. “I mean, we talk. We e-mail one another. There's not much I can tell him. I think he's got his act together. I know that they're going through a very tough time, and it's really killing him and the family. It's tough on him.

“But, I think that they have a good coach, and I think that they've got the nucleus of a pretty good team on the field. And this happens. It happened to me. You just go through this. And I think that his goal - he's got a great new stadium - his goal is to win and be competitive and try to make the playoffs whenever he can.

“And you know what? He's a very, very smart, bright young man. Not because he's my godson, or not because he's my sister's son. I just think that he will get things back on track.”

“Do you think Jed could benefit from having someone like Carmen Policy, as you did?” I asked.

“Could be,” He said without hesitation. “Could be. Times have changed. Carmen was very, very influential, and he helped me a great deal. He is very, very, very smart. Very, very intelligent.

“I think with Jed, the only advice I've ever given him is, ‘Jed, surround yourself with good people, give them the autonomy to do their job, and step back and let them do it.' That's the best advice anybody can give him.”

“Has he done that?”

“Ummm,” DeBartolo said, and he paused slightly. “I think that he's trying to do it,” DeBartolo said. “And I think that he will get to the point where he's going to know what he has to do. And when he makes those decisions, they will be the right decisions.

“Do you wish the 49ers were still in San Francisco?” I asked.

“Oh, I haven't thought about that,” he said. “I think the best deal they could have made, they obviously made in Santa Clara. Um, you know, if I was there… (then he corrected himself and doubled back) When we had our stadium issue, we were going to build our stadium at Candlestick Point.

“But, Jed got a better deal. Obviously, San Francisco couldn't match that type of a deal, and they ended up in Santa Clara. Um, you know, I guess you have to do what's best for the franchise.”

“Thank you, Eddie.” I said. And I hung up the phone and walked back to Levi's Stadium knowing I had talked to a legend. I was feeling pretty good.

Grant Cohn writes sports columns and the “Inside the 49ers” blog for The Press Democrat's website. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.