John Lynch’s footballing career seemed to come to an end in 1992 when he spent the summer as a successful starting pitcher in the Class A ball for the expansion of the Florida Marlins.
Lynch had come to Stanford as a quarterback and was converted to a part-time safety role under coach Dennis Green when he got a phone call that summer from the new assistant’s assistant. coach of Cardinal Bill Walsh, who had returned to Palo Alto after leading the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles.
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“I called the coach and he asked me when I got back to the Bay Area if I could come back and meet him,” Lynch said. “I will never forget as long as I live,” he said: ‘I understand the great opportunity you have in baseball, but I believe you can be an All-Pro safety in the NFL.’ It took all my courage to say, ‘With all due respect Coach Walsh, I played a year safe and played half the snaps if that. What makes you believe? ‘”
Walsh’s conviction came to fruition as Lynch remained loyal to football, twice became an All-Pro for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and then was elected to the Professional Football Hall of Fame earlier this year after making the Last 15 seven times but never got the honor.
The part-time football player and baseball hopeful’s journey to Lynch’s Hall of Fame induction on August 8 began in earnest during that conversation nearly three decades ago, when Walsh showed Lynch some pieces similar to the Ronnie Lott Hall of Fame.
“The detail that Coach Walsh went through, he had made a tape and it was a piece that I had played in my junior year and then a piece that Ronnie Lott had played the year before. Then a play I played against quarterback and a Ronnie Lott play I think of all the people who kind of talked about this, and Coach Walsh was so instrumental because I would have gone to play baseball. Lynch said. “I signed with the Marlins, my heart was for football, but I said, ‘Hey, I have a future in baseball. “Until Coach Walsh told me otherwise, that’s where I was going. So I certainly wouldn’t be here without Bill Walsh. ”
Lynch has done a lot on his own since making the decision to stick with football. He intercepted four assists in his final season at Stanford and showed enough to become a third-round pick for Tampa Bay. After three seasons as a part-time player, Lynch secured a full-time role in coach Tony Dungy’s first season in 1996. He has become a key part of one of the league’s best defenses with his Fearsome strikes and clever play in the Bucs secondary.
Lynch won his first of nine Pro Bowl caps in his second season as a full-time starter in 1997, was an All-Pro in consecutive seasons in 1999 and 2000, and then played a major role in the first Tampa Super Bowl title. during the 2002 season.
“It didn’t take off for me right away,” Lynch said. “I started out as a special teams player in my first two years. Thank goodness for people like Tony Dungy and Herm Edwards and Monte Kiffin, who saw and believed in me more than I believed in myself. ”
Lynch’s success has taken him beyond the football field. He moved from his playing career to the broadcast booth, where he became one of Fox’s top analysts. Then with an itch for the competition to be on a team, Lynch was hired with coach Kyle Shanahan to rebuild the San Francisco 49ers in 2017.
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Lynch was voted Director of the Year by the Pro Football Writers of America in his third season when he helped the Niners reach the Super Bowl, and has the franchise able to wrestle again this season. His ability to thrive in everything he does has led Shanahan to nickname him “Captain America”.
“Usually people just like it on average, usually I think, I’m like, okay, the person must be a little wrong,” Shanahan said ahead of the Super Bowl in 2020. “How is he really? No one really is. Captain America. So you wait and see how they really are. It’s probably the opposite of who I am. But, then, you’re with John day in and day out, and that’s really what he is. … Having that type of personality which is exactly what it is and besides being one of the most violent physical players I’ve ever seen, I think that’s as cool a combination as there is. in a. ”
