SAN FRANCISCO – Roger Craig blew a kiss from the home crowd Thursday night as he was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, nearly four decades after his dual-threat skills fueled the 49ers’ Super Bowl-winning dynasty.
Rather than just being known as the first 1,000/1,000 rusher/receiver, Craig is now Pro Football Hall of Famer No. 384.
Craig won’t be sharing the backfield with Frank Gore in the Canton class this summer. Gore, the first-ballot finalist and the NFL’s third-leading rusher, nevertheless took solace in Craig’s entry.
“I’d rather have him shine than both of us go in at the same time,” Gore, the 49ers’ leading rusher, told the news organization in an exclusive interview.
“Yeah, I want in. I’m competing with him,” Gore added. “But what can I do? Everyone respects what I’ve done. It’s all good. I had two ACLs (repaired in college) and I passed the first ballot. That’s a blessing. It’s all good.”
Thursday’s HOF class revealed that, last week, two finalists emerged from their voting pool: former New England Patriots duo Bill Belichick (coach) and Robert Kraft (owner).
Craig was the fourth of five players inducted at Thursday night’s NFL Honors show at the Palace of Fine Arts. Joining 49ers legend and 1,000/1,000 first-ballot pioneers Larry Fitzgerald and Drew Brees, as well as Luke Kuechly and Adam Vinatieri.
Backstage Thursday night, all five players were introduced before taking a group photo, and Craig was the only one to say thank you, “Thank you.”
Craig did not immediately answer questions from the media, politely apologizing for what a spokesman described as exhaustion from a long day.
Craig’s candidacy spanned nearly 30 years, and he was a finalist in both 2010 and 2020. He retired 32 years ago after an 11-year career, which began with eight seasons as a two-time starter for the 49ers’ dynasty.
“It’s been 28 years of waiting, and he’s never had a touch of urgency, another welcome. I’m so happy for him and his family that they made it into the city and made it a big part of his career,” Fitzgerald said of Craig.
“Roger Craig was a game-changing player, delivering one of the greatest single seasons in NFL history to date,” 49ers ownership said in a statement, referring to Craig’s 1985 production of 1,050 rushing yards and 1,016 receiving yards. “Throughout his career, Roger has not only accumulated outstanding production and stats as a rusher and pass catcher, but he has helped the 49ers reach the ultimate goal of a Super Bowl Championship with incredible play.”
Craig is the first player to produce 1,000 yards in both rushing and receiving in a season, in 1985. Only 2011 Hall of Fame inductees Marshall Faulk (1999 Rams) and Christian McCaffrey (2019 Panthers) matched that, and McCaffrey nearly did it again this season, with 49 rushing yards, 202 rushing yards.
“You see how strong Roger was, and you think about the next generation,” Fitzgerald said. “Marshall played the same way and now Christian here in San Francisco is doing the same things. It’s great to see him being honored and we stay close to each other forever.”
This was finally Craig’s year, after years of: Will it be his year?
“We’ve been saying that for a very long time,” former 49ers coach Steve Mariucci said on the NFL Honors red carpet Thursday. “You’ve got Christian McCaffrey now as a dual-threat guy. A guy I used to work with on the (NFL) Network and I had to try to stop when I was with the Niners, that guy Marshall Faulk, was a dual-threat runner. But the guy who did it first was Roger Craig. He set the standard.”
Craig played on their 1984, 1988 and ’89 Super Bowl winning teams. He became a Sports Illustrated cover boy when he scored one of three touchdowns in that team’s 1984 38-16 Lombardi Trophy win over the Miami Dolphins at Stanford Stadium, scoring twice on a Joe Montana pass reception.
“He understood everything about that offense,” Montana said last week on the San Francisco premiere of AMC’s documentary “Rise of the 49ers.”
Ten years ago, on the eve of Levi’s Stadium’s first Super Bowl, former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo was announced as part of that year’s Pro Football Hall of Fame class.
“That made a big difference to the team. “If Roger comes in, this team and this organization and the community will feel guilty. He is the last piece of Bill Walsh’s case that needs to be forgiven and praised.”
When Brees joined the New Orleans Saints in 2006 for 15 years, he ate film of the 49ers’ West Coast Offense as former coach Sean Payton ran their scheme.
“We started looking at Bill Walsh’s old 49ers,” Brees said. “Yes, a lot of attention was paid to Montana and Rice, but you realized very quickly that Roger was the secret sauce, not only in the way he ran the ball but also, off the field, he was one of the first down, multi-purpose relievers. As you dig into the statistics, you see how successful he was at that.”
Other Senior finalists were Ken Anderson and LC Greenwood, and they were joined by Kraft and Belichick (coach). If no one receives 80% of the votes required to enter the Hall, then whoever receives the most votes will be elected. Craig, eventually, will be represented in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
