Bob St. Clair, the legendary 49ers offensive lineman famed for his ferocious blocking and peculiar dining habits, died Monday. He was 84.
A fearsome tackle in San Francisco from 1953-63, St. Clair paved the way for the likes of Joe Perry, Hugh McElhenny, John Henry Johnson and Y.A. Tittle. Like that famous foursome, the lineman was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame — although he had to wait until 1990.
“I guess after a few years they looked and saw the 49ers had the ‘Million Dollar Backfield’ in the Hall of Fame,” he once joked to 49ers.com. “And all of a sudden a light went off and they realize somebody had to be blocking for them all those years.”
The San Francisco native made the Pro Bowl five times and was a member of the NFL’s All-Decade Team for the 1950s. His No. 79 jersey is one of the 12 numbers retired by the 49ers.
At 6-foot-9, 263 pounds, St. Clair is the tallest player enshrined in Canton. And if his size wasn’t intimidating enough, St. Clair rattled some opponents with his menu choices: He ordered his steaks raw.
St. Clair once said he developed his taste for uncooked meat as early as 5 years old when his grandmother, a Yaqui Indian from Mexico, would toss him scraps while she was chopping up meat in preparation for dinner. “She’d throw pieces to me and the dog, and we would fight over it,” he said in 2010.
St. Clair’s unusual meals prompted 49ers teammate Bruno Banducci to start calling him “The Geek.” That was a nod to the Tyrone Powers movie “Nightmare Alley” in which the hero was locked in a cage at the circus.
“They used to throw live chickens in there, and that’s where it came from,” St. Clair told the Hall of Fame. “However, I only let my friends call me that!”
This Geek, though, was no sideshow. He was a dominating blocker with power and strength. St. Clair was the 49ers team captain from 1957-59 and was named first or second-team All-NFL nine times.
Born Feb. 18, 1931, St. Clair attended Polytechnic High School right across the street from Kezar Stadium, the 49ers’ first home. He was undersized in his early years. He was 5-9, 160 pounds at age 15, as he recalled during his Hall of Fame induction speech.
“I got the best advice from my football coach. He told me ‘My advice to you is go home and grow a little,’ ” St. Clair recalled. “Damn it! I did exactly what he said. I grew 6 inches in one year and put on 60 pounds.”
He started his college career at USF. But after the 1951 season — when the Dons went undefeated but unanimously rejected an Orange Bowl invitation because USF’s two black players were prohibited from playing — the football program was abandoned for a lack of funding. St. Clair transferred to the University of Tulsa, where he was an all-conference selection.
The 49ers took him with their third-round draft pick in 1953. With his size, speed and intelligence, St. Clair thrived immediately as both a run and pass blocker. He excelled on special teams, too, blocking 10 field goals in 1956.
A diplomat off the field, St. Clair dabbled in politics even during his playing days. He served as the mayor of Daly City from 1961-62.
St. Clair never forgot his roots. On the day he was elected to the Hall of Fame, he recalled being a 9-year-old flag bearer during an East-West game at Kezar.
“I can remember looking up and seeing these giant football players and saying to myself, ‘Oh boy, someday would I love to be able to play football and be like these giant athletes,’ ” he said.
Over the course of his high school, college and NFL career, he totaled 188 games at Kezar Stadium. The city of San Francisco later renamed the playing surface there Bob St. Clair Field.
