Jed York ready to take on 49ers' many challenges

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 11/1/8 | Tom FitzGerald

[SmithL]

His first NFL game was in Cleveland at age 3. He sat on Jennifer Montana's lap.

"I'm still searching for a better seat," he says.

He was 7 when John Madden nearly ran him into a locker at Giants Stadium in Madden's haste to interview Jerry Rice, who had caught a last-minute, game-winning touchdown bomb from Jennifer's husband, Joe.

Fifth grade marked the first time in four years that he hadn't made a trip to the White House to celebrate a sports championship.

Jed York was one lucky kid. But he's no longer the youngster the Super Bowl 49ers used to stash in lockers. Now, at age 27, as the front man for the whole operation, he has challenges that would stymie a managerial graybeard.

He's trying to repair a franchise that broke down years ago and is still leaking oil all over the Candlestick parking lot. He recently told the head coach to hand over his whistle. While San Francisco officials are trying hard to keep the team in town, he's trying just as hard to get a stadium built in Santa Clara - and partly with public money in the midst of a global financial crisis.

As if that's not daunting enough, he's trying to do it with a fan base reared on NFL championships, an ornery herd that's convinced everything the Yorks touch turns to radioactive waste.

York has the odd title of "vice president of strategic planning/owner" of the 49ers. He has other less-defined but more expansive responsibilities with the 49ers, namely their face and their future. He doesn't make all the important decisions yet, but he will someday.

His parents, John York and Denise DeBartolo York - who have been the team's principal owners for eight years - flee from the spotlight. Not Jed.

[SmithL]

He’s no Eddie D!

[tatown]

Unfortunately there will never be another Eddie D. We are doomed to mediocrity.