Many among the Niner Faithful would love to see running back Frank Gore, the team's all-time rushing leader, retire with the San Francisco 49ers. Gore would love that too.
The 35-year-old running back is preparing to enter his 15th NFL season. He signed a one-year deal with the Buffalo Bills to continue his Hall of Fame career. Gore, who ranks fourth all-time in rushing yards behind Hall of Fame running back Barry Sanders, joined 95.7 The Game on Friday to discuss his motivation to keep playing.
"I still love it," Gore told Damon Bruce and Matt Kolsky. "I'm still having fun. I'm still ballin', man. I'll be 36 in May. I'm still showing these young boys that I still can do it. If I still can do it, why not do it?"
Gore is 521 yards away from matching Sanders' mark of 15,269 career rushing yards. What would it be like to surpass Sanders?
"It would be real big," he admits.
Gore is in the Bay Area this weekend for an autograph session. He continues to follow his former team and hopes to see it enjoy some success in the coming years. Gore believes it has the personnel in place to do so and last year's four-win season was due more to injuries than anything else.
Players don't enter the Hall of Fame associated to any single team, but if they did, Gore would go in as a Niner.
"They were the ones that gave me the first opportunity to play in a professional league," Gore said. "Coming out of college, I was injured, and they still gave me an opportunity to get to that level that I always wanted to get as a kid. I got to go (into the Hall of Fame) as a Niner, man.
"I started there, and I'm going to finish there when I'm done. Whenever I feel like I am done, I'm going to come back and retire as a Niner. Tell all my fans I can't wait to see them and I miss them."
The Niner Faithful miss Gore, too, and can't wait to see him retire in red and gold — as it should be.
You can listen to the entire interview with Gore below.