Bryant Young will be inducted into the Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. San Francisco 49ers Hall of Fame during the upcoming season. The former defensive tackle spoke with team reporter Keiana Martin and CEO Jed York this week during the 49ers' virtual State of the Franchise event. The general public will be able to view that conversation tonight at 5 PM Pacific Time on 49ers.com or the team's official YouTube account.
Martin asked York to share a memory of Young that stands out from the defender's time with the 49ers.
"I definitely remember the Comeback Player of the Year (award) and how much he worked to get back," York responded. "It wasn't necessarily on the field, but I'll never forget, going into the weight room, we have 200-pound dumbbells. Like, two-zero-zero.
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"Most people can't bench press 200 pounds, and those were especially made for BY. And you'd have to have like three people carry them over to him so he could start bench pressing literally 400 pounds, but 200 in each hand.
"I think it took until Larry Allen was here for anybody to even attempt to pick those up."
Young remembers campaigning for the 49ers to add the weights and felt they were essential in motivating the players to improve.
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"I challenged (strength and conditioning coach) Johnny Parker," Young said. "I think the weight only went up to like 150 at the time. I said, 'Coach Parker, how do you expect us to get better, bigger, stronger, if you've only got 150 pounds, and that's all you go up to?'
"Coach Parker took a lot of pride in his work, so he got so mad. He went and walked away with a grin on his face, and he ordered them the next day. And then about a week or two went on, and we had 200 pounds. That's how those came about.
"Johnny Parker was instrumental in getting those things in there. I challenged him to help us get better."
