The San Francisco 49ers will honor former defensive lineman Fred Dean with a helmet decal of his No. 74 while playing the Los Angeles Rams tonight at Levi's Stadium.
Honoring the past. Tonight's #94Niners helmets will feature a 74 decal in tribute to the late great Fred Dean 🙏 pic.twitter.com/22BfR1OLpk
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) October 18, 2020
Dean, who played five seasons with the 49ers between 1981 and 1985, passed away this past week. He helped the 49ers to win two Super Bowls (XVI, XIX), was a four-time Pro Bowl selection (1979–1981, 1983), and two-time first-team All-Pro (1980, 1981).
Dean was named the NFC Defensive Player of the Year for the 1981 season, was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2008, and is a member of the Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. 49ers Hall of Fame.
"From the minute he joined the 49ers, Fred immediately helped to change the team's fortunes," the 49ers said via a statement. "In just his first game with the team, he put in an all-time performance against the Dallas Cowboys that not only helped defeat a nemesis but propelled the 49ers to our first Super Bowl Championship later that year."
Dean finished his career with 93 sacks in 141 games and one interception. He was born on February 24, 1952, in Arcadia, Louisiana, and passed at the age of 68.
San Francisco's players will wear throwback uniforms that resemble those worn by the last 49ers team to win a Super Bowl — the 1994 squad that beat the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX. Those uniforms were part of the league's 75th anniversary and were a throwback themselves to the team's jerseys during the 1955 season.