John Lynch reflects on getting the Hall of Fame ‘knock’, his friendship with Peyton Manning, and Bill Walsh’s impact

It took eight years for 49ers general manager John Lynch to finally receive the famous knock that lets NFL legends know they've been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but when that knock finally came in late January, it was clearly worth the wait.

Lynch, who was announced Saturday evening as a member of the 2021 class of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees, was voted as a Hall of Fame finalist eight times before eventually getting the nod as an inductee this year. While the rest of the world didn't find out about Lynch's induction until Saturday, Lynch has known his fate ever since Pro Football Hall of Fame President and CEO David Baker knocked on the door of his San Diego residence to deliver the news one day before Lynch was due to depart for the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. Lynch was able to keep the news a secret since then in large part by focusing on his work for the 49ers.

"To get that knock -- the loudest knock I've ever heard and probably the best knock I've ever heard," Lynch said during a Pro Football Hall of Fame Zoom conference with reporters on Super Bowl Sunday morning. "How we kept it a secret, I went to work. We were in Mobile, doing my job, and I kind of forgot about it, which helped pass the time."

Lynch told reporters he and his family went to their usual Sunday mass, then had a gathering of family members at his house to watch the AFC and NFC Championship games before Baker arrived. The only one in Lynch's family who knew Baker would be coming to their home that day was his wife Linda, who helped the Hall of Fame set up the unexpected knock.

"We were going to watch Championship Sunday," Lynch said. "I had to pack for Mobile, and I'm a procrastinator when it comes to packing. So Linda pulled me back to the closet and said, 'Let's finish this so we can go have a good time.' The coolest thing is Linda had not only kept it a secret from me, she kept it a secret from my parents, from my kids. So when David knocked on, it was a surprise not only to me but to everyone else in the house other than Linda."

As can be seen in the video below, Lynch's family was surprised and thrilled when Baker showed up at the door, while Lynch was visibly emotional after receiving the news.

The circumstances surrounding Lynch's knock were anything but typical due to COVID-19. Pro Football Hall of Fame finalists are usually gathered in a hotel in the Super Bowl city, then are informed of their status after a voting session takes place on the day before the game. Those who are voted in learn of the news when Baker knocks on their hotel door. But this year's voting session took place remotely earlier in January, then was followed later in the month by Baker making the rounds to present enshrinees with the good news. Having been through the hotel experience several times before, Lynch much preferred having the news delivered to him in person.

"I've been on the other side being in a hotel room and getting the call that I did not make it," Lynch said. "I know it's going to be a lot of work on David, but I think the COVID way of doing it, getting it around your loved ones... I think it made it even more special. It would be a lot of work for Mr. Baker, but it made it awful special."

Going in with a good friend

Making Lynch's induction even more special will be the fact he'll be entering the Hall of Fame with former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning, with whom he's been good friends since their playing days. Lynch discussed his friendship with Manning on Sunday, saying the two of them first got to know each other on the playing field, then struck up a friendship during their near-annual meeting at the Pro Bowl (Lynch was selected to nine Pro Bowls during his career while Manning made 14).

"I got to know Peyton through competing against him and then really at Pro Bowls," Lynch said. "At Pro Bowls, I think our wives would tell you it was a little nauseating because we would sit there and talk football for hours and drink Mai Tais for hours as we shared our love for the game and really just started to see we had a lot of commonalities, as you do with so many people at the Pro Bowl. So I got to know Peyton through that, admired and respected him as a player, but really his passion for the game I think is what linked us. Then we started sharing a lot of things -- our families. Everybody got to know each other."

Lynch later added, "There's Hall of Famers, and then there's guys like Peyton that are some of the greatest players ever to play, so it's an honor to go in with him for sure."

Manning also spoke to reporters Sunday morning and expanded on what Lynch said about their meetings at the Pro Bowl by revealing the tactics they used to get an unsuspecting rookie to pay for their drinks.

"The Pro Bowl is unfortunately kind of losing its fastball," Manning said. "It's before the Super Bowl now. A lot of players aren't playing. It once was a really good thing and a really cool thing. What was cool about it is you got to know these people you were competing against and got to talk to them about how they worked in the offseason and the film study. I really cherished those opportunities to be around the other great players. (Former Steelers offensive lineman and 2021 Hall of Fame inductee) Alan Faneca and I were teammates in a number of those, and John Lynch was on the other side, the enemy side for a long time being in the NFC, then he finally came over to the good side when he joined the Broncos. But every year we were together.

"What he forgot to mention is that those Mai Tais, we would put on whoever the rookie Pro Bowl kicker was. We would get his room number. All those Mai Tais were paid off by a kicker for the Buffalo Bills. I think (former Bills punter Brian) Moorman bought a lot of rounds for us one year."

Manning and Lynch were able to celebrate their selection to the Hall of Fame well before Sunday when they went on a golf trip with Manning's brother Eli last week. The three of them weren't allowed to tell the public about their newfound status as Hall of Famers, but they were able to have a good time with the news nonetheless.

"Obviously once John and I both got the news, I called him and said, 'Hey, anything new with you these past couple days?'" Manning said. "He's like, 'Maybe, anything new with you?' I said yeah, so we kind of acknowledged we both received this knock on the door. So it really was a fun golf trip. I got to be there with Eli and really have a quiet celebration. Nobody else could tell while we were drinking some champagne and having some toasts. We couldn't tell anybody."

But while Manning's selection came as no surprise seeing as how it was widely assumed he'd be voted in as a first-time finalist, he thinks Lynch should have done a better job of seeing his induction coming.

"I'm a little disappointed in John's Stanford education not having a little bit of a clue that he's having a family reunion at his house and thinking something's not going to happen," Manning joked. "I gotta tell you, even a Tennessee grad can figure that out."

It wouldn't have happened without a 49ers legend

Lynch played fifteen NFL seasons, eleven of them with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and four with the Denver Broncos, before retiring from the league in 2008 after a brief preseason stint with the New England Patriots. In addition to his nine Pro Bowl selections, Lynch won one Super Bowl ring, was selected to four All-Pro teams, and is a member of the Buccaneers' Ring of Honor and the Broncos' Ring of Fame.

But none of that would have happened without the help of former 49ers head coach Bill Walsh, who saw something in Lynch that Lynch couldn't see in himself.

Lynch told reporters about Walsh's impact on his career, which was nothing short of profound. During his college days at Stanford, Lynch didn't have much faith in his future as a football player and was instead heading towards a baseball career as a pitcher after being drafted in 1992 by the Florida Marlins. But, thanks to Walsh's influence, Lynch stuck with football and eventually landed with the Buccaneers as a third-round selection in the 1993 NFL Draft.

"I was a quarterback for my first couple years (at Stanford), then played sparingly my junior year at safety," Lynch said. "(Head coach Dennis) Green made the switch. I played about 40 percent of the snaps. I was drafted by the Marlins, went out and played in the New York-Penn League in Erie, Pennsylvania. I remember one day getting a call from Jane Walsh, who was Bill Walsh's assistant, saying Coach Walsh would like to speak with you. I got on the phone with Coach and he asked me when I got back to the Bay Area if I could come back and meet with him. I'll never forget as long as I live, he said, 'I understand the great opportunity you have in baseball, but I believe that you can be an All-Pro safety in the NFL.'" It took all my courage to say, 'With all due respect Coach Walsh, I played one year at safety and played half the snaps if that. What leads you to believe?'

"The detail Coach Walsh went through, he made a tape and it was a play I made my junior year, then a play (former 49ers Hall of Fame defensive back) Ronnie Lott had made the previous year. Then a play I made blitzing the quarterback and a play Ronnie Lott had made. I think of all the people who kind of spoke this into existence, and Coach Walsh was so instrumental because I would have just gone off and played baseball. I signed with the Marlins, my heart was with football, but I said, 'Hey, I've got a future in baseball.' Until Coach Walsh told me otherwise, that's where I was going. So I certainly would not be here without Bill Walsh. God bless his soul. I know he's looking down smiling."

Lynch will be part of the largest induction celebration in Pro Football Hall of Fame history when he and the rest of the class of 2021 (Manning, Faneca, Charles Woodson, Calvin Johnson, Drew Pearson, scout Bill Nunn, and head coach Tom Flores) will be formally enshrined with the 22-member Class of 2020, which didn't have a formal induction ceremony due to COVID-19. The ceremonies are scheduled to take place August 5 through August 9 in Canton, Ohio. Fans will also get the chance to see more footage of this year's class receiving their knocks during the special "Knock On The Door Tour" broadcast set to air on the NFL Network on February 11 (8 p.m. EST).