Dwight Clark recalls '80s NFL work stoppages

March 28, 2011MAIOCCO ARCHIVE49ERS PAGE49ERS VIDEOMatt MaioccoCSNBayArea.comPlayers representing every position on the 49ers gathered on their own at Canada College in Redwood City. While their work had temporarily come to a halt, their preparations for the football season continued."We had organized practices, 7-on-7, with no pads, of course," said legendary 49ers receiver Dwight Clark, now 54. "We were running to stay in shape and we'd run routes vs. DBs and linebackers."
That was 1987 when the NFL players went on strike after two games. More than two decades later, there is another labor dispute at the highest level of professional football.Things are different now. The owners have imposed a lockout, but there is still plenty of time for the sides to avert the cancelation of games.RELATED: NFL Collective Bargaining Agreement Report page
In a typical offseason, the 49ers would be entering their third week of the offseason conditioning program under new coach Jim Harbaugh. Their first scheduled minicamp is a couple weeks away.VIDEO: Jim Harbaugh from the NFL Coaches Breakfast
During this work stoppage, players are not allowed at the 49ers' practice facility in Santa Clara. Coaches are prohibited from having any contact with the players until the lockout comes to an end.The 49ers players are scattered around the country. But some of them are getting together to work out on their own in the Bay Area and Atlanta. Other players are taking part in workouts at Athletes' Performance facilities in Los Angeles and Phoenix.NEWS: Takeo Spikes -- scattered 49ers remain unitedIn '87, while most of the 49ers remained in the Bay Area, the veteran-laden team was able to conduct practices on their own because everyone knew the systems that had been in place for years under coach Bill Walsh.
In contrast, with the 49ers' new coaching staff and 16 players scheduled for free agency, it's nearly impossible for the current 49ers to do much more than get together in small groups to lift, run and wait for the lockout to end.
"We stayed in good shape," Clark said. "We kept running our same plays. The intensity wasn't as great with no coaches watching, but we worked hard."During Clark's nine NFL seasons as a wide receiver, the league endured two strikes. In 1987, NFL teams recruited and signed replacement players for three games."It was a difficult and complicated time," Clark said. "It was very tough to figure out what was the right thing to do."Clark had undergone three offseason knee surgeries. Walsh, who discovered the little-known receiver out of Clemson and selected him in the 10th round of the 1979 draft, had already convinced Clark that 1987 would be his final NFL season. As much as Clark says he wanted to remain loyal to the union, there were a number of other factors he weighed during the first two weeks of the strike.Ultimately, Clark decided to be one of the nearly 150 players around the NFL to return to work. Joe Montana and Roger Craig were also among the 12 players from the 49ers to cross the picket line."The core of the team was really close to Eddie," Clark said of then-49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo. "He was more than an owner to us. He was a personal friend. He was so good and so generous to us, so to go out on strike was a tough decision for several reasons. I felt like we were striking against someone who had only done great things for us."And in the final year of his career, Clark also knew that every week he did not play was costing him 32,500 that he would never be able to regain. Clark eventually worked as an executive with the 49ers and Cleveland Browns. He now lives in San Jose, where he sells health insurance and works as a marketing consultant for the 49ers."Things may be stronger now with the players," Clark said. "But at that time, the union wasn't very strong. They couldn't deliver what they set out to do in 1982."That does not mean it was easy, though. Clark said the decision to break ranks gave him ulcers. When he joined the replacement players in the 49ers' locker room, he was warmly received and signed many autographs. But when the strike ended and all the 49ers players returned a week later, there was palpable tension."There were some hard feelings from a few of the guys," Clark said. "Ronnie (Lott) is the ultimate team guy. He always puts the team first. He was very upset we'd come in. He and I are great friends now, so eventually those feelings went by the wayside."The NFL players previously went on strike in 1982. Seven regular-season games were canceled, and the 49ers finished with a 3-6 record and missed the playoffs for the only time in a 10-year stretch.NEWS: NFL headlines
"That was pretty rough because that was the year after we won the Super Bowl and everyone wanted to get back there playing," Clark said. "We were out 57 days. So a lot of us in '87 had already been through that."In 1982, we stayed out and whole time. So we already knew in '87 what it felt like. It didn't help that whatever we were striking for in '82, we didn't get."The union decertified in 1989 after losing the 1987 strike. After the players won a court ruling years later, a new collective bargaining agreement was approved in 1993. The players were awarded unrestricted free agency, as well as improved pension and health benefits.