Faithful 49ers fan plans pre-game steak dinner ritual with son before NFC title game
San Francisco 49ers fan Sean Inglis may have gone to the same high school in Kentfield as Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, but that isn't going to dampen his enthusiasm as he cheers on the Niners from the stands at Levi's Stadium Sunday.
Inglis responded to a 49ers fan group post by CBS News Bay Area reporter Lauren Toms with an email detailing his decades of fandom. Inglis grew up in San Rafael and was attending 49ers games with his father as far as the 1970s, but he actually wasn't a fan of the team at first, despite the fact that both his parents were 49ers Faithful who had lived in SF and had season tickets during the Kezar Stadium era. Their place was so close to Kezar they could walk to games.
"I walked out a full-fledged 49er fan"
"My dad would take me to games in '70s and '80s. He'd get tickets from customers or friends from work," remembered Inglis in an email. "I was a Dallas Cowboys fan -- a fan of Roger Staubach and Tom Landry -- until a mid-season game vs. Dallas 1981. 49ers went up 24-0 and I asked my dad if I could trade and get 49ers stuff. He obliged. We threw my Dallas shirt and sweats in the trash and I walked out a full-fledged 49er fan."
His conversion came at the right time. The next time the Niners faced the Cowboys was in the historic NFC title game rematch that Joe Montana and Dwight Clark immortalized with "The Catch" in a 28-27 victory over Dallas en route to the team's first Super Bowl win against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Inglis would return to the Bay Area after graduating from Arizona State, living in San Francisco starting in the late '90s, when he bought season tickets for the 49ers.
"My mom's boss had 50-yard line seats, which fueled my passion and desire to own them some day myself," said Inglis.
Loyal fans in SoCal
Inglis and his wife -- also a 49ers fan, whose mother was a member of the team's Gold Rush cheerleading squad -- would move to Southern California after they got married. They not only kept his Niners ticket plan, but also bought San Francisco Giants season tickets when the team moved from Candlestick for the inaugural season at what was then called Pac Bell Park in 2000. Though his three kids grew up in SoCal, they all are die-hard 49ers and Giants fans.
He and his family currently live outside Chicago in Naperville, IL, but Inglis still regularly makes the pilgrimage to see the team not only for home games, but to opposing teams' stadiums as well, attending games with his wife and sons.
"It's [youngest son] Nolan's turn to finally see a 49er home playoff game and NFC Championship. I took his brother Brodie in 2020. Meaghan, our sophomore, came with me to the divisional playoff last year against the Cowboys," explained Inglis. "And my wife's been to many games -- home and away -- with me, including the '22 win vs. the Packers at Lambeau."
A family affair
If anything, his fandom and family adventures seeing the Niners play have only increased this season.
"I drove with our boys to Cleveland this year, and flew to Philly for the game with my brother," said Inglis. "Just seemed like a 'special' year and extra special as my mom -- the kids' grandma -- passed early this year. She loved the 49ers having grown up at Kezar Stadium."
Inglis admitted that as an alumnus of Marin Catholic, he is "excited for the Goffs and Jared" that the Lions made it to the NFC title game against the 49ers, but he is "looking forward to a great game and hopefully a Niners win!"
He's also looking forward to his long-standing pre-game ritual: a steak dinner the night before a playoff game.
"We used to go to Tadich Grill the evening prior to 'Stick events. Ran into Carmen Policy and Ronnie Lott in 2012. Now it's Fleming's," said Inglis of the tradition dinner's move to a steakhouse closer to where they'll be staying for the game Levi's Stadium.
"So many great memories for our kids and family," Inglis added.