49ers Shanahan Recalls Days As Ball Boy At Super Bowl XXIX
MIAMI (CBS SF) -- While his post-season offense has been known for its running game, the last time Kyle Shanahan stood on a San Francisco 49ers sideline during a Super Bowl in Miami he watched Steve Young toss a record six touchdown passes.
Shanahan, whose father Mike was on the 49ers coaching staff as the team's offensive coordinator, was a 15-year-old ball boy for San Francisco during that game. At Thursday's news conference he reflected on that afternoon and the remarkable 49-26 victory in Super Bowl XXIX.
"That year I was on the sidelines for that game," he said. "Definitely wasn't a lot of cross the 30-yard-line. I had to stay with most of the media guys. I was always that annoying kid jumping in front of all the media people, trying to do their job. Blocking their perfect shot as they would tell me get the heck out of the way."
"But it was great. Just being down there. Being a part of that stuff. Being on the field after. Just being around the lockerroom and trying to collect anybody's gloves who left them around. Guys were always -- players were just so nice and good people to me at a young age."
However, Shanahan admitted his most special memory was being at Super Bowl XXXII when his dad, Mike, was the head coach who led Denver to a 31-24 win over Green Bay. It was the first of two straight NFL titles for his father at the helm of the Broncos.
"I went to three (Super Bowls) before seventh grade -- the closest game that my dad had been a part of I think they lost by 19," he said of those early memories. "The fourth one he was with the Niners and they were able to win. Up to that point, I didn't AFC teams could win. I was used to the other side."
"I remember going back when my dad was on the Broncos," he continued. "It had been 13 years since the AFC had won and I was just so use to going there (the Super Bowl) and getting blown out. So that's what I thought in high school was going to happen. I could tell hanging around my dad, hanging around the team, they didn't think that at all. Which surprised me at first. As just a fan, it was cool to see the confidence and to watch that play out on the field versus the Packers that year, that was one of the favorite days of my life...It made me love the sport even more."
If the 49ers were to win Sunday, Kyle and his father would have the rare distinction of being the first father-son team to win Super Bowl titles as head coaches.
"I think it's cool like anybody else does, so does my dad," he said. "Winning a Super Bowl is something that I could have imagined for my father growing up and then to have the chance to do it for myself, there's not much more I can imagine than that in sports. That's pretty neat to say some day if does happen, but just winning the Super Bowl is enough."