SAN FRANCISCO – Dick Stanfel didn’t live to see his NFL career rewarded with the greatest of individual honors, enshrinement into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
But Stanfel’s son, Rich, has no doubt his dad was smiling down from above at the news Saturday.
“It’s bittersweet that he’s not here,” Rich Stanfel said. “But that’s the way dad was. He was sort of a lunch-box kind of guy, went to work hard every day whether he was playing or coaching. And he just did things the right way. And when he didn’t make it in 2012, he paused – I frankly was more devastated than he was for a moment – but he paused and said, ‘Well, what are we doing for dinner?