It is quite a thing, this long goodbye to Dwight Clark. It’s wrenching. It’s sad. Against all odds it is uplifting, a lesson for all of us because the man of the hour wishes it that way.
First came the stunning announcement about a year ago that Clark had been diagnosed with ALS, a cruel, incurable disease that he believes is related to his football career — he played three years at Clemson and nine years with the 49ers. Then came the day for Clark at Levi’s Stadium last October.
Then came the Tuesdays With Dwight, at which former teammates, 49ers officials and friends gathered informally with Clark at a Capitola restaurant to do what most of us do far too infrequently — talk about the old times, laugh, tell stories on each other, maybe shed a tear or two.