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'An absolutely brilliant talent evaluator': 49ers' John McVay to be honored in San Francisco | The Sacramento Bee

John McVay aced his first assignment with the 49ers.

Upon arriving with the team in 1979, the new director of player personnel was tasked with finding a quarterback for incoming coach Bill Walsh. When the third round began, they wondered why one of the passers they liked, Notre Dame's Joe Montana, still was available.

So McVay called one of his former assistants at the University of Dayton, Jim Gruden, who at the time was an assistant at Notre Dame.

"So I said, 'What's going on with Montana? How come he's still there?' I said, 'What do you think?