Nov 11, 2006 2:42 am US/Pacific
Former 49ers Head Coach Walsh Fighting Leukemia
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS 5 / AP) ―
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Former 49ers Head Coach Bill Walsh.
AP
Hall of Fame football coach Bill Walsh, who built an NFL dynasty with the San Francisco 49ers and revolutionized the sport with his West Coast offense, disclosed Friday that he has leukemia.
"I'm positive, but not evangelistic," the 74-year-old Walsh told former San Francisco Chronicle sports columnist turned Web blogger Ira Miller. "I'm pragmatically doing everything my physicians recommend, and I'm working my way through it."
Walsh said the cancer first was diagnosed in 2004, but indicated that he feels better since a series of blood transfusions in the past month.
"The worst phase was three or four weeks ago. I've come back dramatically since, and I'm better," he said.
Walsh lost his eldest child, Steve, to leukemia at age 46 in May 2002. Steve Walsh was an ABC News reporter who covered the fall of the Berlin Wall, the Columbine High School massacre and other major stories.
Walsh said he was going public now, because word had begun to circulate.
Walsh was 47 when he first became an NFL head coach, and he spent just 10 seasons on the sideline. But he left an indelible mark, winning three Super Bowls and turning the 49ers into the most successful team of the 1980s with his innovative offensive strategies and teaching techniques.
"We have stayed in touch with Bill Walsh over the years and we hold him in very high regard," 49ers owners John York and Denise Debartolo York said in a statement Friday night. "He is one of the greatest football minds of all time and we wish him the best."
Few men did more to shape the look of football into the 21st century. His cerebral nature and often brilliant stratagems earned him the nickname "The Genius" well before his election to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
Walsh went 102-63-1 with the 49ers, winning 10 of his 14 postseason games along with six division titles. He was named the NFL's coach of the year in 1981 and 1984.
Walsh twice served as the 49ers' general manager, and George Seifert led San Francisco to two more Super Bowl titles after Walsh departed. Walsh also coached Stanford during two terms over five seasons, and was the school's interim athletic director until Bob Bowlsby was hired in April.
"I always felt I'll accept my fate as it unfolds," Walsh said. "I have no regrets, and when it was life-threatening, I had a lot of considerations about my wife, Geri. It appears I've gone through that threshold and it may turn out OK, at least for a while."
(© 2006 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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