Former San Francisco 49ers head coach, Bill Walsh, has died today. At the moment, I'm too broken up for words. For now, I'll repost the blog that I posted for him back in November of last year.

34-24-1 record as head coach of the Stanford University Cardinal. 102-63-1 record as a head coach for the San Francisco 49ers. 3 Super Bowl wins. The innovator of the West Coast offense. And now comes the biggest fight of his life.

On Friday, Bill Walsh announced that he has leukemia. He has actually been fighting this for two years. His comments to the press seemed positive. He's still fighting, so I'm not going to dwell on the negatives, just yet.

With the news, I felt it necessary to talk about how much Walsh has meet to fans in Northern California. Before Walsh, the 49ers were going through one of the worst stints in their history. Nine losing seasons in a row. Even before that, the team's best seasons were losses to Dallas in the NFC championship game.

It was Walsh who drafted Joe Montana in the third round of the 1979 draft. He also drafted Ronnie Lott and Jerry Rice during his tenure. Both oh whom are the all time greats in the NFL. It was Walsh who masterminded the most creative offensive schemes in NFL history. Walsh even drafted the "squib" kick. Walsh was the first coach to win 18 games in one season.

In January 1982, the 49ers faced the Dallas Cowboys for the NFC championship, again. Down 21-20 with the clock ticking down, Joe Montana through a pass into the end zone, and TE Dwight Clark had to leap in the air to make the catch to score the touchdown. The play has become known as "The Catch". It was what put the 49ers on the map, and led to the first of five Super Bowl wins.

The play looked like it was a throw away pass by Montana, to keep from getting sacked, and a lucky leap by Clark. But the play was designed that way, by the genius Walsh. They practiced that very play during training season. And it was that play that is forever remembered by faithful 49er fans.

I know Walsh will not read this. But, I pledge my thoughts and prayers to your health and recovery. It's the least I can do, for a man who means so much for this community. You gave us a lot of great memories, and some of the best teams of all time.

RIP. The 49er faithful will miss you a lot.