Long-stalled plan to honor SF sports legends finally gets approval

The 49ers haven’t played at Candlestick Park for more than a dozen years, and the Giants for more than a quarter of a century. But on Tuesday, a plan that’s been in the works since 2015 to rename streets in the new Candlestick neighborhood after team legends finally got its official San Francisco government approval.

The San Francisco Board of Supervisors adopted a resolution on Tuesday to rename streets in the planned Candlestick Point development after a mix of 49ers and Giants stars, as well as local community members. 

Among the 49ers who will now have streets in their old neighborhood named after them are wide receiver Jerry Rice, defensive back Ronnie Lott, owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and team president Carmen Policy. Quarterback Joe Montana and wide receiver Dwight Clark are also honored on a dually named “Montana-Clark Drive,” forever memorializing their famous play together from 1982. 

As for the Giants, Hall of Famers Juan Marichal and Orlando Cepeda and all-time home run king Barry Bonds will be honored with streets named after them. Legendary 49ers coach Bill Walsh will also have a new street named after him, as most of the previously named “Bill Walsh Way” that looped to Candlestick’s entrance will be removed in the development. 

Official approval has been a long time coming. As the Board of Supervisors’ Land Use and Transportation Committee broke down on Monday, the initial outreach began in 2015, when a Hunters Point Shipyard committee asked the public for nominations to name streets after. Three were chosen: World War II welder and neighborhood property owner Zerline Dixon, community activist Christine Neal and Elder Samuel Pryor Smith, a carpenter and cable car operator for Muni and one-time semi-pro football player who worked in the shipyards in World War II.

Later in 2017, then-Mayor Ed Lee held a private ceremony at City Hall for the former sports figures, announcing the renaming plans. It was at that ceremony that Montana asked for the planned Joe Montana Drive to include Clark’s name, which the city obliged. San Francisco also said there are plans for a mural depicting Clark making “The Catch” to be part of the new neighborhood.

But nothing happened since then, as developer FivePoint faced significant delays at its two projects between Candlestick Point and Hunters Point. Even before Candlestick was torn down, the city blended the two locations into a single development project encompassing nearly 700 acres. The former shipyard has been flagged by the Environmental Protection Agency as a site, and decades of cleanup efforts by the Navy are ongoing.

In 2023, the San Francisco Business Times reported FivePoint had shifted its focus away from the shipyards to Candlestick Point. After working with the city, the project was amended in 2024 to allow for the Candlestick project to get started without Hunters Point. The Business Times reported in March that FivePoint is hoping to finally start construction by midyear, and thus the city is working to approve a final map of that area next month.

Those positive movements led to Monday, when two of the three supervisors on the committee held a brief meeting just to discuss this item. (The third supervisor had an excused absence.) After a presentation about the background, committee Chair and District 7 Supervisor Myrna Melgar offered a biting comment at San Francisco.

“It takes us a long time to do this kind of stuff,” Melgar said. She said she was “pleased” to see the community leaders getting streets named after them before quipping, “The 49ers left us, so I don’t know how I feel about naming some of the streets after folks.”

The committee unanimously approved sending its recommendation to Tuesday’s full board. When the resolution was read out, not a single supervisor offered any objection or comment. Thirty seconds after it came up, Board of Supervisors President Rafael Mandelman officially brought an 11-year process to end by gaveling in its official adoption.