The Super Bowl Is ‘My Final Game,’ 49ers’ Cross Says

Randy Cross, San Francisco’s 13-year veteran center, said today he will retire after Sunday’s Super Bowl.

Cross, 34, announced before the 49ers met with the media this morning that he had decided to end his career “the way you dream of ending it.”

“Ten years ago I dreamed of playing in the Super Bowl, and this is my third,” Cross said. “Super Bowl XXIII will be my final game as a 49er, but as in the words of (former San Francisco receiver) Dwight Clark, I always plan to be a 49er.”

Cross said he began thinking about retirement after last season.

“I wanted to play as long as I was happy with the way I played,” he said.

Eddie DeBartolo Jr., owner of the 49ers, noted that Cross was the only player still on the team who was playing when he bought the team in 1977.

“Randy has held this team together with his leadership in good times and bad times,” DeBartolo said. “He’s a class individual . . . one of the best I know.”