Super Bowl XXVII : THROUGH THE YEARS : Footnotes To History : XVI : KEN ANDERSON : CINCINNATI BENGALS

If he ever doubted, Bengal quarterback Ken Anderson was totally and utterly convinced that Super Bowl XVI in the Pontiac Silverdome was something special--if not exactly super--once he heard the music.

Come again?

“I guess all the other guys say the Super Bowl is just another game, but Diana Ross sang the national anthem,” Anderson said. “And she never came to one of our games in Cincinnati.”

For San Francisco, it was the first verse of what was to become a Super Bowl standard, called “The 49ers Win.” San Francisco’s 26-21 victory was the first of the 49ers’ four Super Bowl titles and it occurred at the expense of the Bengals and Anderson, who was making his only appearance in the NFL’s yearly ultimate game.

“So many people were taking it for granted that we would go back,” Anderson said. “There was no doubt we would. But that was my only shot in my career. Football is funny, sometimes, I guess.

“I mean, I look at friends I’ve got in the NFL and never even made it that far, like Jim Hart (of the St. Louis Cardinals), who was one of the game’s best quarterbacks, and he never made it. That’s the way it goes sometimes.”

And so it went for Anderson and the Bengals. To be sure, Anderson had his moments--25 completions in 34 attempts for 300 yards and two touchdowns--but he also threw two interceptions.

Cris Collinsworth also had a big fumble and the 49ers made a goal-line stand in the third quarter.

“The interceptions, the fumble, the goal-line stand,” Anderson said. “When you get to a game of that magnitude, those are missed opportunities and you can’t do those things and win.”

And his recollection of

how he felt that day in Michigan is not dulled 11 years later.

“It was probably the greatest feeling in my life, walking out on the field, and probably the biggest disappointment in my life, walking off it,” he said.

* 1982 AT PONTIAC, MICH.

San Francisco 7 13 0 6 -- 26 Cincinnati 0 0 7 14 -- 21

SF--Montana 1 run (Wersching kick)

SF--Cooper 11 pass from Montana (Wersching kick)

SF--FG Wersching 22

SF--FG Wersching 26

Cin--Anderson 5 run (Breech kick)

Cin--Ross 4 pass from Anderson (Breech kick)

SF--FG Wersching 40

SF--FG Wersching 23

Cin--Ross 3 pass from Anderson (Breech kick)

A--81,270

Winning Coach--Bill Walsh

MVP--Joe Montana