49ers Create a Special Designation for Montana

San Francisco 49er fans were waiting Sunday night to hear from their old quarterback, Joe Montana.

Nobody else in town knew for sure how Montana was reacting to an eccentric new proposition by the 49ers.

Confronted with his imminent departure to the Kansas City Chiefs, whose offer Montana accepted unconditionally Saturday, the 49ers have volunteered to install him immediately as their designated starting quarterback.

Only a month ago, the 49ers gave Montana permission to shop himself around. At the same time, conforming to terms of the league’s new free-agent system, the 49ers installed last year’s quarterback, Steve Young, as their designated franchise player.

In the new NFL glossary, designated franchise player identifies an athlete as one so valuable that the franchise could be harmed vitally without him. The rules say that franchise players can never, in any circumstances, move anywhere as free agents. In a 1,600-player league, they are the only ones so restricted.

And yet, suddenly, the 49ers have chosen to replace theirs with a designated quarterback starter, one who had agreed to a new three-year deal with Kansas City.

NFL speculation was that 49er owner Eddie DeBartolo had taken over from the coach, George Seifert, and team president, Carmen Policy, who had singled out Young as their franchise player.

Said DeBartolo, implying that it is Montana’s call: “He’s got a lot of decisions to make.”

Crossing up his own handlers, Montana, who has had three elbow operations in two years, unexpectedly flew from Kansas City to see DeBartolo Saturday night at the owner’s home in Youngstown, Ohio, where, maybe, some changes were made in 49er quarterback priorities.

They returned to San Francisco Sunday night in DeBartolo’s plane, but at the airport Montana evaded Bay Area writers and disappeared.