Golden Opportunity : McDonald Played in Relative Obscurity for Six Years in Phoenix, but He Gets His Chance for Stardom With 49ers

You should have been to the party this summer thrown by that wild and fearless safety hired to rescue the San Francisco 49ers’ defense.

More than 100 friends and family gathered at Tim McDonald’s house in Fresno and goodness, what a time.

There was a sack race. They dunked for apples. An award was given at the end of day to the person judged to be the nicest .

And how about McDonald’s speech? He delivered it after he was awarded a trophy by his nine brothers and sisters for being such a decent guy.

“Yeah, you should have heard the speech,” older sister Linda Williams said.

It consisted of two short laughs and then . . . silence.

“Our little brother was too nervous and scared to talk in front of that many people,” she added.

What, you were expecting Ronnie Lott?

McDonald, a $12.75-million free-agent signee, does share one trait with the flashy ex-49er safety who has been terribly missed for two seasons.

Opponents recognize that trait the minute he hits them.

“The 49ers lost a lot of leadership when they lost Lott. . . . Tim will bring that back,” said Dennis Thurman, McDonald’s former position coach with the Phoenix Cardinals. “Tim plays the game the way it is supposed to be played, with his heart.”

Just like he plays everything else.

After spending six years in a place where the cardinals on the helmets were outnumbered by the pigeons roaming the empty seats, McDonald is probably best known by members of a youth track club in Fresno.

He sponsored their program, so his name is on the backs of their shirts.

McDonald’s next brush with recognition will come courtesy of the Edison Pop Warner Youth Football League in Fresno.

He sponsored all of the teams, so his number 46 will be on every player’s shoulder.

The proximity of Fresno to Candlestick Park--about a three-hour drive--is one of the biggest reasons McDonald picked the 49ers over a half-dozen teams that seriously pursued him.

Not only did the former USC star grow up in Fresno, he and about half of his family live there. His mother is still living in a house that he bought before he signed his first pro contract.

“And do you know that one bedroom in that house is as big as the entire house we used to live in?” Bobbie McDonald said.

McDonald still spends his summer days hanging out with his high school friends, playing basketball at the rec center of his childhood and joshing with all those youngsters wearing his name.

He remembers what it was like growing up with no father and a mother who was attempting to pay the bills by cleaning up after residents of a nursing home.

He remembers collecting bottles for money, and using the Boys’ Club of West Fresno for refuge.

“I see so many kids getting lost, sometimes I wonder, how did I make it?” McDonald said. “Without something like the Boys’ Club, I could very well be that guy on the streets, struggling. I want to give other people a chance.”

Those people have noticed.

“There is no confusion about Tim in Fresno,” said Harry Miller, a recreation supervisor there. “We all know what he is about.”

He wondered if the same went for the San Francisco media when he met them this summer at his introductory news conference.

The first question was, “What does this mean for Joe Montana?”

McDonald had the misfortune of sharing the podium with newly signed backup quarterback Steve Bono.

“When they finally got to me, I felt like saying, ‘Are you sure there are no more questions about Joe?’ ” McDonald said.

This is what happens when, at the peak of your career, you have never once appeared in a Monday night game or in the postseason.

“That’s the amazing thing about him,” said Jeff Fisher, 49er defensive backs coach. “Never been showcased on any of the national television events, and yet voted to the Pro Bowl. What does that say about a guy?”

It says that among his peers, McDonald may be the NFL’s most respected defensive back.

One of McDonald’s biggest fans is Lott, a fellow Trojan alumnus who even counseled McDonald after last season.

“I know things didn’t end too well between Ronnie and the 49ers, and yet he still spoke well of them,” McDonald said. “That, and the fact that he didn’t say too many nice things about the Raiders, helped me make up my mind.”

The 49ers hope McDonald will be a convincing force in a defense that is weary of disrespect.

It is a defense so worrisome, nobody in San Francisco has had time to think about what was supposed to be the big issue, the loss of that guy named Montana.

“Defense is obviously where we are concentrating heavily,” 49er Coach George Seifert said. “Defense is where we have to get better.”

The 49ers spent most of last season ranked last in the NFL in pass defense, finishing 26th of 28 teams. They ranked 15th in yardage given up.

Their off-season agenda was made clear in last winter’s NFC championship game, when the defense gave up 416 yards during a 30-20 loss to the Dallas Cowboys.

Seifert was asked if he spent much time this summer watching films of that game.

“Sure I did,” he said.

He was asked if he spent much time watching the key play in the fourth quarter, a short slant pass to Alvin Harper that went for 70 yards after rookie free safety Dana Hall took the wrong angle and missed the tackle.

Seifert said nothing.

“We expect this defense to perform in a certain way and, rookie or not, there is no excuse,” he said a few moments later. “This year, as in all years, there will be no excuses.”

McDonald, a strong safety, will make sure of that. Guess who is his roommate during training camp? Guess which two guys are most often seen riding bikes together around the Sierra College campus?

“I love seeing Tim and Dana Hall together,” Fisher said.

McDonald’s expertise is already rubbing off. “I’ll see (McDonald) do different instinctive things out there, then I’ll go up to him and ask what he was thinking,” Hall said.

McDonald said that if there is one thing he learned in Phoenix, it is that if you have no chance to become a prime-time performer, you’d better do it day and night.

“A lot of people in this league can make a couple of good plays on Monday night and everybody takes notice,” McDonald said. “Playing in Phoenix . . . for somebody to look at you, you have to make those plays every week.”

So eager was McDonald to finally leave the situation that, even though it could have damaged his career, he joined as a plaintiff in the landmark lawsuit against the NFL that resulted in the new free-agency agreement.

Playing for a team that had a 32-63 record the last six years can do that to a man.

“I tell you what, Tim fought awfully, awfully hard for that thing, and I respect him for it,” Cardinal Coach Joe Bugel said.

Because of that bold move, he, like Reggie White, was allowed to become a free agent, even though the Cardinals attempted to keep him by naming him their “franchise player.”

“I have learned that if you want to do things in life, sometimes you have to put your foot down,” McDonald said. “I was willing to give it all up for a chance to win . . . and to come home.”

And of course, he was impressed that the 49ers will be on national TV a league-leading 11 times this season. The Cardinals will play on national TV only once.

“I guarantee you, Tim will be a household name by the end of the year,” 49er quarterback Steve Young said.

More important for him is the effect on his household, whose members can finally watch him play without buying stock in an airline.

Although he gets only 10 complimentary tickets to the 49ers’ games, and the waiting list for 49er season tickets is long, his family has a plan. Linda McDonald has already put an ad in Bay Area newspapers in an attempt to buy tickets.

And if the McDonald family is forced to, “Yep, I will go to the park and buy tickets from a scalper before every game if I have to,” Linda said. “And I won’t be alone.”

They all had better hope that McDonald doesn’t have to lead the team in tackles, as he did for several years with the Cardinals. But it’s looking that way.

That defense has already had a horrible training camp. In an attempt to find new starters to replace departed free agents Pierce Holt, Tim Harris and Michael Carter, Seifert has only become more frustrated.

Todd Kelly, one of two first-round draft choices who was looking good enough to replace pass-rushing linebacker Harris, was set back because of a pulled hamstring.

Dennis Brown, the mammoth veteran defensive end from Long Beach who was given the mammoth job of replacing Holt, showed up weighing 330 pounds and was held out of the first three weeks of practice.

Ted Washington, another 300-pounder, has had the same jumbo problem in his attempt to replace Carter, whom the 49ers didn’t want to keep, at nose tackle. By the time he started practicing this week, Washington was in danger of losing his spot to their other first-round pick, Dana Stubblefield.

“You tell yourself this will all turn around and get better, but how many things can go wrong first?” Seifert said.

One person they will not have to worry about is McDonald. This is a player who, three weeks after undergoing arthroscopic knee surgery, stunned the 49er coaches when he showed up at the Pro Bowl.

“I thought, what the heck is he doing here?” Fischer said. “He showed everybody something.”

McDonald took a hit in the game that set back his rehabilitation several weeks. But, he said, you have to understand.

“When you never get to experience a playoff game, the Pro Bowl is your playoff game,” McDonald said, smiling. “But I don’t think I’ll be in that situation again.”

* LONG TO END HOLDOUT

Raider defensive lineman is expected to report to training camp today. C3.