49er Great Nomellini Dead at 76

Leo “The Lion” Nomellini, the two-way tackle who tormented the Los Angeles Rams twice a season throughout his 14-year football career with the San Francisco 49ers, died Tuesday in Palo Alto at age 76.

One of the NFL’s best blockers and pass rushers and a giant for his time at 6 feet 3 and 264 pounds, Nomellini died from complications from a stroke three weeks after entering Stanford Hospital.

Former 49er quarterback Y.A. Tittle, who played with Nomellini from 1951-1960, told the San Francisco Chronicle: “Leo was one of the kindest, gentlest, biggest tough men you’d ever want to meet.

“More than that, though, he was a great human being. He never had any bad things to say about anyone. He was a guy you could poke fun at, and he’d poke fun at you.”

A noted iron man in pro football’s iron-man era, Nomellini--a native of Lucca, Italy--joined the 49ers as their inaugural first-round draft choice in 1950, the year they joined the NFL.

And thereafter they couldn’t get him out of the lineup until he retired in 1963 at 39. He played in 174 consecutive games and 10 Pro Bowls but only one playoff game.

Nonetheless, in 1969, he and teammate Joe Perry--a fullback--became the first two 49ers voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Nomellini never played high school sports. After moving with his family to Chicago, Nomellini worked his way through Crane Tech High in a metal foundry.

As a Marine at Cherry Point, N.C. in 1942, he played in his first football game. He had not even seen a football game before that.

Nomellini’s speed was a major asset. He had anchored the 440-yard relay team at the University of Minnesota, where, after an overseas career with the Marines in World War II, he was in 1946 a freshman starter.

In 1955, doubling as a wrestler during the off-season, Nomellini lost a world championship match to the pro champion, Lou Thesz. They drew a $72,000 gate, a wrestling record at the time.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story.