john mcvay was part of the front office from 1980 to 1996. the soft-spoken ohioan had risen through ranks and found a home in san francisco where he proceeded to be an integral part

of five world championships. the winning he and the franchise experienced started with two things. the first was an incredible opportunity to join great minds. the second was simply a pledge. >> i made a pledge to myself that whatever coach i ever worked for, i am going to make sure he has an adequate amount of first rate talent. we would go to eddie. i would say, we need a tight end. i said they're expensive. he said well sign a couple. we don't need two. we just need one. he said get two just in ?qmñcas. >> iconic member of the 49ers family was known for his generosity as an owner and that allowed the front office members to thrive. albeit with a different time in the national football league and the notions of the salary cap were more than a decade and a half away. front office members working with debart lowe knew choosing

talent was imperative and regardless of budget, talent evaluations would bring lombardi trophies to the bay. >> eddie gave us the wherewithal to get players on trades, free agency, and our drafting and so on. gave us the daniel we needed to put our scouts all over the country. it was really a fun experience. for the first year it was a little tough. it was lean. we had some players. one of the things that eddie had done the year before bill and i got there, he had already rebuilt the offensive line. we had six really good offensive linemen who played with us for like ten years and played our offensive line position through the glory years. as we went along, we shored up the defensive secondary. we had a great draft that we took ronny lott, eric wright,

williamson. we found dwight hicks working in a health food store. they called dwight hicks and the three hicks. they didn't care very much for this. >> searching improbable places for the right fit, striking gold in the draft for meticulously assembling the pieces along the offensive and defensive lines. with mcvay by their side worked tirelessly to pull the 49ers out of mediocrity. >> the best scout we ever had was bill walsh. he could look at a film of a player and in one or two plargs be he could say take him. he did that with tom rathman. he just looked at him briefly and said we want him. >> you talk about eddie debartlo, george seifert. you have to put john mcmay in

that category. as far as the back end, the recognition of players, how that all came together as far as bringing in players. i love john mcvay. >> john mcvay did a great job of putting this together. he was able to do upstairs. i think it poured into the players downstairs and i think he is the reason why we were able to win so many championships. >> the best offensive draft pick that we were ever a part of. how about joe montana? believe it or not, we took joe in the third round with dallas' pick. we get to the third round and bill says, i really like montana. call somebody at notre dame. i said, okay. i know the back field coach there. jimmy gruden. and he was john gruden's dad. tell me about montana. i said he is just sitting there. he said just take him. so we got montana and that was a

gift from heaven. whether it was the football gods shining down on the bay, great timing, astute decision making or a combination of all three, john mcvay worked behind the scenes to make move after move to better the franchise. but still, he was behind the scenes. the only thing greater than mcvay's understanding is what it would take to achieve greatness was his humbleness within the organization. he continued to pledge to assist the coaches in any way possible and his love and respect for those coaches was visible every day in his actions and in his words.

>> what made bill stand out was his knowledge, presentation. if you would get a tape of his installations and watch the precision with which he would sell a play, diagram a play, and tell the players how it will be executed, when it will be used, and who has to do what to make this thing work, he was brilliant tactician. he was very precise. >> that precision was evident in not only bill walsh's way of doing things. it was also unthinkable in john mcvay's way of handling business. it didn't matter if it was the early '80s and the fledgling years or the stern seifert era. he remained even keeled. he was known not only for his decision making prowess on the field but for making great ones

off it too. >> he had a calming effect. he was strong in his opinions. people would be against each other and john had a way of putting it all in perspective. everybody realized what the ultimate goal was. and john had been a head football coach himself. he therefore had an insight into what the head coach needed to be successful. and he did everything he could to create that foundation. >> you know, sometimes as a coach, you think that you can accomplish miracles. but the miracle occurs is when a good player's mother brings him into the world. that's the miracle. >> miracles happen throughout mcvay's tenure. there were names for those miracles. taylor, wright, montana, the

list goes on. in a galaxy of stellar players and front office figures, john mcvay remained the constant star in which the company would set their compass to, in good times and bad. >> the relationship between bill walsh and eddie debartolo was very combustible. there were multiple times that he would fire bill or bill would quit. and the coaching staff would go home thinking there was going to be a new coach. the person behind the scenes who would smooth over everything and make everything okay and would address the staff and say, guys, let's just keep a steady keel here. everything will be all right. that person was john mcvay. and that organization that the 49ers had, the dynasty of the '80s, i don't think would have been possible without such an even tempered mild mannered, in a lot of ways, a politician.

a diplomat that was able to keep that organization running smoothly. >> john mcvay never wanted to be front and center. he was never a spotlight guy. it is hard when you have a larger than life head coach and then a guy that comes after him that wins two super bowls to really get your share of the spotlight. he kept things calm in a building that was constantly seeking perfection. and was a guy that did a lot of the grunt work and found players that allowed george and bill and others to have success as the coaches of the san francisco 49ers.

i've always known john as being the leader of the team. the master mind to put all the players in place. >> everything starts upstairs. they made it easy for us downstairs.

just go out and get this cohesive groom. get them together and get everybody working on all cylinders and after that, we started winning football games. >> pump fake by montana. what a catch! >> john mcvay was the back bone of this organization through the glory years. i tell people this a lot. and it is absolutely positively no disrespect to bill walsh. he deserves every ounls of credit that he's gotten for building the tradition and the almost that the team had in the '80s is that today. john mcvay deserves just as much. equal time, equal credit. john mcvay got us through so many tough times. when bill would be on the field and john mcvay will to take care of the situation. or mr. debartolo would be in youngstown. john was everybody's best friend. >> most proud of the

camaraderie, the fellowship, having been with eddie, bill, and with george and all the assistant coaches and the trainers, the unlds gron keepers. you talk about a tightly knit organization where everybody is on board. >> john mcvay made it clear out of making good decisions. for nearly two decades he helped save the culture of the 49ers as we know it. and he brought pride to a team and its faithful. both which he truly loved and cared for. >> when i think about the 49er faithful, i think that a group that has committed their loyalty to the team. they were understanding when something went wrong. knowing full well the team can do everything to correct it. our fans are the best in the national football league. >> mcvay's leadership, along with head man bill walsh and george seifert raised the 49ers

franchise to heights seldom reached. the troeflys are shining examples of team work them all tell their own story and all were earned with sacrifices of men who have wren the team's history. that history carries over into the highest honor they can bestow. a place in the hall of fame. rightly so, in 2013 john mcvay had a space reserved for his work in making the team one of the most storied in all prof fegsal sports. >> to be recognized by the 49ers as someone who helps having this success that we had. made me feel very proud. i was very humbled. you know, it is not very often that somebody who sets behind a desk is inducted into a football hall of fame where you have 20

some super athletes who played in the national football league and then here in lie all 5'10" of me, if i'm that tall. and the honor to be recognized by jed and john york and eddie debartolo. it was a very tumble experience. i'll never forget it.

members of the faithful, as you can see, we love telling a good story. trust us to share yours by reaching out to the 49ers studios at 49ers.com. we were having open tryouts the first year or two. we were just desperate for players. and we had a whole block of guys on the field. a whole bunch of them. and bill and i were up on the fire he is came, watching these guys working with our assistant coaches. and bill said, who is that little toe headed guy down there? he said that's billy ring. he said sign him. i said what do you see? he said get him. he is a player. and billy ring played for us for a long time.

the

. tonight, hanging off the edge. a suspected burglar and the charges he faced after police got him off this roof. and five st. louis players with their hands up for protesters in ferguson new questions that race relations after an officer was cleared in the shooting death of an unarmed teenager. we see this particular collision a lot. every rain day. 37 to slow down. dangerous consequences for drivers who keep speeding on wet roads from holiday travel to the storm damage. we are tracking this latest round of rain in the bay area. good evening to you. thank you for joining us. terry is off tonight. we are on d.c. football. some parts of the area are drying up after a second round of rain really came down in the south bay team of look at this rain in downtown san jose and a look here at the rain in gilroy.

very much a needed sight, a wanted sight. we have live team coverage on this wet weekend. we are covering all the travel delay at area airports. we do begin with meteorologist rob mayeda. we are catching a break but boy, it was really coming down earlier. >> and it is still coming down in spots for the holiday drive home from san francisco, for marin county into san francisco. you're running into some of those rain drops. and the two-day rain totals, pretty impressive. kentfield, more than an inch of rain. you saw the video around san jose and gilroy. south bay toward morgan hill. you had more than an inch of rain. for san jose, the wettest two consecutive days going back to february 28th and march 1st. we've finally done that. over an inch of rain coming down in the last few days and we will see the opportunity. we had some pretty intense thundershowers come through this morning. as you can see that on the storm time line.

now dealing with scattered showers toward north bay and a little light rain heading into san jose. the next event on the horizon will be the strongest storm in the superies. still taking shame offshore. this next storm will push a lot more wind toward the bay area and has the potential to double the rainfall. we've seen hit the week and for parts of the south bay. coming up, i'll let you know when we expect the next heavy rain. and how strong winds will get and the full micro climate forecast coming up. we know some folks will be looking at that. this weekend's storm caused problgs on the roads. drivers spun out of control on the wet highways. and winds knocked down trees and power to some neighborhoods. it is great we're getting the rain but we did have some storm damage in spots. >> reporter: some of this was in san francisco but when night fell, that's when the rain seemed to be going on and off. we are here on chestnut street in san francisco.

rain has caused problems out on the roads with trees. there is more to come. >> trouble spots popped up quickly in places like marin where mud and rocks brought the slow lane before the waldo opportunity. as crews put down flares so cars could go around. in san francisco in the presidio. >> it made a very loud boom. no sparks and no fire. >> reporter: neighbors, lindy said they were without power for about an hour. >> big tree blew down and then it took down the wires. and knocked out the power to the whole neighborhood. now they have the power back on but no phone, no cable. >> the wires just hit each other. like dominos. >> reporter: in san francisco at least foerp trees or limbs came down in the rain. only the the wet weather continued on and off. and on the roads, conditions

were slick. there were spinouts. >> thanksgiving weekend. a lot of people out. a lot of shoppers out. people are traveling. and you have to watch out for other drivers. it is not just how far you're traveling. it is how fast the other drivers are going. >> reporter: we also heard from some of those drivers who talk about hitting puddles and then losing control. that standing water is something that we're seeing more of this evening. as this rain continues. that's the latest from here, reporting live in san francisco. nbc bay area news. >> quite a storm. thank you so much. on one of the busiest travel days of the year, one of the busiest airports had delays because of weather. take look at this. it might look like sfo but it's not. this is very unusual for denver international airport. they had on divert several incoming flights because of the fog. terrible wind also caused delays and rerouting. some flights were delayed by two

hours. that shut down half the airport's runways. very unusual. and the delays in denver impeded the flights back here. it boxed thousands of travel plans at sfo. nbc bay area has more on the travel headaches. >> reporter: when travelers saw the departure board at sfo, many were not happy. emily is heading to los angeles and was not pleased to learn she would be stuck in the airport a lot longer than she expected. >> i was going to get picked up by a friend who is picking up another friend. now i need to take a cab and they're $50. so it's, it makes it a little more inconvenient. >> reporter: most passengers this evening played the waiting game with depart you delays averaging over an hour. we found a flight headed to austin that was three hours late. for those arriving at the airport, delays averaged more than two hours, sfo the award the highest number of delays in

the country. according the flight tracker. most of the delays were due to wind and other weather conditions. mostly at other airports. >> reporter: at the international airport, a much different story. most of the delays here were people fighting through traffic to leave the airport. most passengers said they waited less than an hour to catch their flight. >> about a 30-minute delay. wasn't too bad of a problem. >> reporter: returning home to the south bay without having to camp out in a terminal. >> all right. thank you so much. that's marianne favro reporting. you can track exactly what's happening in your neighborhood online. click the button at the top of the page. you can sign up for weather alerts and learn more about the forecast. a 13-hour stand-off between san jose police and a suspected burglar is now over. police were called there around

2:00 this morning. officers found a man in the attic window of the three-story home. police stay man appeared to be under the influence. he refused to come down. the witness. the suspect was in a nearby bar. he went to the home where officers found him. >> and he was up there screaming racial things. and he was jumping around, throwing bricks at cars. at the officers. screaming, leave me alone, you so and so. you're going to kill me. >> after several hours of negotiation, police finally used tear gas to get man down. the suspect faces several charges including suspicion of burglary, arson and assault with a deadly women. gun fire in the district leaves one man shot. the gunman still on the loose. the shooting happened about 2:30 p.m. neighbors identified the victim. they stay 60-year-old is known to get hostile when he is off

his medication for an undisclosed condition. investigators believe he had an argument for the suspect on the street. that's when the suspect pulled out a gun and shot him. the bullet also struck a nearby straunl that was full of patrons. >> all the customers ducked down. we backed away from the window. glass was all over the place. i grabbed the phone, i called the police and a rock was thrown through the window. they told us to evacuate. we were all inside. none of us had left actually. and that's when they let us know it was some bullets. >> police say the shooter took off in a gray sedan. if you have any information about this incident, please give police a call. it is the united states largest homeless encampment and it is right here in our backyard. about 200 people live at the homeless encampment known as the jungle. it is in san jose. crews will post sbins the shutdown tomorrow