Dan Colchico was a textbook overachiever, as you can tell by his attempt at subbing for Frankenstein in this ‘63 card. Sadly, he didn’t do stunts for B-list monster movies, though he had the skills…
He came from a rough part of San Jose, which toughened him up. And he wasn’t recruited at all, so he went to junior college and San Jose State before the 49ers noticed he was damn good.
Dan was a key member of the 49ers defensive line, starting alongside Charlie Krueger and Leo Nomellini. In 1962, he was named the team’s most valuable player, despite being undersized for a lineman. He simply worked harder than everyone else, and was deeply respected for that.
No one was going to tell Dan Colchico he was done playing, either. After rupturing his Achilles, the 49ers refused to allow him to play, and he became their defensive line coach. Then in 1968, now healthy, Coach Colchico became Player Colchico and signed with New Orleans and played two more years with the Saints until HE decided he was done.
Dan never moved to San Francisco, either. He was a tough San Jose kid, and loved the city. He raised his family there.
Dan also was a pioneer–he was a key part of CTE investigations and the NFL’s complicity, and insisted that his brain be part of the Boston University “brain bank”–and, sure enough, he suffered from CTE.
How else was he an overachiever? When he was a junior in high school, he and his high school girlfriend drove to Vegas, got married, played cards and got back home before midnight. It wasn’t until he graduated high school that he told his parents he’d been married a year. They stayed together for fifty-nine years.
Way to show ‘em, Danno.
