Bill Walsh's message launched John Lynch to Hall of Fame

John Lynch’s football career seemed to be nearing its conclusion in 1992 when he spent the summer as a successful starting pitcher in Class A ball for the expansion Florida Marlins.

Lynch had come to Stanford as a quarterback and was converted to a part-time safety role under coach Dennis Green when he got a phone call that summer from the assistant for new Cardinal coach Bill Walsh, who had returned to Palo Alto after leading the San Francisco 49ers to three Super Bowl titles.

“I got on the phone with coach and he asked me when I got back to the Bay Area if I could come back and meet with him,” Lynch said. “I’ll never forget as long as I live, he said, ‘I understand the great opportunity you have in baseball, but I believe that you can be an All-Pro safety in the NFL.’ It took all my courage to say, ‘With all due respect coach Walsh, I played one year at safety and played half the snaps if that. What leads you to believe?’”

Walsh’s belief turned into reality as Lynch stuck with football, became a two-time All-Pro for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and then was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame earlier this year after making the final 15 seven times but never getting the honor.

The journey from part-time football player and baseball prospect to Lynch’s induction into the Hall of Fame on Aug. 8 began in earnest during that conversation nearly three decades ago when Walsh showed Lynch making plays similar to Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott.

“The detail that coach Walsh went through, he had made a tape and it was a play I made my junior year, then a play that Ronnie Lott had made the previous year. Then a play I made blitzing the quarterback and a play Ronnie Lott had made. I think of all the people who kind of spoke this into existence, and coach Walsh was so instrumental...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Bill-Walsh-s-message-launched-John-Lynch-to-Hall-16355759.php