San Francisco 49ers

The San Francisco 49ers (also known as the Niners) are a professional American football team. The 49ers are currently a member of the Western Division of the National Football Conference (NFC) in the National Football League (NFL).

The name "49ers" comes from the name given to the prospectors who went west during the California Gold Rush which began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California.

In the next year, that news brought some 300,000 people to California. The gold-seekers, called "Forty-niners" as a reference to 1849. Because of the gold rush, San Francisco grew from a small settlement to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. A state constitution was written and California became a state in 1850.


The 49ers official mascot is Sourdough Sam who wears jersey number 49. Before Sourdough Sam, the team's first mascot was a prospector's mule named Clementine that wore a red saddle blanket and appeared in the 1950s and 1960s.

Sourdough Sam is a gold rush prospector/miner who first appeared in the 1970s though he was based on a character that appeared on the covers of game programs created by William Kay between 1946 and 1949.

The "Sourdough" refers to sourdough bread which is associated with San Francisco.

Team owner Anthony J. Morabito chose 49ers for his All-America Football Conference squad because it reflected San Francisco’s link to the California Gold Rush.

The 49ers began to play in 1946 as a charter member of the All-America Football Conference (AAFC) and joined the NFL in 1950 after the AAFC merged into the older league.

The team was the first NFL franchise to win five Super Bowls.

The 49ers teams of the 1980s and early 1990s were a dynasty given their five Super Bowl triumphs in that span, including four in the 1980s. The Niners won 10+ games for 16 straight seasons.


Famous 49ers include three-time Super Bowl MVP Joe Montana, perennial Pro Bowler Ronnie Lott, all-time highest career quarterback rating holder Steve Young, and career touchdown leader Jerry Rice.

All of them played for the 49ers during their greatest period.

They have been division champions 20 times between 1970 and 2019, making them one of the most successful teams in NFL history.

The 49ers have been in the league playoffs 50 times (49 times in the NFL and one time in the AAFC).

In 2020, they played in Super Bowl LIV in Miami against the Kansas City Chiefs and lost with a score of 31 - 20.