Patrick Willis' lasting 49ers impact equals a cross-country flight for Jim Harbaugh (2024)

Jim Harbaugh was watching NFL Network recently when a rerun left him scrambling for flight arrangements. The Los Angeles Chargers coach caught a replay of “The Knock,’’ the video series that captures the moment an inductee learns they’ve been selected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

As Harbaugh found out, the Patrick Willis episode is a classic of the genre. With cameras rolling, the San Francisco 49ers linebacking great opened a door in Jackson, Tenn., to find Bryant Young, dressed in the hall’s distinctive gold jacket, ready to welcome his teammate to the Class of 2024.

“C’mon, man,’’ is about all Willis could get out before vanishing tearfully into Young’s massive hug.

Patrick Willis, welcome to the Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2024.@ProFootballHOF x @PatrickWillis52 pic.twitter.com/LPtYELfyPo

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) February 26, 2024

Watching the scene unfold, Harbaugh impulsively switched his RSVP for Willis’ induction ceremony from “maybe” to “heck yes.”

How could he not? Harbaugh coached the final four seasons of the linebacker’s eight-season career, giving the five-time All-Pro his first taste of winning in the NFL.

Willis will be the first Harbaugh-coached player to reach the Hall of Fame, another factor in the coach’s decision to make the trek.

“I watched Patrick’s reaction and said, ‘By golly, we’re going. So let’s get some flights,’’’ Harbaugh told reporters after a recent practice. “I think we’ll be able to make it to Canton.”

The ceremony takes place this Saturday, the Chargers’ day off, so he’ll board an early morning flight for Ohio, cheer wildly during the early afternoon ceremony, then hightail it home by nightfall. After all, the Chargers have a joint practice with the Los Angeles Rams at 11 a.m. PT on Sunday.

“Really excited,’’ Harbaugh said.

The coach will have company on this whirlwind trip because many of his assistant coaches or coaches-in-training are former 49ers from Willis’ era. Notably, the traveling contingent includes Chargers linebackers coach NaVorro Bowman, who teamed with Willis to form one of the NFL’s most feared linebacking tandems of the 2010s.

“Wouldn’t have missed it,’’ Bowman said in a text confirming his attendance. “Can’t imagine not being there.”

Delanie Walker, a former 49ers tight end now in the Chargers organization, had long ago booked his ticket and hotel room for Canton to show his support. When Harbaugh reached out to a larger group last Friday, offering a private jet for transport, he was happy to cancel those plans and climb aboard the Willis Express.

“We want to be there for Patrick and we’re going to do whatever it takes — even if it means getting up at 3 a.m. to catch a plane,” Walker said by phone with a laugh. “He was a leader, he was a captain, he was a friend and he was somebody who cared about the community. Of course we all want to go.”

For Willis, news of the Chargers’ flight hit him almost like finding Young on his doorstep all over again. For weeks, he had periodically checked in with his friend and strategist, Joanne Pasternack, about Harbaugh’s attendance status. “I know Coach is busy but do you think he’ll be able to make it?”

By golly, he will.

“I can’t help but smile and be full of gratitude,’’ Willis said during a Zoom interview on Monday. “That’s the word I use — ‘full.’ Harbaugh to me is a special coach. I’m a Harbaugh fan. I’m thrilled to see what he’s going to do this year. For him to reach out and make this happen in this moment, in this time, it means a lot.”

That goes for Bowman, too.

“Yeah, yeah,’’ Willis said, excitedly. “NaVorro and I were able to play some amazing football together. We were able to have a dynamic duo in a way that is still being talked about years later. I just feel very fortunate to have shared the field with him. To have him in the house is really going to be special. And perhaps one day, I’ll be able to return and be in the house for him.”

Willis explained that he wants former coaches and players with him this weekend because this enshrinement actually belongs to everyone who helped him along the way (even if that bronze bust would be much tougher on the sculptor).

Not long ago, Wills scribbled down this hand-written message that summed up his feelings:

Pasternack loved the sentiment so much that she had it printed and blown up on a 6-foot-tall cardboard cutout. Willis’ words will greet visitors at his private celebration for friends and family on Saturday night. About 20 of Willis’ teammates from Ole Miss will be in attendance, as will Rod Sturdivant, his football coach at Bruceton Central High School.

“They are just as much a part of this as I am,’’ Willis said over Zoom. “And to everyone who’s not able to come but wishes they could be there: Just know that when you see me up there, you are all standing up there, as well.”

49ers fans might argue that Willis had at least a little to do with his honor, too. The 2007 first-round pick out of Mississippi was a tackling terror from the day he arrived in the NFL. Willis had 174 tackles en route to being named the AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

In one of his signature takedowns that debut season — the play that put Willis on the map — the 6-foot-1, 242-pounder roared from behind to corral Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Sean Morey after a 62-yard catch, a game-saving tackle in overtime.

“What play wasn’t my favorite Patrick Willis play,” Walker said, joking that it was too hard to pick just one. “He made so many plays to save games for us.”

Willis, New York Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor, Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Derrick Thomas and Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald are the only defensive players since the merger in 1970 to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of their first seven seasons.

Combining his sideline-to-sideline speed and Ronnie Lott-esque physicality, Willis led the NFL in tackles twice in his first five seasons. In that memorable rookie year, he helped hold Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson to just 3 yards on 14 carries — a feat at the time akin to holding Niagara Falls to just a few drops.

.@PatrickWillis52 was the ultimate middle linebacker 🔥

📺: #PFHOF24 Enshrinement — Saturday 8/3 on @NFLNetwork pic.twitter.com/VgxLaTGnxK

— NFL (@NFL) July 24, 2024

There was a lot to be learned just by reading the inked arms he used to snare running backs. One of his tattoos reads: “Believe.”

“When a person says, ‘I think,’ I feel that leaves room for doubt,’’ Willis said. “But if I want to do something, I want to believe I can do it — not just think.”

Willis matured at an early age because of his well-documented family turmoil growing up in Bruceton, Tenn. As kids, Willis and his siblings barely knew their mother, Loretta Lynn Anderson, and their father, Ernest Willis, became abusive as his substance abuse worsened. Patrick became the father figure as a teenager.

As his sister, Ernicka, said in a story for this week’s Hall of Fame program: “He took on a responsibility that wasn’t his. He never laid down at night without making sure we were good.”

When the “knock” came, Willis was at Ernicka’s house, which is about as full circle as things can get.

Willis sure has a tight family now, thanks to the camaraderie that remains among ex-teammates. Beyond Harbaugh, Bowman and Walker, the other 49ers-turned-Chargers heading to Canton are center Jonathan Goodwin, guard Mike Iupati, defensive lineman/fullback Will Tukuafu and safety Dashon Goldson. (Not scheduled to attend is the reversePatrick Willis, the Chargers’ undrafted — and unrelated — free agent offensive lineman Willis Patrick.)

“They were truly remarkable teammates and I was very honored to have shared the field with them,’’ Willis said. “We won some big ball games with those guys.”

Together, they were part of a fledgling 49ers core that found its stride under Harbaugh. The 49ers were 26-38 over Willis’ first four seasons. They were 36-11-1 in the first three seasons after Harbaugh arrived, reaching the NFC Championship Game each year.

“I am a firm believer in whatever it is that he has. He has this aura about him,’’ Willis said. “Under Harbaugh’s reign, I was fortunate enough to really see from top to bottom what it looks like to win. And what it takes to put together a team that plays with the unselfishness that he speaks of. One of the things that I’m thinking about now is how he would always say: ‘Rising tides lift all ships, loose lips sink ’em.’’’

Patrick Willis was built different 😤

More 🎥 on https://t.co/vpdsX5I39D#tbt pic.twitter.com/AeqaRpeUZy

— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) May 14, 2020

Willis said Harbaugh looks and talks so much like a coach that it’s hard to believe he was ever anything else. “I would never know that he was an actual NFL player if other guys didn’t mention it at times,’’ he said. “Because, man, he seems like he’s just made to do exactly what he’s doing.”

Harbaugh spent 13 seasons as an NFL quarterback. Along the way, he earned the nickname “Captain Comeback.”

Willis is grateful that Harbaugh was able to engineer one more late victory.

“Just truly full of smiles and just very appreciative that he would take this time right now out of his busy schedule,’’ Willis said. “I know his commitment to the 49ers and his commitment to me was a long time ago. And now he’s in a new place. So just to take the time as he is, it really means a lot.”

—Daniel Popper contributed to this report.

(Top photo: Tom Hauck / Getty Images)

Daniel Brown is a staff editor/writer for The Athletic MLB. He began covering Bay Area sports in 1995, including stints as a beat writer covering the Giants and 49ers. His feature story on Sergio Romo and a young cancer patient won first place in feature writing from the Associated Press Sports Editors in 2015. He is a native of Cotati, Calif., and a graduate of UC Davis. Follow Daniel on Twitter @BrownieAthletic