One of the largest and perhaps the only 49ers fan club in the area has grown with the stakes of the games. But the Eagles helped get the momentum rolling.
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The Niner Empire of the Lehigh Valley at Starters Riverport in Bethlehem for the Jan. 20 playoff game against the Falcons. For the Super Bowl the group will be at Pitchers Pub in Allentown.
BY SALENA FEHNEL
For The Express-Times
Cedric Hickerson remembers heading to school as a teenager the day after the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the last San Francisco 49ers team that was bound for the Super Bowl.
Randall Cunningham and Charlie Garner led the Birds to a 40-8 shellacking of the 49ers on Oct. 2, 1994, holding the Hall of Fame pass-catch combo of Steve Young and Jerry Rice to just 66 yards and zero scores.
As Hickerson, of Bethlehem, and a fellow 49ers fan arrived at school, he said, their Eagles-fan classmates were waiting and ready to give them a hard time.
It’s a scenario that has since repeated itself in other settings as the Eagles went to four straight NFC Championship games — without a Super Bowl title — and the 49ers largely stunk for a long time.
“The Eagles fans that we encounter are funny,” Hickerson, a member of perhaps the largest -- or only -- 49ers fan club in the Lehigh Valley and northwest New Jersey, said in an email as his favorite team readied to play the Baltimore Ravens today in Super Bowl XLVII.
“It’s funny that the Niners have been great, super bad, and great again before the Eagles even get a ring.”
In a land of Eagles and New York Giants fans — where the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers are also more popular than the 49ers — a group of more than 50 fans of the five-time Super Bowl champs has formed an unlikely club.
Niner Empire, founded by Marc Sames, of Bethlehem, gives 49ers fans a football family almost 3,000 miles from the nexus of Niner territory in San Francisco.
Empire gives football tips
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The Niner Empire of the Lehigh Valley at Starters Riverport in Bethlehem for the Jan. 20 playoff game against the Falcons. For the Super Bowl the group will be at Pitchers Pub in Allentown.
They also give a welcome boost to local bars and eateries, whose owners are experiencing lean times as far as NFL playoff crowds go.
With none of the favorite local teams in the playoffs this year, fewer fans are showing up to order pitchers and wings.
But Niner Empire ensures that at least one area bar gets an influx of rowdy, jersey-wearing, tab-boosting, tip-giving football enthusiasts every Sunday. For today’s Super Bowl, the club is meeting at Pitchers Sports Bar & Grille in Allentown.
Pitchers is usually a Steelers bar, but the Steelers haven’t played a game in more than a month. Niner Empire has also graced Starters, P.J. Whelihan’s, Big Woody’s and other sports bars with business boosts for 49ers games.
“I’m shocked, actually,” Pitchers owner Rose Stofko said. “I didn’t think anyone would be coming out. I didn’t think we’d have anyone on Sunday, and this group of Niner fans changed that. We’ve been taking reservations, are having wing and drink specials, and I’m surprised at how busy it’s looking to be. I definitely didn’t expect that in an off-year.”
She said Ravens fans are welcome, too.
Hickerson, a teacher who also runs a MojoBooth photo and video booth franchise, said he and Sames, a real estate agent, “know how hard it can be to bring in people, and we know how big our crowd can get and what that can mean to a small business on a Sunday afternoon. So we change up where we go each week, try to hit different places and bring in business for everyone we can.”
No television too far
Location has little to do with Hickerson’s fandom.
He grew up in New Jersey, which predisposed him to be a Giants or Jets fan. But those teams took the New York name, which he said made him feel disconnected. His love for the Red and Gold came from playing football video games as a teen.“There really is no geographical challenge to being a fan,” he said. “Philly and San Francisco feel the same distance away when you’re watching the game on ESPN.”
While Eagles fans aren’t eager to make nice, he said, Giants fans have been more supportive. Perhaps it’s a show of respect following the Giants hard fought, overtime victory over the 49ers that put them in last year’s Super Bowl, which the they won.
Largely, though, Niner Empire members find support among themselves. They meet at each other’s homes, keep in touch via one of several Niner Empire Facebook pages that span the nation, and arrange club meetings.
Eagles turn losers to believers
While the local club started with 25 regulars, it has swelled this year as games got bigger and championship chances got greater. Still, Hickerson gives the Eagles some credit for the club’s growth.
After eight seasons without a winning team, the 49ers went to the Eagles’ Lincoln Financial Field on Oct. 2, 2011, with a 2-1 record early in the season.
The Eagles ran out to a 20-3 first half lead. But the 49ers stormed back, scoring a fourth-quarter touchdown to pull out a 24-23 victory.
It was the start of quite a run. Including that game and the playoffs, the 49ers have since won 25 of their 34 games -- looking like an annual NFL power along the way.
The big comeback against the Eagles, he said, made the 49ers and their fans confident they could be winners.
"That," he said, "made the Niners believe."