Everson Walls frets over Dwight Clark’s illness

He does want to talk about Dwight Clark, who leaped high over him that fateful day on Jan. 10, 1982, at Candlestick Park to win the NFC Championship Game between the 49ers and Dallas Cowboys in a play that will live in NFL lore.

[...] he does want to talk about a football culture that for far too long ignored the price he, Clark and other players paid on the field.

Some of the old-school owners and even coaches back in the day never even cared about players, and then they feign sympathy after the fact.

What’s going on with Clark, he revealed last week, is that he has ALS, the devastating muscle disease that is always fatal.

Clark wrote that he already has weakness in his hands and midsection, and can’t run or play golf anymore.

Walls and Clark became friends while appearing together in autograph shows, signing their names to the famous photo of “The Catch” on the cover of Sports Illustrated.

Walls was finishing a spectacular season as a rookie cornerback for the Cowboys when Clark soared above him to make the winning catch.

Walls made the cover of Sports Illustrated after that 1991 Super Bowl, too, raising his arms aloft in victory.

Walls himself isn’t happy he’s not in the Cowboys’ ring of honor, though he remains a big fan of his hometown team and attends every home game.

Walls says his back is always sore but he’s “never been a medication guy” and refuses to turn to pain pills for any relief they might give.