49ers family mourns the loss of inspirational team leader Freddie Solomon

Freddie Solomon, who helped the 49ers win their first two Super Bowls and who served as a mentor to players such as Jerry Rice and Ronnie Lott, has died. He was 59.

Solomon succumbed to colon and liver cancer after a nine-month fight. Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, a fellow Tampa, Fla., resident who often was at Solomon's bedside during the final months, released a statement Monday calling the receiver "one of the most gentle and best men I have ever met in my life."

DeBartolo added: "I have never met a man who cared so much about the human race. There will never be another Freddie."

Solomon joined the 49ers in 1978 after three seasons with the Miami Dolphins. By the time he retired after the '85 season, he had amassed 43 touchdown catches in San Francisco (tied for sixth in franchise history) as well as 4,873 receiving yards (eighth) and 310 catches (11th).

"There was no one who gave more on and off the field than Freddie," quarterback Joe Montana said in a statement released by the 49ers. "The kindness he demonstrated was inspirational to all that knew him."

More than the numbers, teammates recalled Solomon as a gregarious locker-room leader who was always eager to share his wisdom with younger players.

"Freddie took me under his wing," Lott, who broke in 1981, recalled in a phone interview. "He told me right from the start, 'Hey, I'm going to help you be the best you can be.'

"And that was not only on the field. It was off the field, too.'

Carmen Policy, the longtime 49ers executive, marveled in an interview at how Solomon retained his same charm whether the 49ers were 2-14 (as they were in '78 and '79) or winning the Super Bowl ('81 and '84).

"He was a spark of both fun and, in a strange kind of way, purity," Policy said. "I know that 'purity' is not the kind of word you hear a lot in football, but he was just such a great guy. It was as though every element of his being was characterized by sincerity."

Running back Roger Craig, reached by phone, recalled the grace with which Solomon handled the arrival of Rice, the ballyhooed first-round draft pick in 1985. When Rice struggled with drops early in the season, Solomon helped tutor the rookie receiver _ despite knowing that Rice's emergence would make him expendable.

Indeed, Rice's first season turned out to be Solomon's last.