Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

Reading about the passing of former Giants, Saints and 49ers safety Chuck Crist made me wonder why he retired at the age of 27. He was a starter most of his career and in his last season in San Francisco finished 10th in the NFL in interceptions. Anyone knows why he retired in 1979?

From what I could gather, SF waived him in mid-August 1979. Either nobody claimed him and he retired or he was too settled in the area to want to move again. Crist, who never played football in college, always marched to his own fight song, anyway.

Crist was a starter from 1973-78. He played for 3 teams and 6 different head coaches. His teams had a combined 15-70-1 record for a winning percentage of .180.

The primary starters in the defensive backfield for the 1978 49ers were Tony Leonard, Vern Roberson, Crist, and Eddie Lewis. Bob Jury also started 8 games. By mid 1979 all five were gone. Leonard was released before the 1978 season was over. Roberson was allowed to leave as a free agent. Crist was cut in 1979. Jury went on IR in 1979 and never played again. Lewis came back for 7 games in 1979, starting 2, before being waived in mid season.

The 1979 defensive backfield for the 49ers was Charles Cornelius, Gerard Williams, Tim Gray, and Tony Dungy. Melvin Morgan also started 7 games. 1979 was the final NFL season for Dungy and Gray. Cornelius, Williams and Morgan all returned for all or part of 1980, but none as a full timer. They started collectively a total of 12 games in 1980.

The 1980 defensive backfield for the 49ers was Ray Rhodes, Charles Johnson, Ricky Churchman, and Dwight Hicks. 1980 would be Rhodes' last season as a player. Johnson played 5 games for the 1981 Cardinals, none as a starter, then was done. Churchman played 3 games for the 1981 49ers, none as a starter, then was done. Hicks returned for 1981, along with three rookie starters, Ronnie Lott, Carlton Williamson, and Eric Wright.

Going back to 1977-78, when Crist joined the team, only Tony Leonard had been a starter in 1977. The other 1977 starters were Bruce Taylor (released, never played again), Mel Phillips (allowed to leave as a FA, never played again) and Ralph McGill (traded to the Saints for backup FB Greg Boykin.)

So from 1977-1981, the 49ers had 18 different starters in their defensive backfield. 18 different players out of a possible 20.

Crist was slow and Bill Walsh released him during the 49ers' 1979 training camp. Walsh was cleaning house and he figured he could develop a better safety or wait until the draft to pick one up