Thursday afternoon, San Francisco 49ers CEO, Jed York spoke at the Santa Clara Rotary Club’s weekly luncheon and meeting.
According to club president Miten Marfatia, the turnout at Thursday’s meeting was very high due to York’s visit necessitating an extra table to accommodate all the members.
Wilcox High School’s Interact Club was also at last week’s meeting to thank the club for sponsoring their Rotary Youth Leadership Awards (RYLA) program. They talked about the camp program and what the experience meant to them.
One of the members broke into tears as she described the value of the program to her.
Afterwards, York delivered a speech where he covered many topics pertaining to the team and their plans.
After last season’s performance, he said the team has some work to do but that they’re ready to put in that work. He said to be ready to see some innovative offense from the Niners.
“I think you’re going to be proud of the team,” said York.
According to York, the 49ers have one of the youngest rosters in the NFL. That being said, they need to be thoughtful of what they say online and how it affects the team and their individual brands. He said that the team got off track and they’re working on winning with class.
“What you say will literally live forever,” said York.
Similarly, in his January 4 press conference, York said that he stepped back from Twitter and other social media because it’s a distraction.
York also described that the team was working on being more caring and compassionate towards players. He said the team is so diverse and that they need to respect one other’s background.
York also spoke highly of Patrick Willis, who retired in March of 2015. York said that Willis has done an amazing job taking care of his finances after retiring. York’s hope is to better educate and mentor the players so that they know how to live well after they leave the NFL.
The Niner’s CEO also said that the 49er Foundation will add art to its STEM Leadership Institute program and call it STEAM. The program accepted 17,000 students last year and is completely free. It’s located at Cabrillo Middle School and Santa Clara High School.
York said that education is very important to him and his family. He also said that he didn’t want the STEM program to alienate anyone, noting that arts are among the first programs to get cut in schools.
The Niner’s regular season begins on Sept. 12 with a game against Los Angeles Rams.