Steven Daniel Hendrickson (August 30, 1966 – January 8, 2021) was an American professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and typically line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and so back up the defensive linemen. They play closer to the line ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Hendrickson attended

Napa High School Napa High School, established in 1897, is a four-year comprehensive high school located in Napa, California with 1860 students. It is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Napa Valley Unified School District. The other comprehensive h ...

where he was an outstanding varsity player during all four years at the school. His No. 30 jersey remains the only one ever retired by the school. He played

college football College football is gridiron football that is played by teams of amateur Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. It was through collegiate competition that gridiron football American football in the United States, firs ...

for the

California Golden Bears The California Golden Bears are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Berkeley. Referred to in athletic competition as ''California'' or ''Cal'', the university fields 30 varsity athletic programs and various club te ...

where he graduated with a major in history. He was named defensive player of the game at the 1988

Blue–Gray Football Classic The Blue–Gray Football Classic was an annual American college football all-star game held in Alabama, usually in late December and often on Christmas Day. The brainchild of Alabama college football legend Champ Pickens, the contest began in ...

and was drafted in the sixth round of the

1989 NFL draft The 1989 NFL draft (also known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting) was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott Marquis in Ne ...

by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners and nicknamed the Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member ...

. He played seven NFL seasons for the San Francisco 49ers,

Dallas Cowboys The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. T ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego, California from 1961 until 2016, before relocating back to the Greater Los Angeles area, where the franch ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston, Texas, from its founding in 1960 Houston Oilers season, 1960 to 1996 Houston Oilers season, 1996. The Houston Oilers began play as a charter member of the Ame ...

and

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The team plays its ...

. Hendrickson was a member of the San Francisco 49ers when they won their fourth

Super Bowl XXIV Super Bowl XXIV was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion San Francisco 49ers and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

on January 28, 1990. During his professional career, he played various positions despite his relatively small stature. With the Chargers Hendrickson was used as a short-yardage, goal-line running back, despite being a defensive player. He scored on a 1-yard run against the Kansas City Chiefs in a January 1993 playoff game in San Diego, to cap off a 17–0 shutout.

Personal life

Hendrickson resided in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

. He has two children, Courtney and Kyle, who graduated from the University of California and Fresno State University respectively. Hendrickson suffered several

concussions A concussion, also known as a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), is a head injury that temporarily affects brain functioning. Symptoms may include headache, dizziness, difficulty with thinking and concentration, sleep disturbances, a brie ...

during his playing years. He suffered from many of the same symptoms as other former NFL players who have been diagnosed with trauma-related brain injuries resulting from concussions during their playing years. He collected disability payments from the

Social Security Administration The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent agency of the Federal government of the United States, U.S. federal government that administers Social Security (United ...

in addition to a disability pension from the NFL Player Retirement Plan. The NFL pension plan's six-person board determined his injuries were "non-football related", which made him ineligible for enhanced benefits. Hendrickson's nephew, Dave Lewis, confirmed that Hendrickson died on January 8, 2021, at his home in

Nampa The Namibia Press Agency (NAMPA) is the national news agency of the Republic of Namibia. It was founded in 1987 under the name Namibia Press Association as a SWAPO partisan press agency, and resuscitated after independence under its current name ...

Idaho Idaho ( ) is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest and Mountain states, Mountain West subregions of the Western United States. It borders Montana and Wyoming to the east, Nevada and Utah to the south, and Washington (state), ...

References

Steve Hendrickson, TE at NFL.com
1966 births 2021 deaths Players of American football from Richmond, California Sportspeople from Napa, California American football linebackers California Golden Bears football players San Francisco 49ers players Dallas Cowboys players San Diego Chargers players Houston Oilers players Philadelphia Eagles players Players of American football from Escondido, California Napa High School alumni Players of American football from Napa County, California 20th-century American sportsmen {{linebacker-1960s-stub