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

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, pl ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...

(NFL). Hendrickson attended

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

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 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 team ...

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 was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 23–24, 1989, at the Marriott M ...

by the

San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-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 of the league's National ...

. 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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East divis ...

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 a ...

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 club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team play ...

. 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 f ...

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 and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California. Located in the North Bay region of the Bay Area, the city had a population of 77,480 as of the end of 2021. Napa is a major ...

. He has two children, Courtney and Kyle, who graduated from the University of California and Fresno State University respectively. Hendrickson suffered several concussions 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 agency of the U.S. federal government that administers Social Security, a social insurance program consisting of retirement, disability and survivor benefits. To qualify fo ...

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 state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and W ...

References

Steve Hendrickson, TE at NFL.com
1966 births 2021 deaths Sportspeople from Richmond, California People 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 Sportspeople from Escondido, California Players of American football from California {{linebacker-1960s-stub