&sq=&lang=&file=File:Candlestick_Park_2006-08-11.jpg) Candlestick Park in San Francisco, California, the site of the game. | |||||||||||||||||||
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| Date | January 10, 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Candlestick Park, San Francisco, California | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Jim Tunney | ||||||||||||||||||
| Hall of Famers | |||||||||||||||||||
| Cowboys: Tex Schramm (team administrator), Gil Brandt (team administrator), Tom Landry (head coach), Tony Dorsett, Drew Pearson, Randy White 49ers: Eddie DeBartolo, Jr. (owner), Bill Walsh (head coach), Fred Dean, Ronnie Lott, Joe Montana | |||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | CBS | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Vin Scully and Hank Stram | ||||||||||||||||||
The Catch was the game-winning touchdown reception in the 1981 NFC Championship Game played between the Dallas Cowboys and the eventual Super Bowl XVI champion San Francisco 49ers at Candlestick Park on January 10, 1982, as part of the 1981-82 NFL playoffs. With 58 seconds left in the game, the 49ers faced 3rd down and 3 yards to gain on the Cowboys' 6-yard line. San Francisco wide receiver Dwight Clark made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone to complete a 6-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Montana, enabling the 49ers to defeat the Cowboys, 28–27. The Catch is widely regarded as one of the greatest plays in National Football League (NFL) history. It came at the end of a 14-play, 83-yard game-winning drive engineered by Montana. The Catch symbolized the end of the Cowboys' domination in the NFC since the conference's inception in 1970, and the beginning of the 49ers' rise as an NFL dynasty in the 1980s.