The San Francisco 49ers will celebrate several of the organization’s alumni including members of the historic 1974, 1984 and 1994 teams along with the latest Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee, Patrick Willis, at the team’s annual alumni banquet and during halftime of the Week 5 matchup versus the Arizona Cardinals. In addition to those players, team photographer, Michael Zagaris, will also be honored for his over half a century as a team photographer for the 49ers. Over the course of his 50-plus year career, he’s captured some of the most iconic moments of franchise history and made it possible to share those memories with the team’s global fan base.
Zagaris’ history with the 49ers dates back to his teen years at Kezar Stadium where he picked up a used press credential that would change the course of his life. Through some crafty replication of that credential, Zagaris created an opportunity for himself to photograph San Francisco’s players from the sidelines for two years before heading off to George Washington University to play college football and baseball.
“When I, you know, had my press pass, you know, quote, unquote, with the Niners, I would go out to the middle of the field pregame and pose guys like you have in football cards,” Zagaris said. “Imagine doing that now.”
While Zagaris never stopped loving photography, university took him away from his week-to-week photojournalism for a bit, but old ties from the University of the Pacific and former 49ers players helped him find his way back to NFL sidelines of teams he could easily get to from the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
Zagaris’ career did eventually lead to a sports hiatus in the mid-60s that involved a stint in politics, law school at Santa Clara University and photographing some of the greatest classic rock bands before his return to The Bay Area team he grew up loving. The veteran photographer noted that his comeback involved photographing the 49ers at training camp in Santa Barbara in the early 70s, and it was in 1973, when the team first bought his pictures for use in their programs.
When the late Bill Walsh was hired in 1979, Zagaris pitched to the 49ers legendary head coach a type of team photography that was far from the norm at the time.
“I said, ‘I want to document this as a presidential photographer documents the president. I want to shoot this not just as sports, but as photojournalism,'” Zagaris said.
“‘I want to be able to have total access where I can shoot practices anytime I want. I shoot games, you know, pregame, in the locker room, halftime and postgame. I want to ride the busses. Shoot on the airplane.’ And I said, ‘It’ll be a document, not just for the team, but for the league and for football.'”
The rest is quite literally, NFL history. Zagaris has been a staple of the team’s staff through all five of the franchises Super Bowls and beyond. He still travels with the team to this day helping document the big plays, heartbreaks and triumphs on and off the field.
“I’ve been fortunate to have been able to do something that I have a passion for, that I love all my life,” Zagaris said. “I think it’s kept me young, both in terms of spirit and soul, but in body, being around young people and being active. So, in many respects, I feel like I’ve never heard had to work a day in my life.”
