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Photo: The Chronicle Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close Image 2 of 7 Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet at a press conference in Santa Clara. Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet at a press conference in Santa Clara. Photo: The Chronicle Image 3 of 7 Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which only lasted one day because of fan protests. Head coach George Seifert and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. hold the helmet. Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which only lasted one day because of fan protests. Head coach George Seifert and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. hold the helmet. Photo: The Chronicle Image 4 of 7 Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which was protested by fans and abandoned. Head coach George Seifert and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. during the press conference. Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which was protested by fans and abandoned. Head coach George Seifert and Eddie DeBartolo Jr. during the press conference. Photo: The Chronicle Image 5 of 7 Image 6 of 7 Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which only lasted one day because of fan protests. Head coach George Seifert, owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and new team president Carmen Policy answer questions from the media. less Feb. 13, 1991: The 49ers debut a new helmet, which only lasted one day because of fan protests. Head coach George Seifert, owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. and new team president Carmen Policy answer questions from ... more Photo: The Chronicle Image 7 of 7 When the 49ers changed their logo, and fans revolted 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

The new 49ers helmet logo was the third order of business at the press conference on Feb. 13, 1991, and the details didn’t appear until the ninth paragraph of San Francisco Chronicle writer Ira Miller’s next-day story.

But it would become a generational blunder, and arguably the biggest logo-related disaster in Bay Area sports history. After front page stories mocked the new design, and fans revolted, team owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. took just six days to reverse his decision and keep the old logo – the same one that remains in 2016.

The press conference took place 25 years ago this week. I saw a tweet from ESPN sports business reporter Darren Rovell marking the anniversary, and checked the Chronicle archives. Deanne Fitzmaurice took two dozen color photos, many seen here for the first time. We also wrote a half dozen articles – two of which made the front page, on busy news days that included the Gulf War coming to an end.

As I read each one, the tale of this gaffe kept getting more absorbing. Here is the story:

The logo debut was greatly overshadowed by Carmen Policy’s promotion to president of the team, and the discussion of contract talks surrounding Ronnie Lott. At the press conference, DeBartolo Jr. suggested that Lott, 31, might be getting too old. (Think Lott used that as motivation when he joined the Raiders later that year?)

But when a photo of the helmet showed up in the Chronicle, and on every local TV station, the fans made it a story. The Chronicle received dozens of letters, and the 49ers received hundreds of phone calls upset about the change. Modern sports fans are used to their football teams creating their own reality in the face of a crisis. But the 49ers admitted to all of this in real time.

“The phones keep ringing,” team PR assistant Al Barba told The Chronicle. “People are saying the old logo was classier, that it meant San Francisco. I guess they basically don’t like it.”

The Chronicle’s Dawn Garcia wrote a front-page Chronicle story two days after the press conference, interviewing irate fans. My favorite quote comes from Bay Area hero Rik Gloff. If there was a better quote in the Chronicle in the 1990s, I haven’t seen it yet:

These 49ers were one of the greatest dynasties in sports history. But at this press conference, future Hall of Fame owner DeBartolo Jr. could get nothing right.

The design, one of 40 presented to the team by the NFL, was the 1990s at its worst. It looked like a font you’d see on a New Kids on the Block album, or a box of sugary breakfast cereal. Hurting the team’s case even more was the decision to present the new helmet side-by-side next to the old one at the press conference. “Here’s our new sucky thing next to the old one that’s perfectly fine.”

Excluding 49ers and NFL executives, we can find only two people who approved of the design. Among those untold hundreds of outraged callers, the 49ers claimed one man called and said he liked the new helmet.

The other person was Herb Caen.

“No, I’m not getting into the flap over the new 49ers helmet logo,” Caen wrote, later that week. “After 20 yrs or so, it was time for a change. What I’ll miss more than ‘SF’ is the striped stockings.”

Alas, the new design became the Gary Cherone of logos. The day after Caen wrote his words, DeBartolo Jr. changed his mind, calling the helmet “a mistake on the part of the organization.”

“The fans are the important people to me,” he told KPIX’s Wayne Walker.

The Chronicle responded with another front page story by my current Chronicle colleague Sam Whiting, that you see above. The last words in that story, from a fan, were ominous.

“That’s great, the new logo stunk,” fan Mark Emmons said in 1991, after news spread that the new logo was gone. “I was kind of worried that if DeBartolo could change the helmet logo that fast, the next thing (it) was going to be the San Jose 49ers.

“You shouldn’t mess with tradition.”

PETER HARTLAUB is the pop culture critic at the San Francisco Chronicle and founder/editor of The Big Event. He takes requests. Follow him on Twitter @PeterHartlaub. Follow The Big Event on Facebook.