“So it’s like a running joke. It’s like my dad’s haunting the Niners or the stadium,” his eldest son, Jarvis, said in a recent telephone interview.
The 49ers haven’t won the Super Bowl since Don White passed away.
“We’ve got some winning seasons, but we’ve lost two Super Bowl’s and two NFC Championship games. We don’t win the Super Bowl,” Jarvis said.
Another stadium construction worker, Ed Erving Lake Jr., died when steel bars fell off a forklift and hit him. He was 60.
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The 49ers planted two trees and placed a small plaque right next to the stadium near the players’ parking lot to honor them.
A plaque and tree outside Levi’s Stadium is dedicated to Don White, an elevator mechanic who was killed 2013 during the stadium’s construction.Stan Grossfeld/ Globe Staff
“It’s like the closest spot you can get to the elevator where he passed away. They called it the D1 elevator.
Jarvis visits the site to pay his respects.
“Every once in a while, I’ll go leave some flowers and little notes, like ‘Dad, release the curse’,” he said.
Could this possibly affect Seattle quarterback Sam Darnold, who made national news in 2019 when, after throwing four interceptions and fumbling once against the Patriots when he was with the Jets, said, “I’m seeing ghosts”.
Darnold never lived that down that Monday Night Football game at MetLife Stadium. The ghost comment has followed him throughout his career.
White, according to his son, was a rabid Niners fan. Once, when his son broke his leg, White asked if he wanted to pack it in ice and wait until the game was over to go to the emergency room. They waited.
“He’d be going for the Patriots. He doesn’t like division rivals. Yeah. I think [the Patriots] might be in a good spot. If there’s any haunting going out there, I think it might be going to the Patriots way,” Jarvis said.
The White family was given a tour after Levi’s Stadium opened in 2014.White Family
Real 49ers fans are angry the team deserted the city to play home games 40 miles south in Santa Clara. Some fans, and even players like former Patriot player Kendrick Bourne, blame their high injury rate on the proximity to the electrical power station next door. Others incorrectly claim it was built on native American burial grounds.
Wes Leslie, founder of The Haunt Ghost Tours in San Francisco, says anything is possible.
“In our experience, residual impressions can linger around the site of a tragedy, replaying a hologram of the tragedy. On the other hand, spirits tend to hang out in places they love – maybe Niners fan Don is there because he’s a diehard fan,” Leslie said.
Could a ghost affect Darnold the Super Bowl?
“I mean, yeah … basically, poltergeists are spirits that choose to mess with people,“ he said. “Typically, weird feelings, noises, sensations, feeling like you’re being tapped or touched,” he says. “And those are usually more mischievous or unhappy spirits.”
Anyway, Darnold has a built-in excuse, says Leslie.
“If he plays a terrible game, then he can just blame it on the ghost,” Leslie said.
Don White (right) was killed in 2013 in a construction accident at Levi’s Stadium.White Family
Stan Grossfeld can be reached at [email protected].
