Against that acrimonious backdrop, 49ers chaplain Pat Richie and Giants chaplain Dave Bratton arranged for the first joint postgame prayer in NFL history. They didn’t know it at the time, but the act would become ingrained into the fiber of pro football over the ensuing 25 years. . . .

“Back then, believe it or not, I think people forget that fraternization after games was really limited,” said 49ers tight end Brent Jones, 52, who is now a partner in a Bay Area investment firm. “You’d maybe go quickly shake a guy’s hand or say hello, but it really wasn’t what it was today. So to kneel down and grab hands and pray with another team after the game was way out on the edge.”

Now the question of when and where the prayer would take place needed to be decided. A postgame prayer might be problematic if tempers flared, but considering the alternative, it seemed to be a risk worth taking.

Read the article “How 49ers, Giants Started Postgame Prayer Tradition 25 Years Ago” on espn.go.com.