A #49ers thread: Patrick Willis heard that an unsung hero from the 1981 Super Bowl team was struggling with COVID-19 and unlikely to survive. He’d never heard of Lawrence Pillers, but he sprang into action anyway.

Willis sent Pillers a get well message on social media - and soon more than 25,000 if his followers chimed in (and, like Patrick, learned more about Pillers’ sack after ‘The Catch’)

Pillers spent 11 days in the hospital. He now credits Patrick Willis and his followers for giving him ‘a purpose.’ He just celebrated his 68th birthday. Pillers and Willis became fast friends, and remain in touch.

We’ll have a full story up at @TheAthleticSF tomorrow, but I wanted to share some video here so I can embed it in the story.

Here’s Patrick Willis on why he reached out to Lawrence Pillers, and the power of the human connection

You can tell Patrick Willis and Lawrence Pillers have an easy camaraderie. ‘Pat, you’re ready to go play a game now, aren’t you?’

Lawrence Pillers: ‘Patrick has always been one of my heroes’
Patrick Willis: ‘Oh, man Mr. Pillers’

Patrick Willis says goodbye to Lawrence Pillers with one last word of encouragement. ‘Football player to football player, much respect to you’

Here's the link: https://theathletic.com/2229762/2020/12/03/49ers-patrick-willis-rescue-playoff-hero/