Bobby Leopold said some friends of his told him he was in the Museum of the Gulf Coast Sports Hall of Fame.

“I said, ‘I am?’” the Memorial High School economics teacher said. “This was some years ago.”

In fact, Leopold’s been in the sports hall since the museum’s 1994 opening.

Twenty-three years later, the museum gave the former Lincoln High, Notre Dame and San Francisco 49ers linebacker an official induction before Saturday’s kickoff of the Lumberton vs. Port Arthur Memorial football game at Memorial Stadium.

Museum executive director Tom Neal said the formality is a way of saying thank-you to an original hall member.

“He was not available at the time to present him with his certificate, and that’s why we’re formalizing his induction with this certificate,” Neal said.

Leopold, who now teaches economics at Memorial, played seven seasons of professional football (1980-86), winning a Super Bowl with the 49ers in the 1981 season with Notre Dame teammate Joe Montana at quarterback. After four years with the Niners, Leopold played two years in the now-defunct United States Football League with the New Jersey Generals and finished his career with the Green Bay Packers.

“Things were really stacked against me being an eighth-round pick, and I ended up being an NFL All-Rookie,” Leopold said.

Leopold, who will turn 60 on Oct. 18, graduated from Lincoln in 1976, where his father Leroy coached for 40 years. Leroy Leopold was Bobby’s offensive line coach, shot put and discus coach.

Notre Dame recruited him after then-Lincoln head coach Joe Washington told the Fighting Irish about Leopold. The Irish had recruited former Oklahoma and Washington Redskins running back Joe Washington Jr. a few years earlier.

Leopold picked Notre Dame over Baylor and Kansas State. He played on the 1977 Irish team that shocked No. 1 University of Texas in the Cotton Bowl to win the national championship.

“The Baylor coach said, ‘If Notre Dame wants you as bad as we do, they’ll hold your scholarship until May like we will,’” Leopold said. “I was so tired of being recruited at the time, I just went ahead and signed with Notre Dame.”