My life as a Dallas Cowboy hater has been pretty sweet for the last 20 years. But in the 20 years before that? Not so much.

During that time, I had to take what I could get. And let me tell you, there was nothing finer than what happened on Jan. 10, 1982.

Dwight Clark died Monday of ALS at age 61. (He announced that he had been diagnosed a little more than a year ago.) The former San Francisco 49er was on the business end of “The Catch” from quarterback Joe Montana. I’ve never bothered to rank my favorite anti-Cowboy moments, but rest assured this one is up there.

Way up there.

We didn’t know it at the time, but what this game represented was the passing of the torch. The Cowboys were at the end of a 10-year run and this game would be the start of a 49ers dynasty that would last more than a decade. Even though the game was played at Candlestick Park, the Cowboys were still regarded as the team to beat and the 49ers, even at 13-3, were the upstart.

One day, someone will get Montana to admit that he was throwing the ball away, but Clark always claimed it was a play they had practiced many times. Clark’s catch, which seemingly came out of nowhere and was made with his fingertips, came over the top of Dallas rookie Everson Walls, who had been a free agent pickup from Grambling.

There were still 58 seconds to play, but the 49ers forced a fumble and won 28-27 and went on to win their first of five Super Bowls in the next 14 years.

What made it so sweet for me was how Dallas had always seemed to win games like this in the past. Finally, it happened to them instead.

“The Catch” even had its own Twitter account. Clark talked about how he felt honored that people still talk about it decades later and how much it still meant to 49er fans.

It’s not just 49er fans who still appreciate it.