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San Francisco 49ers Fans Reunited With Candlestick Seats They Thought Were Destroyed

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A family of San Francisco 49ers fans desperate to find their mom's missing seat they bought from Candlestick Park has some good news on Tuesday.

The missing seat has been found halfway across the country, and is on its way back.

Monday was already tough enough for Leanne Gerlach. It was her late mother's birthday. But when she saw the pictures of seats busted and broken in what's left of Candlestick Park, it was nothing short of devastating.

At that moment, she believed her mom's missing seat was at the bottom of that pile.

"I literally had no hope," she said. "I gave up completely."

The seat is a symbol of family. her mom Kerry sat there for decades next to Gerlach and her brother Ken Rowe.

"It's a part of our family," he said. "We grew up there."

The 49ers have tried tracking the seat down for weeks. The siblings bought it but were sent the wrong one. A day after they had given up hope, the phone rang.

"I started crying on the phone," she said. "I didn't believe it; I had to have him repeat it to me."

The seat had been found at a warehouse all the way in Indiana.

The 49ers told CBS13 that some seats were shipped there. Workers looked through thousands of them, one-by-one, until they found the right one.

They sent us a picture from the warehouse across the country that we couldn't wait to share.

"It's surreal it's surreal to see it, because the last time we saw it was in the 'Stick.," Gerlach said.

It looks no worse for wear, and the seat that's been in the family for 36 years is coming home.

"It'll be nice to have a piece of Mom home, that's what's important," Rowe said.

But how did they find the seat out of so many? It was the message that Ken left for his mom after the last game at Candlestick that made it easy to spot: "Mom, this will always be your seat. Miss you, love you."

The seat is currently at the SS Seating warehouse, the company that handled the dismantling and selling of Candlestick seats.

Gerlach was told it will be hand-delivered to her front door.

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