Jerry Rice

Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is a retired American football wide receiver. He is generally regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in National Football League history. On November 4, 2010, Rice was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.

The all-time leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers and the all-time NFL leader in touchdowns scored with 208, Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 11 times in his 20 NFL seasons. He won three Super Bowl rings playing for the San Francisco 49ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders.

Early years
Jerry Rice was born and raised in Starkville, Mississippi, as the son of a brick mason. He developed his hands while working for his father. His speed also helped him excel in football in high school. He enjoyed watching football on television.

According to his book "Rice" (written with Michael Silver), the school's principal tracked him down for skipping class, but when he called his name the startled Rice sprinted off running. After seeing him run, the principal decided to let him join the football team or be punished. Jerry decided upon football and the principal told the school's football coach about his speed.

As a high school player, he became an All-State end and defensive back (and also played running back and quarterback at times), but was not good enough to warrant scholarship offers from the 40 or so Division I-A schools that showed interest. Even Mississippi State, just 20 miles away, didn't offer a scholarship. But Archie Cooley, coach of Division I-AA Mississippi Valley State University in Itta Bena, Mississippi, had heard about Rice. Rice says of Cooley: "no one else came to see me in person." Based on that and it being his only offer, along with the urging of his older brother Tom, Jerry accepted the scholarship from MVSU and arrived in Itta Bena in 1981.

College career
Jerry Rice attended Mississippi Valley State University (from 1980–1984) becoming a standout receiver. He acquired the nickname "World" because there wasn't a ball in the world he couldn't catch. Statistics from his college career are sparse, but the College Football Hall of Fame website claims that Rice, as a sophomore in 1982, caught 66 passes for 1,133 yards and 7 touchdowns. That was his first season playing with redshirt freshman quarterback Willie Totten, nicknamed "Satellite." Together, Totten and Rice would become known as "The Satellite Express" and set numerous NCAA records in the spread offense of coach Archie Cooley, nicknamed "The Gunslinger."

Rice had a record-setting 1983 campaign, including NCAA marks for receptions (102) and receiving yards (1,450) and being named first-team Division I-AA All-America. He also set a single-game NCAA record by catching 24 passes against Southern University. As a senior in 1984, he broke his own Division I-AA records for receptions (112) and receiving yards (1,845). His 27 touchdown receptions in that 1984 season set the NCAA mark for all divisions.

The 1984 season was also memorable for MVSU as the pass-happy Delta Devils attracted national attention, scoring 628 points (an average of more than 59 per game). After an August practice experiment, Cooley had Totten call all the plays at the line of scrimmage without a huddle. The result was even more staggering offensive numbers. Rice caught 17 passes for 199 yards against Southern, 17 for 294 against Kentucky State and 15 for 285 against Jackson State, the first time MVSU beat them since 1954. Rice scored 5 TDs twice that year. He finished his career with 301 catches for 4,693 yards and 50 touchdowns (some sources have the numbers as 310, 4,856 and 51); his NCAA record for total career touchdown receptions stood until 2006, when University of New Hampshire wide receiver David Ball recorded his 51st career receiving touchdown.

Rice was named to every All-American team (including the AP squad) and finished 9th in Heisman Trophy balloting in 1984. In the Blue Gray Classic all-star game played on Christmas Day, he earned MVP honors. Rice wore No. 88 in college, but he switched to No. 80 in the pros.

In the spring of 1999, the school renamed its football stadium from Magnolia Stadium to Rice-Totten Field in honor of Rice and Totten. Rice was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame on August 12, 2006.

San Francisco 49ers
Rice's 1984 record-breaking season at Mississippi Valley caught the attention of many NFL scouts, but his speed (reportedly only 4.71 in the 40-yard dash) kept most wary, although there were apparently at least two exceptions: the Dallas Cowboys and the San Francisco 49ers. In his autobiography, Rice says the Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, San Diego Chargers, and Indianapolis Colts had kept in contact with him prior to the draft. In the first round of the 1985 NFL draft, Dallas had the 17th selection and San Francisco had the last (as Super Bowl champions from 1984). 49ers coach Bill Walsh reportedly sought Rice after watching highlights of Rice the Saturday night before San Francisco was to play the Houston Oilers on October 21, 1984. On draft day (April 30, 1985), the 49ers traded its first two picks for New England's first-round choice, the 16th selection overall (the teams also swapped third-round picks as part of the deal), and selected Rice before, as some report, the Cowboys were intending to pick him. Rice was prized more highly by the USFL, as he was the #1 pick overall in that short-lived league's 1985 draft.

Although he struggled at times (dropping numerous passes), Rice impressed the NFL in his rookie season for the 49ers in 1985, especially after a 10-catch, 241-yard game against the Los Angeles Rams in December. For that rookie season, he recorded 49 catches for 927 yards, averaging 18.9 yards per catch and was named NFC Offensive Rookie of the Year. (Eddie Brown of the Cincinnati Bengals, one of the two wide receivers taken ahead of Rice, was named the NFL Rookie of the Year.) The following season, he caught 86 passes for a league-leading 1,570 yards and 15 touchdowns. It was the first of six seasons in which Rice would lead the NFL in receiving and touchdown receptions. In 1987, he was named the NFL's MVP by the Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) and the Pro Football Writers Association (PFWA) and the Offensive Player of the Year by the Associated Press (AP). Despite playing in only 12 games that year (NFL players strike), he still managed to gain 1,078 receiving yards and an NFL-record 22 touchdown receptions which stood until 2007 when it was broken by Randy Moss in 16 games. In 1987, the runner-up to Rice in touchdown receptions was Philadelphia Eagles receiver Mike Quick with 11. This marked the first time in post NFL-AFL merger history that a category leader doubled the total of his nearest competitor.

In 1988, Rice averaged a career high 20.4 yards per catch (64 passes for 1,306 yards) and 9 touchdowns. The 49ers once again won the NFC West with a 10–6 record. In the postseason, he was instrumental in the 49ers' 28–3 win over the Chicago Bears in the NFC title game, recording 5 catches for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns. But his performance in Super Bowl XXIII was even better. In possibly his finest performance ever, Rice caught 11 passes for 215 yards and a touchdown, while also rushing for 5 yards, helping the 49ers to a narrow 20–16 win over the Cincinnati Bengals. His receptions and receiving yards were both Super Bowl records. For his performance, he became only the third wide receiver to earn Super Bowl MVP honors.

In 1989, San Francisco made it back to the Super Bowl, aided by Rice's 82 receptions for 1,483 yards and 17 touchdowns during the season, and his 12 catches for 169 yards and 2 touchdowns in their 2 playoff games. He was once again a major factor in the 49ers championship win, finishing Super Bowl XXIV with 7 catches for 148 yards and a Super Bowl record 3 touchdown receptions.

Rice had another superb season in 1990, leading the NFL in receptions (100), receiving yards (1,502) and receiving touchdowns (13). In a week 6 match-up with the Atlanta Falcons, Rice caught a career-best 5 touchdowns. San Francisco finished the year with an NFL-best 14–2 record, but failed to "3-peat" as Super Bowl champions, losing to the New York Giants 15–13 in the NFC title game.

After seasons of 80 catches for 1,206 yards and 14 touchdowns in 1991, 84 catches for 1,201 yards and 10 touchdowns in 1992, and 98 catches for 1,503 yards and 15 touchdowns in 1993, Rice made it back to the Super Bowl with the 49ers in the 1994 season, recording a career-high 112 receptions for 1,499 yards and 13 touchdowns. During the 49ers' first game of that season against the Los Angeles Raiders, he caught 7 passes for a season-high 169 yards and two touchdowns (and rushing for one more), moving into first place in the NFL records for career touchdowns, with 127. Although he only caught 6 passes in San Francisco's 2 playoff games that year, he proved to be a vital component in their 49–26 victory over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX, recording 10 receptions for 149 yards and 3 touchdowns — despite playing with a separated shoulder for much of the game.

In 1995, Rice caught a career high 122 passes for an NFL record 1,848 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns (along with 1 touchdown each by way of running, passing, and recovering a fumble). However, the 49ers lost in the divisional playoffs to the Green Bay Packers, despite Rice's impressive 11-catch, 117-yard performance. The following year, he recorded 108 receptions (again leading the NFL) for 1,254 yards and 8 touchdowns. San Francisco won in the wild card round, but once more lost to the Packers in the divisional playoffs. In his 3 seasons between 1994 and 1996, Rice had racked up a whopping 342 catches for 4,601 yards and 36 touchdowns.

During the 49ers' opening game of the 1997 season, he tore the anterior cruciate and medial collateral ligaments in his left knee on a reverse. Warren Sapp of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers grabbed Rice by the face-mask and wrenched him to the ground with it, drawing a 15-yard personal foul. The injury broke his streak of 189 consecutive games played. Fourteen weeks later, he made his return, much earlier than doctors wanted him to. He scored a touchdown, but when he came down with the catch, he cracked the patella in his left kneecap. He was forced to miss the Pro Bowl for the first time in 11 years. However, he made a full recovery, coming back to record 82 catches for 1,157 yards and 9 touchdowns in 1998 and being named to his 12th Pro Bowl.

1999 was the first season that Rice failed to reached 1000 yards receiving while playing in all 16 games. The same thing happened in 2000, in his final season as in San Francisco.

Oakland Raiders


With the emergence of Terrell Owens in San Francisco, and because of their desire to rebuild the team and clear salary, Rice left the 49ers and signed with the Oakland Raiders, following the conclusion of the 2000 season. He joined a Raiders team coming off a loss in the AFC Championship, to form one of the oldest receiver duos with Tim Brown.

The two played well together, as Rice caught 83 passes for 1,139 yards and 9 touchdowns. In 2002 he did even better, catching 92 passes for 1,211 yards and 7 touchdowns, being named to his 13th Pro Bowl and assisting Oakland to an AFC championship and appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII. His team lost 48–21 to the Buccaneers in the Super Bowl, with Rice recording 5 receptions for 77 yards and a touchdown. His 48-yard touchdown catch in the 4th quarter made him the first player ever to catch a touchdown pass in 4 different Super Bowls.

On November 11, 2002 against the Denver Broncos, Rice scored his 200th career touchdown, and surpassed Walter Payton to become the NFL's all-time leader in total yardage. Oakland dropped from an 11–5 record in 2002 to a 4–12 record in 2003, leading to frustration from Rice about his role on the team; he eventually requested a trade.

Seattle Seahawks
Rice was traded to the Seattle Seahawks six games into the 2004 season, and was reunited with Seattle head coach Mike Holmgren, who had previously worked with Rice as San Francisco's offensive coordinator. After speaking with Hall of Fame wide receiver Steve Largent, Rice was granted permission to wear Largent's retired jersey number 80.

In a Monday Night Football game against the Dallas Cowboys, Rice set the career NFL record for combined net yards by catching a 27-yard touchdown pass from Matt Hasselbeck. He finished that game with 8 catches for 145 yards and a touchdown. Rice would play his last (non-preseason) professional game for Seattle - a wildcard loss to the St. Louis Rams in which he did not catch a pass.

Retirement
At the conclusion of the 2004 season (his 20th in the NFL), Rice initially opted to join the Denver Broncos on a one-year deal, but ultimately decided he would rather retire than be at the bottom of any team's depth chart.

On August 19, 2006, the San Francisco 49ers announced that Rice would sign a contract with them, allowing him to retire as a member of the team where his career began. On August 24, he officially retired as a 49er, signing a one-day contract for $1,985,806.49. The number represented the year Rice was drafted (1985), his number (80), the year he retired (2006), and the 49ers (49). The figure was ceremonial, and Rice received no money. There was a halftime ceremony to honor him during the 49ers' matchup with the Seattle Seahawks on November 19, 2006.

Legacy


Jerry Rice is the NFL record holder in a number of statistics for receivers. His 1,549 career receptions are 445 receptions ahead of the second place record held by Tony Gonzalez. His 22,895 career receiving yards are 6,961 yards ahead of the second place spot held by his former 49ers teammate Terrell Owens. His 197 career touchdown receptions are 44 scores more than the 153 touchdown receptions by both Randy Moss and his former 49ers teammate, Terrell Owens, and his 208 total touchdowns (197-p, 10-r, 1-ret) are 33 scores ahead of Emmitt Smith's second place total of 175. Furthermore, his 1,256 career points scored make him the highest-scoring non-kicker in NFL history. A career spanning two decades, Rice averaged 75.6 receiving yards per game that he played, fifth-highest in NFL history among wide receivers. Only Andre Johnson (79.7), Torry Holt (77.4), Marvin Harrison (76.7), and Larry Fitzgerald (76.0) have averaged more receiving yards per game over the stretch of a career.

To illustrate the significance of his 22,895 receiving yards, if Rice had not gained any other yards on rush attempts or kick returns, his 22,895 receiving yards would still rank him second place on the NFL's list all-purpose yard leaders (category based on combination of rushing, receiving, kick/punt return yards, and interception/fumble return yards) (he has collected 23,540 all-purpose yards: 22,895 receiving, 645 rushing, and 6 from punt returns).

Another example of Rice's dominance is his performance against Deion Sanders, considered by many as one of the best coverage cornerbacks of all-time. From 1989 to 1996 Rice had good numbers against Sanders' teams. With Rice completing 60 receptions for 1,051 yards and 11 receiving touchdowns against Sanders' teams (this would project to approximately 96 receptions for 1682 yards and 18 touchdowns in 16 games). Rice's teams won six of the ten games. To Sanders credit, Deion had 4 interceptions for 58 yards and 0 touchdowns in those ten games.And in those early years Sanders was not going one on one with Rice, he was lined up one one side of the field, so he was not always covering Rice. Rice played against Sanders' teams twelve times, but Sanders did not play in two of those games (once in 1992 and once in 1993).

Rice is remembered for his work ethic and dedication to the game. In his 20 NFL seasons, Rice missed only 10 regular season games, 7 of them in the 1997 season, and the other 3 in the strike-shortened season of 1987. His 303 games are by far the most ever played by an NFL wide receiver, but are 72 games behind the NFL record for games played by any player. In addition to staying on the field, his work ethic showed in his dedication to conditioning and running precise routes, with coach Dennis Green calling him "the best route runner I've ever seen." Also known as one of the best blockers at his position, there was no aspect of playing wide receiver at which Rice did not excel.

In 1999, he was ranked number 2 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Football Players, behind only Jim Brown, and was 35 places ahead of the next-highest-ranked player then active, Deion Sanders, who played another five seasons.

On November 4, 2010, Rice was ranked number 1 on The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players.

In 2011, The Sports Network awarded the inaugural Jerry Rice Award, to be given each year to the most outstanding freshman Football Championship Subdivision (formerly I-AA) player. The inaugural winner was Towson running back Terrance West.

Pro Football Hall of Fame
Rice was selected for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010 in his first year of eligibility. He was inducted in Canton, OH on August 7, 2010 alongside Emmitt Smith, Floyd Little, Russ Grimm, Rickey Jackson, Dick LeBeau, and John Randle. On September 20, 2010, during halftime at the 49ers-Saints game, Rice's #80 jersey number was retired.

Media work
Rice and quarterback Steve Young appeared together in Visa, All Sport, and Gatorade commercials when they were both playing for the 49ers.

During the 2005–2006 broadcasting season, Rice competed in the reality show Dancing with the Stars. He was paired with dancer Anna Trebunskaya, and they reached the final two before finally losing to singer Drew Lachey and his partner Cheryl Burke. Rice also appeared in a season two episode of FOX's Don't Forget the Lyrics! as a backup dancer. He appeared in the first episode of Spike TV's Pros vs Joes challenge show. He also made a cameo in the television series The Game. Rice has also appeared in an episode of the CW's One Tree Hill.

In 2007 and 2008, Rice appeared in Zaxby's restaurant television advertisements. In 2008, Rice and Steve Young appeared on an episode of reality show The Biggest Loser: Families as coaches putting the contestants through football drills. Rice and Young as well as Deion Sanders have appeared in commercials for Van Heusen clothing company as "Fashion Judges." In 2009, Rice portrayed Hal Gore in the film Without a Paddle: Nature's Calling.

Rice has co-authored two books about his life: Rice (with Michael Silver, published 1996, ISBN 0312147953) and Go Long: My Journey Beyond the Game and the Fame (with Brian Curtis, published 2007, ISBN 0345496116). He co-hosts Sports Sunday with NBC sportscaster Raj Mathai, a prime time sports show shown in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Rice is a supporter of Chiropractic care and is a spokesperson for the Foundation for Chiropractic Progress.

Rice and his dog, Nitus, were featured in Jerry Rice & Nitus' Dog Football, a video game for the Nintendo Wii that was released on August 16, 2011.

Golf career
Rice competed in the Fresh Express Classic at TPC Stonebrae on the Nationwide Tour on April 15–16, 2010. He received a sponsor's exemption to play in the tournament. Rice missed the cut and finished one shot ahead of last place, finishing 17-over and 151st among the 152 players who completed two rounds. Rice has played golf for over 20 years and has only participated in pro-amateur events until now. Rice would wake up early to hit the driving range before 49ers practices.

Personal
Jerry Rice has a son, Jerry Rice, Jr., who attended high school at Menlo School in Atherton, California, graduating in 2009. He currently attends UCLA and is a member of their football team. Jerry Rice, Jr. is a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.