Jerry Rice

Jerry Lee Rice was born on October 13, 1962, in Starkville, Mississippi, and grew up in the small town of Crawford, where he was the sixth of eight children. His father, Joe, worked as a brick mason and took on extra jobs to support the family, while his mother, Eddie B., raised the children and later cleaned houses. Rice often helped his father by catching bricks on scaffolds, an experience he said taught him the meaning of hard work. The family struggled financially, and Rice sometimes lacked clothes or a full meal; he and his brothers picked corn, cotton, carrots, and hay to help out. He described himself as a shy child with few friends.

Rice attended B. L. Moor High School in Oktoc, Mississippi. His mother initially forbade him from playing football, thinking it was too rough. During his sophomore year, an assistant principal caught him skipping class; when Rice sprinted away, the principal was impressed by his speed and told the football coach, Charles Davis, who offered Rice a spot on the team. His mother eventually relented. In high school, Rice played running back, defensive back, and tight end, but he was most skilled at wide receiver. He trained by running miles home after practice because he had no ride. He had a breakout junior season and was named a Mississippi All-State wide receiver as a senior. Because Moor was small, few of his statistics were officially recorded.

Rice played college football for four seasons at Mississippi Valley State, where he set several NCAA and team receiving records, including becoming the all-time NCAA leader in receiving touchdowns. The San Francisco 49ers selected him with the 16th overall pick in the 1985 NFL draft. After a modest rookie season, he emerged as one of the league’s best receivers the following year, leading the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns—a feat he would accomplish six times. In 1987, he set the single-season record for receiving touchdowns with 22, during a strike-shortened 12-game season. He won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1988 and 1989, earning MVP honors in the first of those championships. His connections with quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young are considered among the best in NFL history, helping him lead the league in receiving yards and touchdowns six times and in receptions twice.

In the 1990s, Rice won a third Super Bowl in 1994 and a second Offensive Player of the Year Award. After recovering from a knee injury and his play declining, the 49ers released him in June 2001. He then signed a four-year deal with the Oakland Raiders, where he continued to start and helped lead the team to Super Bowl XXXVII, which they lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers—ending Rice’s previously perfect Super Bowl record. Midway through the 2004 season, the Raiders traded him to the Seattle Seahawks, where he played his final season. He briefly signed with the Denver Broncos but retired shortly before the start of the 2005 regular season.

Rice holds the career lead in most major wide receiver statistics, including receptions, receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, scrimmage yards, and total touchdowns, along with the postseason records for those categories. He once held the single-season records for receiving yards and touchdowns. He scored 1,256 points, more than any non-kicker in NFL history. He was selected to 13 Pro Bowls (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro 12 times, including 10 First-team All-Pro selections—tied for the most by any player. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006, as well as the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame and the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. The NFL named him to the 1980s and 1990s All-Decade Teams, as well as the 75th and 100th Anniversary All-Time Teams.

Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in NFL history. His official Pro Football Hall of Fame biography calls him “the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history with staggering career totals.” In 1999, The Sporting News ranked him second behind Jim Brown on its list of “Football’s 100 Greatest Players.” In 2010, NFL Network’s The Top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players named him the greatest player in NFL history.