Jerry Rice

Jerry Lee Rice (born October 13, 1962) is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 20 seasons in the National Football League (NFL).

He won three Super Bowl titles with the San Francisco 49ers before two shorter stints at the end of his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks.

Nicknamed "World" because of his superb catching ability, his accomplishments and numerous records, Rice is widely regarded as the greatest wide receiver of all time and one of the greatest players in NFL history.

His biography on the official Pro Football Hall of Fame website names him "the most prolific wide receiver in NFL history with staggering career totals".

Rice was born on October 13, 1962, in Starkville, Mississippi, and lived in Crawford, Mississippi, the sixth of eight children.

Crawford was a small town, having only 600 residents.

Rice's father, Joe, was a Brick Mason who built houses by hand, while holding other jobs to provide for the family.

Joe was described by Rice as "a tough man" and held him and his siblings to a strict lifestyle.

Eddie B., Rice's mother, raised Rice while Joe was working, and after Rice left cleaned the houses of wealthy families.

Rice and his brothers often worked with their father building houses, catching bricks on top of scaffolds to make sure his father had bricks to lay.

He did not see bricklaying as his future, later saying that "it taught me the meaning of hard work."

The Rice family struggled financially, with Rice sometimes not having many pairs of clothing or having a "hearty meal on the table".

To provide for his family, he and his brothers picked corn, cotton, carrots, and hay.

Rice asserted that he was shy as a child, and had few friends.

Rice attended B. L. Moor High School in Oktoc, Mississippi.

Although he played mock games of basketball and football, Rice initially played no sports in high school.

He enjoyed playing sandlot football and watching football on television.

His mother didn't allow him to join the school's football team in his freshman year, as she thought that football was "too rough" for Rice.

While a sophomore, the school's assistant principal caught Rice skipping class with a friend, causing him to panic and sprint away.

After Rice fled, the principal was impressed with his speed, and informed the school's football coach, Charles Davis, who offered Rice a place on the team.

Initially unhappy about this, Rice's mother relented after realizing that "the more I fought it, the more determined he was, so I gave it up."

The NFL honored him as a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team and the NFL 1990s All-Decade Team, as well as both the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.

He joined the 49ers in 1985 after being drafted with the 16th overall pick.

After a modest rookie season, Rice emerged in the following season as one of the best receivers in the league, leading the NFL in receiving yards and touchdowns, a feat he achieved four times.

Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times (1986–1996, 1998, 2002) and named All-Pro twelve times in his 20 NFL seasons, including ten First-team All-Pros, tied for the most by any player.

In 1987, Rice set the record for most receiving touchdowns in a season, with 22, in a twelve-game strike-shortened season.

He won back-to-back championships in 1988 and 1989, and was the MVP of the former championship.

Rice developed connections with quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young that are viewed as among the best in NFL history, helping him lead the league in both receiving yards and touchdowns six times, and in receptions twice.

Going into the 1990s, Rice won a third Super Bowl in 1994, and a second Offensive Player of the Year Award.

In 1999, The Sporting News listed Rice second behind Jim Brown on its list of "Football's 100 Greatest Players".

After recovering from a knee injury and his play regressing, San Francisco released him in June 2001, where the Raiders would sign him to a four-year deal.

He continued to start for the team, and helped lead them to an appearance in Super Bowl XXXVII, where they were defeated by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, affecting Rice's previously unblemished Super Bowl record.

Midway through 2004, the Raiders traded him to the Seahawks, where he spent his final season.

He briefly signed with the Broncos, retiring shortly before the start of the 2005 season.

Rice is the career leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers, including receptions, receiving touchdowns, receiving yards, scrimmage yards, and total touchdowns, holding the postseason records for these statistics, and once held the single-season records for yards and touchdowns.

He scored more points than any other non-kicker in NFL history with 1,256.

Rice was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, and in the same year was inducted into the Bay Area Sports Hall of Fame.

In 2010, he was chosen by NFL Network's NFL Films production The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players as the greatest player in NFL history.

Rice played college football for four seasons with the Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils, setting several NCAA and team receiving records, including becoming the all-time leader in NCAA receiving touchdowns.

Rice was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.