Joe Montana

Joseph Clifford Montana Jr. (born June 11, 1956) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 16 seasons, primarily with the San Francisco 49ers.

Nicknamed "Joe Cool" and "the Comeback Kid", Montana is widely regarded as one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.

Montana showed potential as a basketball player and helped Ringgold win the 1973 WPIAL Class AAA boys' basketball championship while being named an all-state player.

He was so good that during his senior year, North Carolina State offered Montana a basketball scholarship.

Although Montana turned down the scholarship, he seriously considered NCSU because of a promise that he could play both basketball and football for the university.

Montana spent his first two years on the high school football team as a backup.

As a junior, Montana earned the job as the Ringgold Rams' starting quarterback.

Montana held the role for the final two years of his high school career; after his senior year, Parade named him to their All-American team.

One of Montana's most notable performances during his high school years was during his junior year in a game against Monessen High School.

Although Monessen scored a game-tying touchdown in the final moments, Montana's performance garnered attention from college recruiters, particularly those from Notre Dame.

In the game, Montana completed 12 passes in 22 attempts, threw for 223 yards, and scored three passing touchdowns and one rushing touchdown.

Notre Dame eventually offered Montana a scholarship, and he accepted it.

One contributing factor in Montana's choice of colleges was that Terry Hanratty, his boyhood idol, attended Notre Dame.

After winning a national championship at Notre Dame, Montana began his NFL career in 1979 at San Francisco, where he played for the next 14 seasons.

With the 49ers, Montana started and won four Super Bowls and was the first player to be named the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player (MVP) three times.

He also holds Super Bowl career records for most passes without an interception (122 in four games) and the all-time highest passer rating of 127.8.

Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989), and in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the NFL.

Among his career highlights, "The Catch" (the game-winning touchdown pass to Dwight Clark vs. Dallas in the 1981 NFC Championship Game) and a Super Bowl-winning 92-yard drive against the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XXIII are staples of NFL highlight films.

The 49ers retired Montana's No. 16 jersey number after the conclusion of his playing career.

In 1986, Montana won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.

Montana was elected to eight Pro Bowls as well as being voted First-team All-Pro by the AP in 1987, 1989, and 1990.

In 1989 and again in 1990, the Associated Press named Montana the NFL MVP, and Sports Illustrated magazine named Montana the 1990 "Sportsman of the Year".

In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs, where he played for his last two seasons and led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game.

In 1994, Montana earned a spot on the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team; he is also a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team.

In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana third on their list of Football's 100 Greatest Players.

Also in 1999, ESPN named Montana the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century.

Montana was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.

In 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him the number-one clutch quarterback of all time.

Montana was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania, a borough of Washington County located in the western portion of the state.

He grew up in the city of Monongahela, a coal mining town 25 mi south of Pittsburgh.

Montana's family were Italian-American, the name Montana being an Americanized form of the surname Montani, which comes from Camonica Valley in northern Italy.

Montana expressed an early interest in sports, and his father first taught him the game of football.

Montana started to play youth football when he was just eight years old, aided in part by his father.

Montana Sr. listed his son as a nine-year-old so that Montana could meet the league's minimum age requirement.

During his formative years, Montana took an interest in baseball and basketball, in addition to football, with basketball being his favorite sport.

Montana Sr. started a local basketball team that his son played on.

The team practiced and played at the local armory and played their games in various regional tournaments.

Montana received his primary education at Waverly Elementary and his secondary education at Finleyville Junior High (now known as Finleyville Middle School) and Ringgold High School.

While at Ringgold, Montana played football, baseball, and basketball.

In 2006, 32 years after Montana graduated, Ringgold High School renamed their football stadium "Joe Montana Stadium".