Jerry Rice grew up in Mississippi. His hands came about while working with his dad who was a brick mason. They would have to throw the bricks two stories up to where the bricks needed to be. This also helped him become stronger for high school football from throwing the bricks all the time. Also in school, Rice was known for cutting class, after being called upon, he’d dash out of the school running and as the principal watched, the principal gave him two options, either join the high school team or get punished. You could guess what he chose.
Rice was a standout receiver at Mississippi Valley State University from 1981 to 1984. He also got the name “World”, because they said there wasn’t a ball in the world he couldn’t catch. Rice was named to every All-American team and finished ninth in the Heisman Trophy balloting in his final season. In the Blue Gray Classic all-star game he received MVP honors.
Jerry Rice was born on October 13, 1962 and is a former NFL wide receiver that played a total of 20 seasons. He is considered to be the greatest wide receiver in NFL history. On November 4, 2010, Jerry Rice was chosen by NFL Network’s NFL Films production (The top 100: NFL’s Greatest Players) as the greatest player in NFL history. He is the all-time leader in most major statistical categories for wide receivers. Those categories are receptions, touchdown receptions, and receiving yards. Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl 13 times in 1986–1996, 1998, and 2002 and was also named All-Pro 12 times in his career. He won three Super Bowl rings playing for the San Francisco 49’ers and an AFC Championship with the Oakland Raiders. As of 2014 Rice holds over 100 NFL records, the most of any player by a lot.
At the end of the 2004 season Rice originally wanted to join the Broncos but ended up deciding to retire because he didn’t want to be at the bottom of any teams depth chart. On August nineteenth of 2006, the San Francisco 49ers agreed to a deal for him to end his career on the team he started out with. On August 24th he officially retired as a 49er on 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).
