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Sports Biography: Jerry Rice
Published: February 19, 2010
Flashy statistics drew pro scouts to Jerry Rice when he played football for Mississippi Valley State. His pass-catching skills sold them on his potential. His MVP performance in the Blue-Gray all-star game is what solidified that Rice was worth a first-round draft pick.
The San Francisco 49ers thought differently. They thought enough of Archie “Gunslinger” Cooley, Rice’s college coach, to pick his brain on his unorthodox offense. They liked Rice enough to trade up and take him with the 16th selection in the first round of the 1985 draft.
The 49ers merely latched on to the most prolific pass receiver in NFL history. The first player to score 200 touchdowns, Rice is also the NFL’s career leader in receptions, yards receiving, and yards from scrimmage, all-purpose yards, touchdown receptions and consecutive games with at least one catch.
Jerry Rice led the league with 1,570 yards and 15 touchdown receptions and had 86 catches. In 1987, he was the NFL’s Player of the Year when he scored a league-high 23 touchdowns, including at least one in all 12 non-strike games. The following season he was MVP of Super Bowl XXIII with 11 catches and 215 yards as the 49ers beat the Cincinnati Bengals 20-16.
Rice hadn’t missed a game in 19 seasons until sitting out 14 games in 1997 because of two serious knee injuries. He played 189 consecutive non-strike NFL games, some of them hurt.
In June 2001 the 49ers released Rice because of salary-cap problems. The Oakland Raiders signed him and Rice responded by having his 13th and 14th 1,000-yard receiving seasons, gaining 1,139 on 83 catches with nine touchdowns in 2001 and 1,211 yards on 92 receptions with seven TDs the next year.
The only player with more than 20,000 receiving yards, Rice had 21,597 on 1,456 catches through 2002. His consecutive-game streak of making a reception stood at a mind-boggling 257. In 2002, Rice scored his 200th touchdown and became the NFL’s leader in yards from scrimmage and all-purpose yards, breaking Walter Payton’s records of 21,264 and 21,804.
On August 19, 2006 the San Francisco 49ers announced that Jerry Rice would sign a one day contract allowing him to retire as a member of the team where his career started. He officially retired as a 49er on August 24th, signing a one-day contract for $1,985,806.49. The salary amount 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 did not receive any money. On August 7, 2010, Rice was chosen for induction in the Pro Football Hall of Fame class of 2010.
Some of his accomplishments include:
• Played in 3 winning Super Bowls
• Super Bowl MVP
• NFL Player of The Year
• Pro Bowl invitee 13 times
• First in NFL history to score 200 touchdowns
• 28 receptions – 512 yards – 7 TDs in three Super Bowls
• All time NFL leader in Total Receptions, Total Receiving Yards, and Total Receiving TDs
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