Rice, Jerry L.
Football
b. Oct. 13, 1962, Starkville, MS
As a senior at Mississippi Valley State in 1984, Rice caught 112 passes for 1845 yards and 28 touchdowns in 11 games. That capped a collegiate career in which he had 310 catches for 4856 yards and 51 touchdowns in 42 games.
Many NFL teams disregarded those stats because Mississippi Valley is a Division II school. But the San Francisco 49ers sent two draft choices to the New England Patriots for the 16th pick in the 1985 NFL draft so they could get Rice.
As a rookie, Rice had trouble holding onto the ball, catching just 49 passes, but he overcame that problem in 1986 and became generally recognized as the best wide receiver in football. Some now consider him not only as the best receiver, but as the best football player ever at any position. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder is very strong, he's an excellent runner after catching the ball, and he can go over the middle to make tough catches.
He's also a hard worker who stays in excellent physical shape and studies film intensively. Until he suffered a knee injury in 1997, Rice had never missed a game in 19 seasons of high school, college, and pro football, including a string of 189 consecutive NFL starts (excluding strike games).
In his 16 season with the 49ers, Rice took over virtually every NFL receiving record. He led the league in receptions twice, in reception yardage and touchdown catches six times each. Rice played in three Super Bowl victories, catching 28 passes for 512 yards and 7 touchdowns. He was named MVP of Super Bowl XXII, when he had 11 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown.
Facing salary-cap problems, the 49ers cut Rice before the 2001 season and he was signed by the Oakland Raiders. He had more than 1,000 yards receiving in each of his first two seasons with Oakland, the 13th and 14th of his career.
Rice joined the Seattle Seahawks before the 2004 season. Seeing only occasional duty, he had just 30 receptions and retired when the season ended.