Joe Montana

Introduction

Joseph Clifford Montana was born on June 11, 1956.  He is a retired football player for the National Football League in the United States.  He played from the late 1970s until the mid 1990s.  He began his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, doning a 49ers jacket proudly, and he played quarterback there for 14 consecutive seasons.  In the 1993 and 1994 seasons, he spent his final two years in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs.  During his time with the 49ers, he played for the Kansas City Chiefs in the 1993 and 1994 seasons.  During his time with the San Francisco 49ers, Montana won all four of the Super Bowl games he was in.  He was elected to the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000.  Many consider him to be one of the best quarterbacks in history. 

In 1989 and 1990, Joe Montana was chosen as the NFL Most Valuable Player by the Associated Press.  Sports Illustrated gave him the honor of being chosen as the "Sportsman of the Year" in 1990.  In 1986, he had won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award.  He was chosen to eight football Pro Bowls.  He was also voted to the first team All-Pro by the AP in 1987, 1989, and 1990.  He has the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference for five times. 

Joe Montana had a reputation as a quarterback as being calm at all times under pressure.  He was great at coming back from behind, as he assisted his teams to 31 fourth quarter come from behind wins.  In fact, Montana had  three game winning touchdown passes in the final moments of the 1981 NFC Championship Game as well as in Super Bowl XXII.  Because the touchdown pass he threw at the end of the NFC Championship game was so spectacular, it has been called "The Catch." 

The San Francisco 49ers have retired the number 16, which is the number he wore.  In 1993, Joe Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.  He led them to their first AFC Championship Game in January of 1994.  Montana was given a spot on the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team in 1994.  Additionally, Joe Montana is a member of the NFL 1980s All Decade Team.  The editors at The Sporting News ranked him as third on their list of the 100 Greatest Football Players in 1999.  He was also named by ESPN as the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century.  Finally, Sports Illustrated named him as the best clutch quarterback ever.

Early Life

Joe Montana began his life in New Eagle, Pennsylvania.  He grew up in a coal mining town that was about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  His parents were Theresa and Joseph Montana.  He was interested in sports at an early age.  His father first introduced him to football.  He began playing football at the age of eight, even though his father listed him as a nine year old so that he could meet the requirement of the league's minimum age.  Along with football, Montana was also interested in basketball and baseball.  His favorite sport at the time was basketball.  His father began a basketball team that Joe played on.  He went to school at Waverly Elementary and then Finleyville Junior High School and Ringgold High School.  In high school, Joe played baseball, football, and basketball.  He showed great potential as a basketball player.  In fact, he was named an all-state player.  During his senior year of high school, he was offered a basketball scholarship by North Carolina State University.  He did turn down the scholarship there.  On his high school football team, he had spent the first two years as a backup.  During his junior year, he earned the position of starting quarterback.  He had the role for the last two years of his high school career.  Notre Dame offered Joe Montana a scholarship, and Montana accepted the offer.  This was partly because his boyhood idol, Terry Hanratty, had also attended Notre Dame. 

College

Montana entered Notre Dame in the fall of 1974.  The football program there was being coached by Ara Parseghian.  Notre Dame had won the NCAA national championship twice.  Because of his coaching success, he was able to recruit very talented players.  Even though Joe Montana was talented, he was only the seventh string quarterback in 1974.  In 1974, Coach Parseghian had to resign because of health problems.  Dan Devine was hired in his place.  Devine was so impressed with his performance in spring practice that he decided to start him in the last spring game.  In the 1976 season, Joe Montana had an injury in which he separated his shoulder.  Since he was not able to compete that year, he was given an additional year of eligibility.  Eventually he became the number one quarterback on the team.  His college football career is probably most memorable because of the Cotton Bowl Classic in 1979.  He was ill during the game and received intravenous warm fluids during the halftime of the game.  He also drank chicken soup.  He then returned in the fourth quarter.  They ran their last offensive play with only two seconds remaining on the clock and they scored a touchdown, which put them ahead to win the game 35 to 34.  Because of the ending of the game, Notre Dame produced a film, called Seven and a Half Minutes to Destiny.  

Joe Montana graduated with a degree in marketing and business administration from Notre Dame.  Montana was not highly ranked for the draft.  The San Francisco 49ers drafted him in the third round of the NFL Draft in 1979 as the 82nd overall pick.

Professional Football Career

From 1979 to 1980, Joe Montana did not see much action during this season, as he was the number two quarterback to Steve DeBerg.  Midway through the 1980 season, he became the first string quarterback.  The San Francisco 49ers finished with a record of 6-10-0 in 1980, but Montana still had a decent year, with 1,795 total yards and 15 touchdown passes.  He had nine interceptions that year and was able to complete 64.5% of his passes, which was at the top of the league.  In 1981, he was the starting quarterback, and this was one of the team's most successful seasons.  They finished the season with a 13-3 record.  They faced the Cincinnati Bengals for Super Bowl XVI, and Montana was able to complete 14 of 222 passes and had 157 yards with one touchdown from passing and one from rushing.  They won the game 26-21 and Montana won the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award.  In 1982, Joe Montana had a tremendous season, but the season was cut to only nine games because the Player's Association went on strike.  During this year, he managed to set an NFL record of five 300 yard passing games in a row.  In 1983, Joe Montana had 26 touchdowns and threw for 3,910 yards in the sixteen regular season games.  They were 10-6 for the season and finished in first place in the NFC West.  The were up against the Detroit Lions in the divisional playoff game, and Montana took the lead in the last minute or so of the game.  They lost, however, in the NFC Championship game that was against the Washington Redskins. 

In 1984, Joe Montana had another excellent season and had his second trip to the Pro Bowl in a row.  The 49ers went to the Super Bowl again, and Joe Montana faced off against Dan Marino of the Dolphins.  Montana threw for three touchdowns and completed 24 out of 35 passes.  The San Francisco 49ers beat the Dolphins 38-16 and Montana was able to get his second Super Bowl MVP award for his performance. 

In 1985, the San Francisco 49ers again went to the playoffs, but they lost in the NFC Wild Card game to the Giants of New York.  In 1986, Joe Montana had a serious back injury during only the first week of the season.  He needed surgery right away for a spinal disc injury.  His doctor felt like the injury was so severe that Montana should retire from football immediately.  He did not, however, and he was awarded the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award in 1986 from the NFL, and he shared this award with Tommy Kramer from the Vikings. 

In the 1987 season, Joe Montana had a career high of 31 touchdown passes in only 13 games.  He additionally set a record in the NFL for the most consecutive pass attempts without a pass that was incomplete.  He passed for 3,054 yards and had a quarterback passing rate of 102.1.  The team completed the year with the best record in the National Football League, but they ended up losing in the NFC semi-finals to the Minnesota Vikings.  Before the 1987 season, Bill Walsh traded for Steve Young, another quarterback who was playing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  Steve Young appeared in eight regular season games for the 49ers and earned a quarterback passing rate of 120.8.  This led to a controversy of who would be playing more as quarterback, and rumors began that possibly Montana might be traded away.  During the 1988 season, Montana had more playing time.  The team again went to Super Bowl XXII, and they defeated the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings in the playoffs.  Then they faced the Minnesota Vikings for the NFC Championships, and they won.  In the very cold weather of Chicago, Montana was able to throw for 288 years and 3 touchdowns.  They faced the Cincinnati Bengals in the Super Bowl.  In this Super Bowl, he had one of the best performances, as he completed 23 of 36 passes, and had a Super Bowl record of 357 yards and two touchdowns.  Even though they were trailing the Bengals 16-13 with a little over three minutes remaining, they won with a game winning touchdown pass with only 34 seconds remaining.  In Super Bowl XXIV, Joe Montana became the first player in history to win Super Bowl MVP honors for a third time.  In 1990, Joe Montana led the San Francisco 49ers to the best record in the NFL with 14 wins and 2 losses. Sports Illustrated even named him the Sportsman of the Year.  In the NFC Championship game in January of 1991, Joe Montana was injured after a hit by Leonard Marshall.  He then missed all of the 1991 season and a good part of the 1992 season with an injury to his elbow.  He was by then replaced by Steve Young as the starting quarterback.

By the conclusion of the 1992 season, Joe Montana had recovered from his injuries.  In April of 1993, he was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs.  He signed a ten million dollar contract for three years.  For part of the 1993 season, he was injured, yet he still led the team to two come from behind wins in the 1993 playoffs, reaching the AFC Championship Game.  At the conclusion of the 1993 year, he was selected to his final Pro Bowl.  In 1994, he started all except for two games.  In 1994, he led the Kansas City Chiefs to a final playoff appearance in 1994.  On April 18, 1995, Joe Montana announced that he would retire in San Francisco.  His retirement announcement was broadcast live on local television and it included speeches from Eddie DeBartolo Jr., and John Madden. 

Personal Life

Joe Montana has been married three different times.  He first married Kim Moses, his hometown sweetheart in 1974, but they divorced only three years later.  In 1981, he married Cass Castillo, but they got divorced in 1984.  He then met Jennifer Wallace, who was a model and actress, while they were both working on a Schick commercial, and the couple got married in 1985.  They are still married, and they have four children together:  Alexandra Whitney, Elizabeth Jean, Nathaniel Joseph, and Nicholas Alexander.