Joe Montana

Joe Montana is a Hall of Fame quarterback who played for the San Francisco 49ers and Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League. He is widely regarded by NFL experts to be one of the greatest Quarterbacks to ever play the game, and many believe him to simply be the greatest player in NFL history. During his playing days he stood 6'2 tall, weighed 200 pounds, and wore jersey numbers 16 and 19. He was born on Jun 11, 1956 in the coal mining town of New Eagle, Pennsylvania to Theresa and Joseph Montana Sr.. He was raised in a blue-collar town called Monongahela which is located in Western Pennsylvania, an area famous for producing Hall of fame Quarterbacks. Just to name a few...Joe Namath, George Blanda, and Dan Marino all hail from this areahttp://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/centurys_best/news/1999/08/13/flashback_montana2/. Montana was drafted in the 3rd round (82nd overall) by the 49ers in the 1979 NFL Draft. He attended the University of Notre Dame where he majored in Business Administration and Marketing. He graduated from Ringgold High School in New Eagle, PAhttp://www.profootballhof.com/hof/release.aspx?RELEASE_ID=721.

If Montana was known for one thing throughout his career it was this...winning. In an 8 year span from 1981 to 1989, Montana led his teams to 4 Super Bowl championships and was awarded the Super Bowl MVP an unprecedented 3 times. When he retired, he held the NFL record for career passer rating and had long since been considered a lock for the Hall of Fame. His uncanny ability to lead his team to come from behind victories, especially in the 4th quarter, earned him the monikers "Joe Cool" and "The Comeback Kid"http://www.profootballhof.com/hof/release.aspx?RELEASE_ID=721.

His ability to lead teams to victory didn't start in the NFL, it started in 3 years before he even took a professional snap, it started with the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame. Not unlike his career in the NFL, it wasn't his numbers that were legendary at Notre Dame, it was his ability to win. Montana would show up at the campus in South Bend, Indiana as a skinny freshman who was listed as the 7th Quarterback on the depth chart. By his Junior year he had earned the right to start and in week 3 led the Irish to a come from behind victory against Purdue. In his Senior year he led the Irish to several more late victories, this time against Pittsburgh and USC. Montana's final game would be the 1979 Cotton Bowl against Houston which he brought his team back from a 34-12 deficit half-way through the final quarter to a 35-34 electrifying win. Notre Dame would be crowned National Champions that yearhttp://www.profootballhof.com/hof/release.aspx?RELEASE_ID=721.

49ers

There is no debating that Montana's glory years were with the 49ers. There was zero doubt as to whether Montana would make the 49ers roster almost immediately after he was drafted. Very early on he developed an incredible chemistry with the eventual Hall of Fame Head Coach, the late Bill Walsh. Walsh and Montana would pair well over the next several years, and would go down in as one of the great tandems in league history. Bill Walsh was the master strategest, claiming he could see a play unfold just by looking at X's and O's, and Montana was his perfect on-field executioner. Over time they would perfect Walsh's signature West Coast Offense which would go on to be the driving force of the 49ers offensive attack for the better part of 20 years. Just two years after Montana was drafted, the duo would combine for their first Super Bowl (1981). Three years later, another Super Bowl would come (1984), and four years after that they would win a third (1988). Walsh would retire after the '88 season, but Montana would stick around under newly appointed head coach George Seifert to win back to back championships.

1981

1981 was a magical season that saw the 49ers go from 6-10 record the year before, all the way to 13-3 and Super Bowl Champions. They started 3 rookie defensive backs, one of which was eventual Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott. Before they would win the Super Bowl however, one of the most memorable plays in NFL history would propel them into the big game. It was a cold and dreary afternoon at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, and the arch rival Dallas Cowboys were in town for the NFC Championship game. The game was a back and forth battle, and it had all come down to one final drive by the 49ers who needed a touchdown to win the game. With the Cowboys leading 27-21 and only 58 seconds left on the clock, Montana rolled right and heaved a prayer of a pass high into the air into the back of the end zone. Miraculously, the lanky 6'4 receiver Dwight Clark lept into the air and caught the ball just before it sailed out of the endzone. The play was dubbed "The Catch" and the 49ers were thrust into the Super Bowl. They would go on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals by a score of 26-21 in Super Bowl XVI, where Montana would be awarded his first Super Bowl MVP.

1984

The 49ers lost the NFC Championship the year before against the Redskins on 2 controversial calls, and this year they vowed they would not be denied. Collectively they played all year with a renewed vigor and Montana led them to a league best 15-1 record. In the Super Bowl the 49ers matched up against the Miami Dolphins who were led by a young phenom Quarterback named Dan Marino who had set several new passing records just that year. The game wasn't even close. The 49ers drubbed the Dolphins 38-14. Montana would again be named the Super Bowl MVP.

1988

The previous year there had been an NFL strike that shortened the regular season, but that didn't stop Montana's new favorite weapon from setting multiple single season receiving records. This new target was named Jerry Rice, and together they would lead the 49ers to the Super Bowl. The 49ers would once again face off against the Bengals in the big game, and just like in 1981 the game would be a closely fought battle. Late in the game Montana was faced with a situation where his team was trailing, with just enough time for one last drive to either tie it up or win the game. The Comeback Kid, as always, found a way to win. 11 plays and 92 yards later, with 34 seconds showing on the clock, Montana would find John Taylor on a post pattern in the end-zone for the winning touchdown. While Montana played well enough to deserve the MVP in this game, Jerry Rice took home the honors with his 1 TD / 11 catch / 215 yard performance.

1989

1989 would be Montana's finest year as a professional. He would finish the year with a then record QB rating of 112.4, and the 49ers would finish the year an NFL best 14-2. After gliding through the playoffs the 49ers would play the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV who were led by future Hall of Fame Quarterback John Elway. This game would serve as Montana's crowning achievement, and would lock him in as the most decorated Quarterback in Super Bowl history. The 49ers obliterated the Broncos in every phase of the game, winning by a final score of 55-10. Montana completed 22 of 29 passes for 297 yards and a then record 5 touchdowns en route to his 3rd Super Bowl MVP, a feat that to this day has not been equaledhttp://www.profootballhof.com/hof/release.aspx?RELEASE_ID=721.

Chiefs

Montana would suffer a severe elbow injury in 1991 causing him to miss the entire '91 season and most of the 1992 season. In 1993 the 49ers were faced with a dilemma, should they keep the younger and more agile (and eventual Hall of Fame QB) Steve Young, or see if Joe Cool still has some magic left despite his age. The end result was Montana being traded to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for the number 18 overall draft pick. There, in tandem with the newly acquired veteran Marcus Allen, he would lead the Chiefs deeper into the playoffs than they had been in 24 years. In 1993 Joe Cool would come just one game short of making it to another Super Bowl. Coincidentally, in the NFC the 49ers would also come just one game short. Montana would retire following the 1994 season, a year which he would again lead the Chiefs into the playoffshttp://www.pro-football-reference.com/teams/kan/.

When Montana eventually retired, he had indubitably earned all of his praise. In 4 Super Bowls he completed 83 of 122 yards (68%), threw for 1142 yards (285.5 average), had 11 touchdowns, 0 interceptions, had a Quarterback rating of 127.8, and even rushed 17 times for 101 yards and 2 touchdownshttp://www.pro-football-reference.com/players/M/MontJo01/super-bowl/.

"If the success of a leader of any team is defined in victories, then Joe Montana and the teams he has been associated with would be recognized as simply the best" - Marty Schottenheimer, NFL Coachhttp://everything2.com/title/Joe+Montana.

Joe Montana was enshrined into the NFL Hall of Fame in the year 2000, along side fellow 49er Ronnie Lott.