JOE MONTANA

NFL Superstar

Joe Montana was born June 11, 1956, in New Eagle, PA, and raised in Monongahela, PA. He was the only child of Joe Sr. and Theresa Montana. He played many sports, especially baseball, football, and basketball. He was on the Pennsylvania State Runner-up basketball team in 1973, and was even offered a scholarship at North Carolina State, which was National Champion in 1974. But football was his first choice. He was the starting quarterback for his high school team for two years, was named a Parade All-American his senior year, and accepted the offer to play for Notre Dame.

His sophomore year at Notre Dame got him a reputation as a come from behind quarterback, as he entered games with his team trailing and rallied the team for a win. (In his NFL years, "The Comeback Kid" would lead 31 fourth quarter comebacks.) However, he did not become the starter until his Junior year when, in the third game of the season, he rallied the team again. They finished that year as National Champions. He continued to lead the Irish his senior year to a good year, but no championship.

Montana was a third-round draft choice of the San Francisco 49ers, a not very impressive team at the time. By the end of his second season he became their starting quarterback, as the team made a dramatic improvement. In 1981, their first winning season in some time, Montana led them to the Super Bowl Championship. The next Championship season would come in 1984, when Montana had a great year. He passed for more than 3,600 yards, and quarterback rating of 102.9 was the best in the conference. It was so good that he was overshadowed only by fellow Pennsylvanian Dan Marino of the Miami Dolphins. The teams seemed destined to meet in the Super Bowl, battling head to head, and Montana had the best day as the 49ers won, 38-16.

Although suffering several injuries, Montana led the team to more good seasons but did not return to the Super Bowl until 1988, then again in 1989. Montana was chosen as the MVP in three of his four Super Bowls. 1991 and 1992 were spent injured, and Montana was finished with the 49ers. Other teams, however, were willing to take a chance on him, and he joined the Kansas City Chiefs to finish out his career. He took another mediocre team and helped turn it around. Although there would be no Super Bowls, the team was very succesful while Montana was there. In 1993, his first year with the Chiefs, injuries again took their toll. Another ruptured disk limited Montana to 11 starts, but they won their division championship and two playoff games. In the AFC title game, a concussion knocked Montana out of the game in the third quarter, and the Chiefs lost the game. The next year would be Joe's last. Although posting only a 9-7 record, the Chiefs did make it into the playoffs, but lost in the first round.

Joe Montana showed his abilities, not only as a quarterback, but as a leader. He was able to rally the other players on two NFL teams, and, with his leadership, turn them from below average teams to excellent ones. He was elected to the Professional Football Hall of Fame in 2000.