Jerry Rice

Jerry Rice was born on October 13, 1962, in Crawford, Mississippi, to Joe Nathan and Eddie B. Rice. His father was a mason, and as a kid, Jerry Rice helped haul bricks and mortar when his father had too much work. He grew up with five brothers, with whom he began playing sports, and learned early on the value of playing and having fun, but also about hard work, thanks to his father's insistence that he give it his all.

Like many kids, when Rice got bored, he wasn't immune to getting into trouble. This penchant for trouble is what eventually led him to a career in professional football. Were it not for his attempt to skip school one day, we might never know Jerry Rice's potential. He told the Los Angeles Times that he had "never had any intention of playing football" until the vice principal caught him sneaking out of the school and then, after catching Jerry in a footrace, hauled him back to the gym. As punishment for his attempted truancy, Rice was ordered to go to participate in football practice. "He made me go out for the team," Rice told the Los Angeles Times, "and that's how I started playing the game."

As a high school student, Rice he was a versatile player, moving around on the field and trying out most every position. Not many colleges showed interest in him as he entered his senior year, however. Except for Archie Cooley,

Jerry Rice

with Mississippi Valley State (MVS), a small NAIA school in Itta Bena, Mississippi. He thought he saw something in Rice, and he wouldn't be disappointed.

Rice attended MVS and majored in auto-technology. During his college career he caught an amazing fifty-one touchdown passes, and over the course of his junior and senior seasons would average two touchdown receptions per game. In his best and final season, 1984, Rice put up statistics that he'd rival in the pros. That senior season, he pulled down 112 passes, netting 1845 yards, with an unbelievable 28 of those catches for touchdowns. He accomplished this in only eleven games (Rice's team averaged over fifty-nine points a game that year).