Joe Montana Totally Explained

Everything about Joe Montana totally explained

Joseph Clifford Montana, Jr., (born June 11 1956), nicknamed "Joe Cool", is a retired American football player whose professional career in the National Football League (NFL) spanned the late 1970s through the mid-1990s. Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played quarterback (QB) for the next 14 seasons. He spent the 1993 and 1994 seasons, his final two years in the NFL, with the Kansas City Chiefs. While a member of the 49ers, Montana started four Super Bowl games and the team won all of them. In 2000, Montana was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In 1989, and again in 1990, the Associated Press (AP), an American news agency, named Montana the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Sports Illustrated magazine named Montana the 1990 "Sportsman of the Year". Four years earlier, in 1986, Montana won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. As a result of his high level of play, Montana appeared in eight Pro Bowls, the NFL's version of an all-star game. Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989); and, in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the entire NFL.
Noted for his ability to remain calm under pressure, Montana helped his teams to 31 fourth quarter come-from-behind wins. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana third on their list of "Football's 100 Greatest Players". Also in 1999, his status among the greatest players of all time was reaffirmed when ESPN named Montana the 25th . In 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him the number one clutch quarterback of all-time.

Early life

Montana was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania, a borough of Washington County located in the western portion of the state. He grew up in nearby Monongahela, a coal mining town 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. His grandparents emigrated to Western Pennsylvania from Sicily Born to Joseph and Theresa Montana, Joe Montana expressed an early interest in sports, and it was Montana Sr. who first taught him the game of football. Montana started to play youth football when he was just eight years old, aided in part by his father. Montana Sr. listed his son as a nine-year-old so that Montana could meet the league's minimum age requirement.
   During his formative years, Montana took an interest in baseball and basketball, in addition to football. In fact, basketball was Montana's favorite sport as a child. Montana Sr. started a local basketball team that his son played on. The team practiced and played at the local armory and played their games in various regional tournaments.
   Montana received his primary education at Waverly Elementary and his secondary education at Finleyville Junior High and Ringgold High School. He was so good that during his senior year, North Carolina State University (NCSU) offered Montana a basketball scholarship. In their third game of the season, Notre Dame played Purdue University. Lisch started and was then replaced by Forystek. In one play, Forystek sufffered a broken vertebra, a broken clavicle, and a severe concussion; it was the last play of Forystek's sports career. Notre Dame's record of eleven wins and one loss earned them the NCAA national title; the only title the school won while Devine was coach.
   The following year, Montana helped Notre Dame to a come from behind win against the University of Pittsburgh. He almost pulled off a second one against the University of Southern California, Notre Dame's primary rival. Trailing 24-6 in the second half, Montana ignited a furious fourth-quarter rally to put Notre Dame ahead, 25-24 with 45 seconds remaining, only to see the Trojans win, 27-25, on a last-second field goal.

1979 Cotton Bowl

On January 1, 1979, Notre Dame played the University of Houston in that year's Cotton Bowl. Montana's performance in the game was one of his most noted performances in his entire football career;
Montana fell ill during the game, but returned during the fourth quarter. Notre Dame ran their last offensive play with two seconds remaining on the game clock. They scored a touchdown and won the game 35 to 34. As a result of the game, Notre Dame went on to produce a promotional film called Seven and a Half Minutes to Destiny. Coach Devine later referred to the piece as a "Joe Montana film."
Despite his performance on the field, Montana wasn't rated highly by most scouts. At one combine, Montana rated out as six-and-a-half overall with a six in arm strength, used to judge how hard and how far a prospect could throw the ball. By comparison, Jack Thompson of Washington State University rated an eight; the highest grade amongst eligible quarterbacks.

Professional career

San Francisco 49ers

Although Montana appeared in all 16 regular season games during the 1979 season, he only threw 23 passes. He spent most of the season as the number two player on the San Francisco depth chart behind fellow quarterback Steve DeBerg.
   Montana didn't become the number one quarterback until midway through the 1980 season.
   On December 7, 1980, San Francisco hosted the New Orleans Saints. The Saints, winless at the time, jumped out to a 35-7 lead at Halftime. At the start of the fourth quarter, New Orleans still led by a score of 35-21; but, San Francisco tied the game by the end of regulation play. In overtime, Ray Wersching kicked a field goal to win the game for San Francisco. This marked the first time in Montana's career where his team overcame a fourth quarter deficit to win a game. During his 16 seasons in the NFL, this happened a total of 31 times with Montana at quarterback; 26 of those games were while Montana was with San Francisco.
   Though San Francisco finished 1980 with a record of six wins and ten losses, Montana passed for 1,795 yards and 15 touchdown passes against just nine interceptions. He also completed 64.5 percent of his passes, which led the league.

Early years

Montana began the 1981 season as San Francisco's starting quarterback. The season ended up as one of the franchise's most successful seasons to that point. Backed in part by Montana's strong performance at quarterback, the team finished the regular season with a 13-3 record. In fact, Montana helped San Francisco win two of those games with fourth-quarter comebacks. The season was a precursor to one of Montana's most memorable moments as a professional quarterback.
On January 10, 1982, San Francisco faced the Dallas Cowboys at Candlestick Park in the National Football Conference Championship Game. The final quarter was marked by one of the most notable plays in NFL history; and, Larry Schwartz of ESPN.com later defined the 1981 NFC Championship as Montana's signature game.
The victory placed the 49ers in the against the Washington Redskins. As he'd done before, Montana asserted himself late in the game. The Redskins led 21-0 at the start of the fourth quarter, but Montana helped lead the 49ers back. Aided by three fourth-quarter Montana touchdown passes, the 49ers tied the game at 21. However, Redskins placekicker Mark Moseley kicked a 25-yard field goal in the waning moments of the game. Despite Montana's efforts, the team lost 24-21.

1984 season

Though the Miami Dolphins finished the 1972 NFL season with no losses, the regular season at the time comprised only 14 games. Thus, when the 49ers finished the 1984 NFL season with a 15-1 record, they became the first team to win 15 games in a single season.
   Montana again had an excellent season and earned his second consecutive trip to the Pro Bowl. In their first two playoff games, the 49ers defeated the New York Giants and the Chicago Bears by a combined score of 44-10. In Super Bowl XIX, the 49ers faced the Dolphins, whose quarterback was future Hall of Fame inductee and fellow Western Pennsylvanian Dan Marino.
   In the game, Montana threw for three touchdowns and completed 24 of 35 passes. He established the Super Bowl record for most yards passing in a single game (331) and supplemented his passing with 59 yards rushing. The 49ers defeated the Dolphins 38-16 and Montana earned his second Super Bowl MVP award. After the game, 49ers head coach Bill Walsh said: "Joe Montana is the greatest quarterback today, maybe the greatest quarterback of all time." On September 15, 1986, the 49ers placed Montana on the injured reserve list; however, he returned to the team on November 6 of that year. Despite the fact that Montana appeared in just eight games, and, though he threw more interceptions than touchdown passes for the only time in his career, passed for 3,054 yards, and had a passer rating of 102.1. Though the 49ers finished with the best record in the NFL, they lost in the to the Minnesota Vikings.
   Prior to the 1987 season, Bill Walsh completed a trade for Steve Young, then a quarterback with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Young went on to appear in eight regular season games for the team and finished the year with a passer rating of 120.8.
   Young's performance in 1987 was strong enough that by the time the 1988 season began, a controversy was in place as to who should get more playing time at quarterback. Young appeared in 11 games that year and rumors surfaced claiming that Montana might be traded.

Super Bowls XXIII And XXIV

The 49ers earned a trip to Super Bowl XXIII when they defeated Minnesota Vikings and Chicago Bears in the playoffs. The 49ers faced the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC Divisional Playoffs. Montana threw three first-half touchdowns as the 49ers won 34-9. The victory over the Bears in the NFC Championship game is of particular note. Playing in Chicago, with temperatures plummeting into the single digits and a howling wind blowing across Soldier Field, Montana threw for 288 yards and 3 touchdowns. His first touchdown pass came on a play in which Montana whistled a perfect sideline pass to Jerry Rice on a 3rd down play late in the first quarter, and Rice outran two Bears defenders for a 61-yard score. The Bears were never in the game as the 49ers won 28-3 to advance to Super Bowl XXIII. His number 16 was retired by the 49ers on December 15, 1997 during halftime of the team's game against the Denver Broncos on Monday Night Football.
Montana holds post-season records for most career touchdown passes (45), and passing yards (5,772) among others. In his four Super Bowls, Montana completed 83 of 122 passes for 1,142 yards and 11 touchdowns, with an impressive zero interceptions, earning him a passer rating of 127.8. Montana led his team to victory in each game, and is the only player ever to win three Super Bowl MVP awards. He played in eight Pro Bowls.

Personal life

Montana has been married three times. His first wedding was in 1974, when Montana married his hometown sweetheart, Kim Moses, during his second semester at Notre Dame; however, they divorced less than three years later.
In 1986, doctors diagnosed Montana as having a narrow spinal cavity. He elected to have an operation, which was successful, and was able to return to football and continue his storied career.
Montana now owns horses and produces wine under the label Montagia.

Nicknames

Montana is an Americanized form of the surname Montani, which comes from northern Italy. Montana earned the nickname "Joe Cool" for his ability to stay calm at key moments, and "Comeback Kid" for his history of rallying his teams from late-game deficits, including 31 fourth-quarter comebacks. He was called "Golden Joe" because he played in California (the Golden State), and also appeared on a poster superimposed in front of the Golden Gate Bridge with the wording "The Golden Great". Among some female fans, he was also known as "Swivel Hips Joe". His teammates called him "Bird Legs" because his legs were skinny. Two more names were provided by a San Francisco Chronicle nickname contest early in his NFL career: the winner was "Big Sky", but another contestant suggested that since "Joe Montana" already sounded like a nickname, Montana needed a real name, and christened him "David W. Gibson." Montana liked the Gibson name so much that he'd it stenciled above his locker.
Montana appears as the character "Joe Clifford" (a pseudonym derived from his first and middle names) in the NFL Network's Joe's Diner (TV Short) television spots.

Career statistics

Year	Team	GP	Att	Com	Pct	Yds	TD	Int	Rate
1979	San Francisco 49ers	16	23	13	56.5	96	1	0	81.1
1980	San Francisco 49ers	15	273	176	64.5	1795	15	9	87.8
1981	San Francisco 49ers	16	488	311	63.7	3565	19	12	88.4
1982	San Francisco 49ers	9	346	213	61.6	2613	17	11	88.0
1983	San Francisco 49ers	16	515	332	64.5	3910	26	12	94.6
1984	San Francisco 49ers	16	432	279	64.6	3630	28	10	102.9
1985	San Francisco 49ers	15	494	303	61.3	3653	27	13	91.3
1986	San Francisco 49ers	8	307	191	62.2	2236	8	9	80.7
1987	San Francisco 49ers	13	398	266	66.8	3054	31	13	102.1
1988	San Francisco 49ers	14	397	238	59.9	2981	18	10	87.9
1989	San Francisco 49ers	13	386	271	70.2	3521	26	8	112.4
1990	San Francisco 49ers	15	520	321	61.7	3944	26	16	89.0
1992	San Francisco 49ers	1	21	15	71.4	126	2	0	118.4
1993	Kansas City Chiefs	11	298	181	60.7	2144	13	7	87.4
1994	Kansas City Chiefs	14	493	299	60.6	3283	16	9	83.6
Career Totals		192	5391	3409	63.2	40551	273	139	92.3

Key to Abbreviations
GP= Games Played
Att= Passes attempted
Com= Passes Completed
Pct= Completion percentage
Yds= Yards
TD= Touchdowns
Int= Interceptions
Rate= Passer ratingFurther Information

Get more info on 'Joe Montana'.

External Link Exchanges

Do you know how hard it is to get a link from a large encyclopaedia? Well we're different and will prove it. To get a link from us just add the following HTML to your site on a relevant page:

<a href="http://joe_montana.totallyexplained.com">Joe Montana Totally Explained</a>

Then simply click through this link from your web page. Our crawlers will verify your link, extract the title of your web page and instantly add a link back to it. If you like you can remove the words Totally Explained and embed the link in article text.
As long as your link remains in place, we'll keep our link to you right here. Please play fair - our crawlers are watching. Your site must be closely related to this one's topic. Any kind of spamming, dubious practises or removing the link will result in your link from us being dropped and, potentially, your whole site being banned.