Jerry Rice

Jerry Rice is an American former professional football wide receiver widely regarded as the greatest at his position in NFL history, holding career records for receptions, receiving yards, and receiving touchdowns. He was born Jerry Lee Rice on October 13, 1962, in Starkville, Mississippi, and raised in nearby Crawford by his father Joe Nathan Rice, a brick mason, and his mother Eddie B. Rice.

He played football at B.L. Moor High School and accepted a scholarship to Mississippi Valley State University, where he set eighteen Division I-AA records and earned consensus Black college All-American honors in 1984. The San Francisco 49ers selected him sixteenth overall in the 1985 NFL Draft.

Paired with quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young, he won three Super Bowl rings with the 49ers (XXIII, XXIV, and XXIX) and was named Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIII. He was selected to the Pro Bowl thirteen times and was a ten-time first-team All-Pro.

He left San Francisco after the 2000 season and finished his career with the Oakland Raiders and Seattle Seahawks, retiring in 2005. He married Jacqueline Bernice Mitchell in 1987; they had three children before divorcing in 2009. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.

Their name Jerry derives from a short form of Jerome, from the Greek Hieronymos meaning "sacred name," or of Gerald and Gerard, both based on the Germanic ger meaning "spear." Jerry was particularly common in the United States during the 1940s and 1950s.