Joe Montana

The legendary career of Joe Montana is no fluke. The talented athlete had that "it" factor that won big games at all levels of sports. We take a look at the early gridiron life and accomplishments of Joe Montana in this edition.

Joe Montana is one of the most decorated quarterbacks of all time. Most fans of the game know this man’s Pro Football Hall of Fame resume. Montana won the NFL’s passing title in both 1987 and 1989. He topped the NFC in passing five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989). Joe threw for more than 300 yards in a game 39 different times in his career and 7 of those had yardage over 400 yards too. His six 300-yard passing performances in the post-season are an NFL record. He also owns the career playoff record for attempts, completions, touchdowns, and yards gained passing. He led the 49ers to 4 Super Bowl victories under Bill Walsh and after that part of his career, he had a couple of great seasons in Kansas City. His amazing 15 seasons included 40,551 passing yards as he also earned a spot in 8 Pro Bowls. But how did Joe Montana get himself to play at such a high level? Let’s take a look at the early developmental years of this legend.

Joe Montana in High School

It is hard to imagine the superstar of the NFL ever taking a back seat to anyone on the football field in their careers. However in our Hall of Fame story today on Joe Montana. we know that at Ringgold High School new Pittsburgh the legendary QB spent his first two years on the football team as a backup.  It was during his junior season,  that Montana earned the job as the Ringgold Rams' starting quarterback. Montana held the role for the final two seasons of his high school career.  After his senior year, he reached one of the pinnacles that scholastic players can dream about when Parade Magazine named him to their All-American team.

The young man was quite the athlete. After earning the football accolades, the signal-caller was also integral to Ringgold High School winning the 1973 Western Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic League’s Class AAA boys basketball championship. 

According to information gathered from The FamousPeople.com, Montana, after several ground-breaking performances on the scholastic gridiron was noticed by Notre Dame coaches and recruiters and was eventually offered a scholarship of which he accepted.

The Montana Magic Act at Notre Dame

For his first collegiate season of 1974, Montana was relegated to play on the Notre Dame Freshman team. Varsity Head Coach Dan Devine kept his watchful eye on the youngster though and in the following season, Montana was able to contribute to the Irish program. The breakout moment for this signal-caller might have been the 1975 victory that Joe led the Fighting Irish in over North Carolina.

The Tarheels brought the crowd at Chapel Hill, NC to their feet in a frenzy when after a scoreless first half, North Carolina built a 14-0 lead over the Golden Domers. North Carolina you see was a 17-point underdog in the contest, so just keeping it close was an accomplishment, but having a two-TD lead in the second half against a juggernaut, well that might be witness to a major football miracle. The crowd would be witness to history, but not the kind they thought at that moment.

Devine knew that his stagnant offense needed a spark. Starting quarterback Rick Slager was struggling. He had fumbled away one golden opportunity for the Irish in the first half and had a late second-quarter pass where it looked like Notre Dame might find points, intercepted. He did manage to lead the Irish to paydirt on a methodical drive early in the fourth, but time was running out for the Irish. They needed bigger chunk plays and quicker scoring drives.

In the next series, Joe Montana entered the game, and a national audience for the first time was witness to the Montana Magic. Down 14-7, Cool Joe ignited the Irish offense into a 5-play TD drive that tied the game with just over 5 minutes to play. Carolina answered with a drive of their own that ended when they missed a go-ahead field goal attempt from the 24-yard line of Notre Dame with 1:19 remaining.

A first down play had a Montana pass miss, stopping the clock. The next play from the sideline was supposed to be a draw play to try and catch the Tarheels by surprise. Instead, the sophomore under center called an audible when he saw something in the North Carolina defense, as one cornerback approached the line pre-snap The play a toss to Burmeiger in the left flat ended up turning into an 80-yard touchdown when the receiver cut up field and outran the DB. It was a sign of brilliance for the quarterback, and a foreshadowing of things to come on his efficiency of reading a defense and getting his team into the right play to take advantage. Notre Dame won the game on that decisive play 21-14.

The season of 1977, what would be Joe’s junior year had some big jumps in growth and experience for the quarterback’s advancement to greatness. The opening game of the year had the Irish travel to Pennsylvania to face the number 7 in the Nation, Pitt Panthers. ND was trailing 9-6 entering the fourth quarter when all of sudden Joe and his magic act started. Montana led the Irish on three scoring drives that allowed the team from South Bend to escape the Steel City with a 19-9 win over their ranked opponent.
Later that season Joe had two come-from-behind victories he led in the fourth quarter, against Purdue and Clemson, down 17 and 10 respectively

Later on, in his collegiate career, Notre Dame was invited to consecutive Cotton Bowl appearances. In 1978, Joe Montana led the Irish to a stunning 38-10 upset of top-ranked Texas, a win that vaulted Notre Dame from fifth in the regular-season rankings to the national championship. No one in the state expected the Longhorns to lose the game deep in the heart of Texas. But they had no answer for the offense led by Montana.

He earned the nickname, the "Come Back Kid" the following year when he played in a frigid temperature at the 1979 Cotton Bowl. The QB was suffering from a bout with the flu as well as hypothermia at halftime and had stayed in the locker room being fed chicken soup and warm I.V.s. You know the old saying, soup warms the soul, well this dose of remedy stew, roused something really special in Mr. Montana. When he returned in the second half his team trailed 34-12 to the University of Houston when Montana guided the rally for a miraculous 35-34 comeback win. 

In the 1979 NFL Draft, teams overlooked the QB and he was not taken until the 82nd overall selection by Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers. Joe Montana played in all 16 games of his rookie season and helped the Niners become the team of the decade in the 1980s.

The picture in the banner above is from the public domain Wikimedia Commons collection of a cropped version from the 2006 Michigan at Notre Dame game.