A lot of people who should have known better didn't take Jerry Rice seriously or believe in him in his life.
Fortunately, a few people did and it was enough.
NCAA Division I schools bypassed him despite serious stats at B.L. Moor High School in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi.
Archie "Gunslinger" Cooley at Mississippi Valley State didn't pass him up, though. He paired Rice with the prolific passing of Willie Totten and Rice was off to the races. He finished his college career with 18 Division 1-AA records. He set NCAA overall records of 301 catches for 4,693 yards and 50 touchdowns. In 1984, he set NCAA marks with 102 receptions for 1,450 yards and was ninth in the Heisman trophy vote.
When the NFL draft rolled around in 1985, scouts ignored Rice and many wouldn't even acknowledge him as one of the draft's best receivers. Even though he received votes in the Heisman, too many scouts attributed his numbers to playing in the SWAC against very suspect defenses.
Bill Walsh and the San Francisco 49ers thought differently, however. After conferring with Cooley, they traded up and took Rice at no. 16.
Even being drafted so high didn't earn Rice serious looks. He was nervous as a rookie and had more drops than usual, causing assistant coaches to rethink their team's choice. But, Walsh believed in him and stuck with him. And, the rest is history.
Now, 25 years later, Jerry Rice is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. In his first year of eligibility, no less, because the HoF selection committee didn't make the same mistakes so many others made about Rice. They had no problem putting Rice and former Dallas Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith in on the first ballot.
Rice entered the Hall of Fame with Smith, Dick LeBeau, Rickey Jackson, Russ Grimm, John Randle and Floyd Little in Canton, Ohio Saturday.
"I can honestly say this is the greatest team I have ever belonged to," Rice said of his induction classmates.
While Rice's numbers at Mississippi Valley were off the chart, they were nothing compared to his 20-year career in the NFL, most of them with the San Francisco 49ers, with whom he won three Super Bowl rings.
Rice holds just about every important pass-catching record in the NFL. He made 1,549 catches (400 more than the next best mark). He gained 22,895 yards (7,600 better than the #2 man). He finished his career with 208 touchdowns, leaving Steve Largent's TD reception mark (101) and Jim Brown's overall touchdown record (126) in the dust.
He is the only NFL player in history with more than 20,000 receiving yards. He broke the NFL records of 21,264 yards from scrimmage and 21,804 all-purpose yards, both held previously by Walter Payton, the late great from Jackson State.
He made 10 All-Pro teams and 13 Pro Bowl teams and had a reception in a staggering 274 straight games.
Strangely enough, he attributes his success to one thing -- fear.
"I was afraid to fail," Rice said during his induction ceremony speech. "The fear of failure is the engine that has driven my entire life. The reason they never caught me from behind is because I ran scared. People always are surprised how insecure I was. The doubts, the struggles, is who I am. I wonder if I would have been as successful without them."
Most athletes would tell you that fear can be a debilitating factor in a career (football, wrestling and acting legend Woody Strode famously retired from football because "he was counting the steps" until he got hit by opposing linemen).
In Rice's case, it helped motivate him and helped him believe in himself when so many others didn't or wouldn't.
This time, however, everybody believed.
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