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Sports Watch
SAY it ain't so, Joe. When Joe Montana was 8 years old, growing up in Pennsylvania, he wanted to be a linebacker. Aspiring linebacker
entering Hall as
offensive phenomenonSan Francisco 49er fans can be glad that Joe Montana Sr., who spent countless hours playing throw and catch with his athletically gifted son, thought that maybe quarterback would be a better position.
Was he ever so right.
Football's most famous No. 16 directed 31 fourth-quarter comebacks in the NFL, led the 49ers to four Super Bowl victories -- winning MVP honors in three of them -- and was voted to the Pro Bowl eight times, a record for a quarterback.
And now getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where he attended the ground-breaking ceremonies in 1963 at about the time he thought playing linebacker would be cool.
Montana, 49er teammate Ronnie Lott, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders' defensive end Howie Long, 49er linebacker of the 1970s Dave Wilcox, and Pittsburgh Steelers' owner Dan Rooney make up the 2000 class.
They will be formally inducted into the Hall of Fame on July 29 in Canton. But the four players will be honored in a pre-game ceremony at tomorrow's Pro Bowl.
Would Montana have made it into the Hall of Fame as a linebacker? Who's to say?
IN praising Montana, the 6-foot-5, 268-pound Long said, "As wiry as Joe is, he's no threat to my physical well-being. But, before you know, 35 points and nobody hits him. It's kind of a surgical procedure."
Montana still recalls what Long told him in a game: "He said to me, he'd appreciate it if I'd keep my skinny rear end in the pocket. He was tired chasing me around."
"I didn't put it that way," Long said at yesterday's press conference at the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
"We had a good offense," said Montana, "but when you look at the really great teams, you can't win championships without great defenses."
He said that while looking at Long, Lott and Wilcox, nicknamed "The Intimidator" for his aggressive style of play.
"I don't know where they got that," kidded Wilcox, a five-time All-NFL pick in an 11-year career all with the 49ers. "I can't even spell it."
"I can't say enough about Lott," added Montana, who played against his future 49er teammate and godfather to his son when Lott was at USC. "I'm just glad we got him."
LOTT, who made all-pro at three different positions -- cornerback and strong and free safety -- in his 14-year career, said that Montana has been like a big brother to him.
"The position I enjoyed the most? Strong safety. It allows you to hit people. If you see a team with a good defense, you see a good safety."
For Lott and Long, getting inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame together brings to completion a unique bond between the two that began when they were in the same NFL combine in 1981.
Lott came from Southern Cal and was everybody's All-American, according to Long, who played at Villanova, hardly a household name in football.
Long remembers going to the combine with a big chip on his shoulder that needed a chain saw to cut it.
"Nobody spoke to me except Ronnie. I don't know what possessed him to do that. But I'll never forget that."
"I saw a lot in him, I saw a guy I wanted to line up with," Lott said.
They recognized that they had something in common -- a love of putting a hurt on anyone with the football.
Which made what that guy with the skinny rear end accomplished in the NFL even more remarkable.
Bill Kwon has been writing about
sports for the Star-Bulletin since 1959.