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Beating the Odds

What Jerry Rice Means

Jerry Rice, along with six other players, is going into pro football’s Hall of Fame. His election surprised no one, but Rice himself didn’t want to assume anything.

“On draft day, I didn’t take that (getting drafted) for granted,” Rice said yesterday at the Hall of Fame announcement. “I didn’t take this (election) for granted.”

That’s probably what made Rice great. He never took anything for granted. He always trained and practiced like the hungriest rookie. And he made the most out of every time he touched the ball. He wasn’t content just to catch the ball. He made an art of gaining additional yards once he caught it. As Hall of Fame quarterback Steve Young said, “They made yards after the catch a stat because of Jerry Rice.”

There’s a saying that character is what you are when no one is looking. By that definition, what can you say about Rice, who would show up, alone, at the team’s training facility only days after winning a Super Bowl?

“He outworked the work-ethic guys,” Young said.

But the story shouldn’t be just about Jerry Rice. It should be about you. Nothing is stopping you from working as hard as he did. Your level of effort and commitment is a daily decision. Rice made his, and it put him into the Hall of Fame. How about you?

Here is a profile of Rice from the San Francisco Chronicle.

Discussion

One comment for “What Jerry Rice Means”

  1. Jerry Rice may be as good as it gets for a role model for all of us

    Posted by kevin Reilly | February 7, 2010, 4:12 pm

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