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Jerry Rice in Phoenix, ARIZONA, - January 22, 1996, - Jerry Rice, the NFL’s all-time leader in touchdown receptions, receiving yards and receptions, along with countless other records, and SportsLine USA - the nation’s premier online service devoted exclusively to sports information, entertainment and merchandise - scored a touchdown of their own this week with the announcement that Jerry Rice will be added to SportsLine’s all-star lineup.
Rice will officially come on-board as an advisor, content provider and featured guest on the newly established SportsLine USA Jerry Rice Fan Club at a press conference scheduled for Thursday, January 25, at 9:30 a.m., in the Herberger Theater - adjacent to the Phoenix Civic Plaza. NFL legend and SportsLine USA spokesperson Joe Namath will host the event.
“Every quarterback needs a great receiver…I’m excited to welcome Jerry as the newest member of the SportsLine team,” said Master of Ceremonies Namath. “Now I have the opportunity, along with his fans around the world, to throw him a pass or two - in cyberspace.”
The two former Super Bowl MVP’s will introduce the Jerry Rice Fan Club featuring: live chat, Q&A, the Jerry Rice Newsletter, Jerry Rice merchandise, as well as the star receiver’s biography, lifetime statistics, photos and more. The fan club can be accessed from SportsLine USA’s home page at http://www.sportsline.com. “I am pleased to sign with the SportsLine USA team,” said Rice. “I welcome the opportunity to personally interact with my fans online, answering their questions and providing my insights into the game, as the Jerry Rice Fan Club grows.”
Rice joins SportsLine USA’s roster of sports greats including Namath, 1995 Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Mike Schmidt, emmy-award winning broadcaster Bob Costas, IMG Chairman Mark McCormack and former NFL star and current international statesman Jack Kemp. “The addition of Jerry Rice to the SportsLine team is yet another example of our commitment to bringing the best and most-exclusive sports information, entertainment and content to online sports fans,” said SportsLine USA CEO Michael Levy. “We are pleased to welcome him to our starting line-up.
Jim Steiner, President of Sports Management Group, worked with Levy to bring the parties together. The St. Louis-based Sports Management Group represents a line-up of NFL and Major League Baseball clients, including Super Bowl-bound Leon Lett (Dallas Cowboys) and Willie Williams (Pittsburgh Steelers). Additional clients include, Elvis Grbac (San Francisco 49ers), Michael Dean Perry (Denver Broncos), Brian Jordan (St. Louis Cardinals) and Joe Carter (Toronto Blue Jays).
SportsLine USA, Inc. is a Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based company, founded by technology veteran Michael Levy in February 1994. The Company’s financial backers include the highly regarded Silicon Valley venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The SportsLine service is available on the World Wide Web through commercial online services or through direct Internet access at http://www.sportsline.com.
There aren’t too many cornerbacks who San Francisco 49ers’ receiver, Jerry Rice, hasn’t left in the dust. In the 76-year history of the National Football League, he may just be the most prolific offensive player in the history of the game.
Jerry Rice was drafted out of Mississippi Valley State in the first round as the 16th overall pick of the 1985 draft by the San Francisco 49ers. He was the third wide receiver taken behind the New York Jets’ Al Toon and the Cincinnati Bengals’ Eddie Brown.
In his 11-year professional career, Rice has been a member of three Super Bowl Champion teams and was named MVP in Super Bowl XXIII. Jerry Rice owns or shares five Super Bowl records for career receptions, career yards, career touchdowns, career points and most touchdowns in one game. He ranks first for all-time career receptions and career receiving yards with 942 and 15,123, respectively, (at the end of the 1995 regular season). The other NFL career records Rice currently holds are for career touchdowns (156), career receiving touchdowns (146), 1,000-yard receiving seasons (10), consecutive 1,000-yard receiving seasons (10) and games with 100- plus receiving yards (59).
Jerry Rice’s career touchdown mark is the football equivalent of Hank Aaron’s 755 home runs or Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s 38,387 points. Rice’s’ record-breaking 127th touchdown was scored against the Los Angeles Raiders in the first contest of the 1994 campaign. The fact that Rice reached this plateau as a wide receiver, a position that customarily does not handle the ball often, makes this accomplishment all the more awe-inspiring. Jerry Rice once stated that he would like to own every major offensive record by the end of his career. During the final game of the 1995 season, playing against the Atlanta Falcons, Rice eclipsed Art Monk’s career record for receptions, fulfilling his desire to become of the greatest offensive players the NFL has ever seen.
In essentially reinventing the position of wide receiver, Jerry Rice has astonished every NFL club with his size, speed, off-season training routine and uncanny ability to gain extra yardage after the catch. In 1995, while still an active player, Rice was named to the NFL’s 75th-anniversary team in recognition of his reign as one of the NFL’s greatest players. Arguably the greatest wide receiver of all time, Jerry Rice undoubtedly has many more remarkable feats yet to accomplish on the playing field. Jerry rice is now in Oakland and seems to have a roaring fire lit underneath him. He took the team to the playoffs and had 24 TDs that season.
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