In the 1979 Cotton Bowl, Montana, playing despite hypothermia, led the Irish to 23 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to lead Notre Dame to a 35-34 win. Montana, a member of the school’s 1977 national championship team, foreshadowed what was to come in the NFL in its final college game. Despite receiving a slew of basketball scholarships, Montana chose to play quarterback at Notre Dame. Born in Monongahela, Pennsylvania (about 25 miles south of Pittsburgh), Montana was a two-year high school starter and was classified as a Parade All-American as a senior.
Western Pennsylvania has produced some of the greatest quarterbacks in league history, listing Montana, Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, Jim Kelly, and Dan Marino. A member of the Western Pennsylvania Cradle of Quarterbacks In honor of his 66th birthday (he was born on June 11, 1956), we decided to list five things you might not know about Montana, a player who, as the late Stuart Scott would say, was cooler than the other side of the pillow. And while other great quarterbacks have come and gone since he threw his last NFL pass over a quarter of a century ago, Montana remains in the conversation as one of the greatest quarterbacks in league history. Three decades after winning its last Super Bowl, Montana was back in the big game when he was celebrated as one of the NFL’s 100 Greatest Players at a pregame ceremony. with a 4-0 record as a starting Super Bowl quarterback. The win also gave Montana a record-breaking third Super Bowl MVP award, as the man known as “Joe Cool” joined Terry Bradshaw as the only quarterbacks to show off. The blowout victory gave San Francisco its fourth Super Bowl win since 1981.
There was little discussion about who was the best quarterback in NFL history on January 28, 1990, shortly after Joe Montana and the 49ers cut the Broncos defense in Super Bowl XXIV.