Hall of Fame Wide Receiver Jerry Rice.
Not 12-time All-Pro Jerry Rice, not 13-time Pro Bowler Jerry Rice.
Shirts sported by upward of 220 children at the second annual Ka Makana Alii Football Camp, featuring Rice, spelled out the 55-year-old legend’s credentials in specific terms on the Kapolei High School football field on Monday.
Rice, just prior to working the camp — doling out high-fives to 7- to 14-year-olds and swaying to the music with the energy of someone half his age — was asked what it means to him to be among that elite group of players.
“Oh my God, it does (mean a lot),” Rice said in a sit-down interview. “Because to be in that fraternity, to play so many years in the NFL and win so many Super Bowls, then get recognized by your peers and go into a very elite group of guys, is something I’ll never forget and am just so fortunate to be a part of it.”
The significance of Pro Football Hall of Fame membership has been a hot topic. His former San Francisco 49ers teammate, Terrell Owens, made headlines this month when he announced he would spurn his induction ceremony with the 2018 class. Owens is one of 15 invited to Canton, Ohio, in August, along with the likes of Ray Lewis, Randy Moss and Brian Urlacher.
This doesn’t sit well with Rice, who’s similarly never shied away from making his feelings known on the Pro Bowl’s relocation away from Hawaii in the past few years. (He doesn’t like it at all.)
“I haven’t had the opportunity to talk to Terrell or anything like that,” Rice said. “But hopefully he changes his mind and decides to show up. I think he’s very angry right now, because he was not a first-ballot (inductee). Third time around, and I think there’s a lot of anger. But maybe he can just squash that and come to the ceremony with the group that he’s going in with. … It’s an excellent group. But Terrell likes to do things a little different.”
Rice, a 2010 inductee who played with Owens for five years, was asked if he thinks the irrepressible Owens could change his mind.
“I’m hoping, but I don’t think he’s going to,” he said. “Terrell, when he wants to make a statement, he’s going to make a statement.” Rice chuckled. “But if I see him, I’ll try to entice him to be a part of the group and everything. We’re talking about a very elite group of guys. Then, everyone before him is going to be there and will want to welcome him in (including myself). So we’ll have to wait and see how this is going to unfold.”
Rice clicked his tongue. “It’s going to be a tough one.”
Also tough for him has been the loss of another former 49ers teammate, the great Dwight Clark, recipient of “The Catch” that edged the Dallas Cowboys in the NFC championship game in 1982. Rice credited Clark, who died June 4 at age 61 of ALS, for launching both the 49ers’ dynasty and a successful career for Rice.
“This is the guy that helped me out when I came to the Niners, running different routes and how to be a professional and all of that,” Rice said. “I thought of him as Superman. I was like, ‘you know what, he’s going to beat this.’ We’re talking about Dwight Clark here. I think we all took it hard. It’s just something that you just can’t get over as quickly. But he was a great individual, great football player, great teammate. And he did a lot of stuff in the community.”
And so has Rice, who can’t say no to the islands — he intends to keep coming back. He presented a $3,000 check to Kapolei High along with Ka Makana Alii officials Monday.
Kapolei football coach Darren Hernandez and his staff worked the camp, breaking the kids into groups by age and rotating them among various skill stations while the man considered by many as the greatest of all time — he still has records in receptions, touchdown receptions and receiving yardage — alternated between pumping up the parents watching from the stands and the keiki, many of whom topped off at his knees.
“The kids love him. He’s a legend, he’s the greatest football player to ever play the game,” Hernandez said. “His name is timeless. They all know him.”
Added Hernandez, “What I like about him, is you give him a mic and he can handle it, he just runs with it,” Hernandez said. “He’s a natural showman. He has a lot of swag.”
When Rice gets on the mic, you listen.
