📍Crawford, Mississippi, USA
1962 – 1980“Jerry Rice was born in Starkville, Mississippi, in October 1962 and grew up in Crawford, a tiny rural town in the farmland of east-central Mississippi, the sixth of eight children. His father, Joe, was a brick mason who built houses by hand, and his mother, Eddie B., raised the large family. Summers were spent working with his father: from six in the morning until five at night, Jerry and his brothers stood on scaffolds catching the bricks their father tossed up to them, so that he always had a brick ready to lay. That work, he has said, taught him the meaning of hard work, and it gave him strong, sure hands. He ran everywhere in the countryside around Crawford, chasing the family's horses through the fields. At B.L. Moor High School he didn't play sport at first, until one day, cutting class, he was spotted by the assistant principal and sprinted away down the corridor. The principal punished him, but he was so impressed by Jerry's speed that he recommended him to the football coach. He became a star receiver, and went to Mississippi Valley State University, a small historically Black college, where he broke records. In 1985 the San Francisco 49ers drafted him, and he became the greatest wide receiver in history, winning three Super Bowls and setting records that still stand. He has always credited his father's bricklaying, and the long hot summers in Crawford, for his work ethic and his hands.”
🗺️ Approximate location today
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