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Famous nerves Cool Montana facade cracks on historic day
By Don Banks, Sports Illustrated CANTON, Ohio -- For once he was something less than Joe Cool. Joe Montana, the quarterback with that other-worldly presence and composure about him, finally let a little of the façade slip. It was an afternoon we've seen coming almost from the moment he first launched that wobbly, wrong-foot pass to Dwight Clark, and in the process began redefining the quarterback position in the NFL. Montana has been preparing for this day all along. His induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on Saturday was the biggest foregone conclusion since Joe Namath garnered MVP honors in Super Bowl III. And still, Montana didn't quite know how to plan for this one. It was kind of refreshing. "We seem cool and calm on the outside, but in the inside, we're a mess," Montana said of athletes in general, providing a window to his soul on Saturday. Earlier, Montana made a confession: "All I know is when I get to step back and sit down, it'll be the biggest relief of my life."
They build halls of fame for guys like Montana, of course. The ex-San Francisco 49ers great had "Canton or bust" written all over him early in his career, and on Saturday, he walked away with both in his pocket. Montana-mania was everywhere in Canton, which according to Hall of Fame Officials, withstood a record induction-day crowd of about 18,000. Joe-inspired signs and Montana jerseys -- both the 49ers and the later Kansas City vintage -- dotted the landscape. Montana himself requested 352 passes for friends and family, breaking Don Shula's unofficial Hall record by about 40 or so. As well as anyone who'll take a stab at it this weekend, fellow Hall of Fame 2000 classmate Howie Long characterized the magic that is Montana. "I never really got to know Joe when I played," Long said Saturday morning. "But Joe had that El Cid thing, that Charleton Heston thing. They could prop him up dead on a horse and the other side would retreat. "There's something about Joe Montana. Whatever it is, he's got it." Former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo, never one to skip the hype, presented Montana for induction. He received the day's second largest ovation -- trailing only when Montana was walked to the podium -- with the following pronouncement: "Joe Montana, simply stated, was the greatest quarterback to ever play the game, and I don't think you'll ever see his like again." Montana's career-capping accomplishment came just two hours or so by car away from his hometown of Monongahela, Pa. But the former Notre Dame star said he really never got his hands around this latest and greatest honor until Friday night. Then he had an epiphany. "I had a very difficult time with it [going into the Hall] in the beginning," Montana said. "Because I think I was looking at it from the wrong perspective. I looked at it like an ending point, like I was in my grave and they were throwing dirt on me and I'm trying to get out. "But then I got the meaning of it. This is not an ending point. This is a beginning point. This is a new team I'm joining. And take a look at these guys. What a team it is." It was a yellow-blazer kind of day in Canton. With the NFL's version of the Dream Team on hand, and the mid-morning rain giving way to bright sunshine just before ceremonies began, all was well with the NFL's official opening event of the 2000 season.
And it was a 49ers kind of day, with a cool 60 percent of the five-man draft class of 2000 having worn San Francisco's red and gold: Montana, his longtime friend and teammate Ronnie Lott and 1964-74 outside linebacker Dave Wilcox. Long, the longtime Raiders defensive end, and Dan Rooney, the esteemed Pittsburgh owner rounded out the class. Lott, in some ways, was Montana's alter ego, as demonstrative and outgoing as Montana was inward and measured. Lott was the defensive intimidator while Montana played the offensive surgeon. Lott always looked as if he spent every last ounce of energy on every play. Montana lived by the rule that you never ever let them see you sweat. Both players spoke Saturday of their practice-field battles in San Francisco, on those days when maybe some of the best football the NFL had to offer was displayed before what amounted to a private audience. "There were some days when you got frustrated, because the ball didn't touch the ground," Lott said. "When he got in that zone, it was pretty awesome to see. On Fridays, he'd get in that zone and it'd be pretty frustrating to be on the other side of it for a change. I got to see what the other defense went against on game day." Said Montana of going against Lott: "Thursday afternoons doing the two-minute drill, that was the most competitive it got all week. You were going up against one of the best defenses of all time." Teammates for 10 years, from 1981-90, Lott and Montana went into the Hall as brothers in arms. "I'm sure fate had something to do with it," Lott said. "To go in with Joe. There's a lot to that. Fate, friendship, why this all happened. It's special." On Saturday, with the game's history seemingly everywhere, the special became almost commonplace.
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