Steve Young (athlete)

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Steve Young

Steve Young on the cover of Sports Illustrated.
Date of birth October 11, 1961
Place of birth Salt Lake City, Utah
Position(s) Quarterback
College BYU
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls 7
Awards 1994 Super Bowl XXIX MVP

1992 AP NFL MVP
1994 AP NFL MVP
1992 NFL Offensive
Player of Year
1992 UPI NFC Offensive
Player of Year
1994 UPI NFC OFF POY
1992 Bert Bell Award
1992 PFWA NFL MVP
1994 PFWA NFL MVP
1994 Bert Bell Award
1983 Davey O'Brien Award
Stats
Statistics
Team(s)
1984-1985
1985-1986
1987-1999		 Los Angeles Express (USFL)
Tampa Bay Buccaneers
San Francisco 49ers
College Hall-of-Fame
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2005

Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA), is a former quarterback for the National Football League's San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Los Angeles Express of the short-lived United States Football League. He was named the Most Valuable Player of Super Bowl XXIX, and was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005, the first left-handed quarterback to be so honored.

Contents

[edit] High school career

Young attended Greenwich High School in Greenwich, Connecticut. He earned 1978 All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors in his junior year, his first year starting at quarterback for the Cardinals. In 1979, he once again earned All-FCIAC West Division First Team honors, along with CIAC All-State honors, rushing for 13 touchdowns. In two seasons, he ran the ball 267 times for 1,928 yards. In the option offense run by Greenwich, passing was always the second option; he completed only 41 percent of his throws for 1,220 yards. During his senior year he was co-captain of the football, basketball and baseball teams. In basketball, he averaged 15 points a game. In baseball, he hit .384 and played center field when he wasn't pitching. He was 5-1 and threw a 3-0 no-hitter against New Canaan High School. On top of all of his athletic accomplishments, Steve was also a National Merit Scholar and posted a 4.0 GPA. All the while, getting up at 5:00 a.m. each morning to attend an LDS Church religious class before school. Trey Wingo of ESPN also attended Greenwich High during this time.

[edit] College

Young played college football at Brigham Young University (Young is a lineal descendant of Brigham Young (see[1])). Initially, he struggled at passing, and BYU's coaching staff considered switching him to defensive back because of his athleticism. However, he worked hard to improve his quarterbacking skills and eventually succeeded record-setting Jim McMahon as the Cougars' starting QB. Young's senior season (1983) was spectacular. He passed for 3,902 yards and 33 touchdowns in the regular season, and his 71.3% completion percentage set an NCAA single-season record. He also added 544 yards rushing. With Young at quarterback, BYU set an NCAA record by averaging 584.2 yards of total offense per game, with 311.8 of those yards coming from Young's passing and rushing. The Cougars finished the year with an impressive 11-1 record; Young was named First Team All-American and finished second in voting for the Heisman Trophy (behind Nebraska running back Mike Rozier). Young capped his college career by scoring the game-winning touchdown in BYU's 21-17 victory over Missouri in the 1983 Holiday Bowl.

Young finished his 3 seasons with 592 pass completions for 7,733 yards and 56 touchdowns, along with 1,048 rushing yards and 18 touchdowns on the ground. In 2001, he was enshrined in the College Football Hall of Fame.

[edit] Professional career

[edit] USFL

Young signed a record 10-year, $40m contract with the Los Angeles Express of the now-defunct United States Football League in 1984. However, the league ceased operations in 1986 after a disastrous move to a fall/winter schedule to compete with the National Football League. Young's contract with the team set forth that Young would be paid one million dollars annually for 40 years, or until 2026. Twenty years after the USFL folded, Young reportedly continues to receive his annuity.[verification needed]

[edit] NFL

[edit] Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Young signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after being the first player selected in the year's supplemental draft. However, the Buccaneers posted 2-14 win-loss records in each of Young's two seasons with them, and Young's record as starter was a miserable 3-16.

[edit] San Francisco 49ers

When the Buccaneers selected University of Miami quarterback Vinny Testaverde first overall in the 1987 NFL Draft, Young was deemed a bust and traded to the San Francisco 49ers on April 24, 1987, to serve as a backup to Joe Montana. The Buccaneers received 2nd and 4th round draft picks in the trade, which they used to draft Miami linebacker Winston Moss, and Arizona State wide receiver Bruce Hill, respectively.

Steve Young played behind Montana his first several years, but shone as a backup. In a 1988 game, the scrambling southpaw shredded the Minnesota Vikings for a 49-yard, game-winning touchdown. In 1989, he displayed his potential to become the team's starter in the future. While Montana won the NFL MVP award and led the team to victory in Super Bowl XXIV, Young still had a good season, completing 69% of his passes for 1,001 yards and 8 touchdowns, with only 3 interceptions. Following an injury to Montana in the 1990 playoffs, Young got his chance to lead the 49ers in the 1991 season. He won the NFL's Most Valuable Player award in 1992 and again in 1994. He also led the league in pass efficiency for an NFL record four straight years. The crowning achievement of the Steve Young-led San Francisco 49ers was their dominating 49-26 win over the San Diego Chargers in Super Bowl XXIX.

On the strength of a six touchdown performance that surpassed the previous record of five, owned by the man Young replaced, Joe Montana, Steve Young was named the game's Most Valuable Player. Young also threw for 325 yards and rushed for 49 yards, making him the first player ever to finish a Super Bowl as the game's lead in both rushing and passing yards.

In the three years following Super Bowl XXIX, the 49ers would be eliminated each year by Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers, twice in San Francisco. However, in 1998, Young would finally best Favre in the NFC wild card game, as he threw the winning touchdown to wide receiver Terrell Owens as time expired to win the game 30-27. In deference to Dwight Clark's legendary catch against the Dallas Cowboys in the 1982 NFC championship game, Owens' grab was called "The Catch II". However, a week later, the 49ers were defeated by the Atlanta Falcons 20-18 in the divisional playoffs.

1999 was Steve Young's final season. After suffering his fourth concussion in three years in the third game of the regular season (officially, Young has suffered seven concussions; many believe the number to be higher), he was relegated to the sidelines and retired at the end of the season. Reportedly, Young suffered from symptoms of post-concussion syndrome for weeks afterward.

Though he did not become the 49ers' starter until his 8th NFL season, and though he played a full season only twice during his 15-year career, Young compiled impressive career numbers. He completed 2,667 of 4,149 passes for 33,124 yards and 232 touchdowns, with 107 interceptions. His 96.8 passer rating is the highest in NFL history; his 4,239 rushing yards are the second most ever gained by a quarterback, behind Randall Cunningham.

[edit] Legacy

A left-handed thrower, Young was famous for his ability to "scramble" away from the pass rush. He holds the record for most career rushing touchdowns by a quarterback, 43. He is the only quarterback in NFL history to have four consecutive seasons with a passer rating of over 100; he also led the league in passer rating those four years, another NFL record. Overall, Young was the NFL's top rated passer in 6 different seasons (1991-1994, 1996-1997), tying a record set by Sammy Baugh.

He has the second-highest single-season passer rating at 112.8 (set in the 1994 season), next to Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning, who shattered the mark in 2004 with a record 121.1 QB rating. However, among quarterbacks with at least 1,500 passing attempts, Young's career passer rating of 96.8 is the highest of any quarterback in NFL history. Peyton Manning is second at 94.1; Kurt Warner is third at 93.5. Young's career completion percentage (64.3%) is the fourth highest ever for qualifying quarterbacks, behind Kurt Warner (65.5%), and Chad Pennington (65.1%), and Marc Bulger (64.7%).

In 1999, he was ranked #63 on The Sporting News list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. Young was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame on February 5, 2005 and was enshrined August 7, 2005. His induction speech was given by his father, Grit Young.

[edit] Trivia

  • Young is the great-great-great-grandson of Brigham Young, a former President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for whom Brigham Young University is named.
  • Steve Young and his family are devout Mormons (members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints).
  • His father, LeGrande "Grit" Young, played football at BYU in the late 1950's. He led the school in scoring in 1955 and in rushing and total offense in 1959.
  • Steve Young's younger brothers Mike and Tom both played quarterback at BYU after Steve, but neither received much playing time.
  • In 1994, Young graduated from Brigham Young University's J. Reuben Clark Law School.
  • Young spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2000, leading some to speculate that he might be interested in entering politics in the future.
  • Married former model Barbara Graham, on March 15, 2000 in a Mormon ceremony at the Kona Hawaii Temple in Kailua-Kona on the island of Hawaii. They have two sons and one daughter together.
  • Steve Young's 1988 scramble against the Minnesota Vikings was featured in a 2006 Burger King commercial with the Burger King "King" digitally superimposed over the young quarterback.
  • When Salt Lake City was awarded the 2002 Winter Olympics in 1995, Young was the first volunteer. During the 2002 Winter Olympics opening ceremony, Young carried the placard for Great Britain. Additionally, Young was among the contingent at Salt Lake City in February 1998 to receive the Olympic Flag after the 1998 Winter Olympics closed in Nagano, Japan at Salt Lake City International Airport.
  • Did All Sport, Visa and Gatorade commercials with Jerry Rice, when he and Steve were still playing in the NFL for the 49ers.
  • Steve Young's favorite movie is a tie between the Da Vinci Code and the Russian sci-fi thriller Nightwatch.

[edit] External links

Preceded by:
Bruce Baumgartner
John Elway
Richard J. Giusto
Charles F. Kiraly
David R. Rimington		 NCAA Top Five Award
Class of 1984
John E. Frank
Beth Heiden
Terrell L. Hoage
Stefan G. Humphries
Steve Young		 Succeeded by:
Gregg Carr
Tracy Caulkins
Doug Flutie
Mark J. Traynowicz
Susan E. Walsh
Preceded by:
Joe Montana		 San Francisco 49ers Starting Quarterbacks
1991-1999		 Succeeded by:
Jeff Garcia
Preceded by:
Steve Deberg		 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Starting Quarterbacks
1986		 Succeeded by:
Steve Deberg
Preceded by:
Emmitt Smith		 NFL Super Bowl MVPs
Super Bowl XXIX, 1995		 Succeeded by:
Larry Brown
Preceded by:
Thurman Thomas		 NFL Most Valuable Player
1992 season		 Succeeded by:
Emmitt Smith
Preceded by:
Emmitt Smith		 NFL Most Valuable Player
1994 season		 Succeeded by:
Brett Favre
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