A DIAMOND IN THE GARLIC PATCH 49ERS' GARCIA TOOK LESS TRAVELED ROAD FROM GILROY TO NFL.

Byline: Chris Cocoles Staff Writer

STOCKTON - Nobody wanted Jeff Garcia to play quarterback.

Major college football coaches didn't want him as a QB even after he played the position for a local junior college, which was coached by his dad. So, Garcia had to settle on lowly San Jose State.

The NFL didn't want him, so he ended up in the Canadian Football League. Even after dominating the CFL and getting a Bill Walsh recommendation stapled to his resume, nobody wanted him. Only after Walsh joined the 49ers' front office did Garcia get an NFL job.

And 49ers fans certainly didn't want Garcia. Clad in Joe Montana and Steve Young jerseys, they were on the verge of kicking his behind off Candlestick Point in 1999 after he took over for Young, who was injured early in the season. The 49ers were so bad with Garcia at quarterback that he was replaced by third-stringer Steve Stenstrom.

Yet, as Garcia begins his third season as the 49ers' full-time starter tonight against the New York Giants, he's become one of the NFL's elite quarterbacks.

``I don't know what other people didn't see,'' said Walsh, who coached four Montana-led Super Bowl title teams and helped groom Young into another championship quarterback. ``To this day I can't quite understand it. That there were so many who didn't have an appreciation for those qualities that are needed to play the position of quarterback in the National Football League.''

Garcia has fulfilled the promise Walsh envisioned, playing in two consecutive Pro Bowls, and he's on the brink of taking the 49ers to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 1994 season.

Garcia played and starred in several sports growing up in Gilroy, known more for producing garlic than NFL quarterbacks. Wrestling wasn't one of them. ``We'd get up at 4 a.m. and put him and (younger brother) Jason in the little tights and took them to Salinas for their first match,'' Jeff's father, Bob Garcia, said. ``They both got pinned (in seconds), and I said, `I think wrestling's over.' ''

At 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, Garcia has Montana's physique. His daredevil mentality mirrors Young's.

His first three seasons as the 49ers' starting quarterback are comparable to Montana and Young. In fact, Garcia has thrown for more touchdowns and completions.

His touchdown-to-interception ratio of 63-22 (a 2.86 ratio) is the league's best over the past two seasons. And more important, he returned a storied team to the NFL's upper echelon in 2001. The 49ers went 12-4 and made the playoffs after going 4-12 in 1999 and 6-10 in 2000.

He throws crisp spirals in San Francisco's West Coast offense. He slashes outside the pocket when needed and scares the heck out of head coach Steve Mariucci when he refuses to slide so he can get a couple of extra yards.

``I've been around some tough quarterbacks like (Brett Favre) and Steve Young,'' Mariucci said. ``And Jeff Garcia is (tough). The great quarterbacks, you better be a tough guy. A lot is written about their arms and their smarts and their ability to move around and make a play. There's no way you can play a game week after week after week without getting up after you just get walloped by some big guys.''

Garcia was tough enough to outlast those who thought he'd never make it in the NFL when the 49ers were losing.

``He's a winner,'' tight end Eric Johnson said. ``He's working hard every day to get us to the Super Bowl. He's the kind of guy that gets everyone on the offense's attention. We trust him and he trusts us. We want to be led by him.''

Garcia might not have been attractive to the USCs and Notre Dames of college football, but around the neighborhood he was a blue-chip recruit. ``I don't care what (sport) it was, if we were choosing up sides, all the kids wanted Jeff,'' Bob Garcia said. ``Because when it came down to competition and intensity, they wanted him.''

For the Garcias, tragedy has been a bigger part of their lives than Jeff's triumphs. The horror of a boy losing a younger sibling and parents losing a child struck the family twice within 14 months.

In 1977, 6-year-old Jason Garcia lost his footing walking across boulders, fell into a creek and drowned on a family vacation. A little more than a year later, Jeff's younger sister Kimberly fell out of the back of a pickup truck and died from internal injuries.

Jeff escaped through sports. He rarely spoke about Jason and Kimberly's deaths, choosing to participate in every conceivable activity available.

Jeff was 17-1 as a Little League pitcher. In basketball, his 12-year-old team went to a regional-championship tournament. And in football, he prophetically competed in Candlestick Park in a Punt, Pass and Kick contest.

Gilroy is home to Gavilan College. Bob Garcia coached the school's football team for 24 seasons. When a broken arm cost Jeff most of his senior season at Gilroy and scared off college coaches, father and son spent a memorable fall together at Gavilan just a year before Bob's retirement.

The 49ers' complicated playbook is nothing like the gimmicks Bob diagramed in the dirt. In a one-back formation that featured everything from bootlegs and throwback screen passes, Jeff ran for almost 600 yards and threw for more than 2,000.

``He would run that boot,'' Bob said, ``and guys are going, `How the hell did he do that?' ''

In a game against Cabrillo College, a mix-up after a play call created friction between father and son. Bob yelled at his son. ``Jeff said, `Dad, settle down.' `Me settle down! You sit your (butt) on the bench.' The very next play we recover a fumble. Offense runs back in there. I'm pointing to run the play. Finally, they say, `We don't have a quarterback.' I look and he's sitting. I go, `What in the hell are you doing?' `Dad, you told me to sit on the bench.' ''

Gavilan suited up just 35 players on game day and there was just one quarterback on the roster. But Jeff stayed in one piece to lead his 1989 team to an 8-3 record and a hometown Garlic Bowl victory.

``I've always felt that his players gave everything for my dad,'' Jeff said. ``It's just because it's the type of person that he is. He embraces people. He was a father figure to so many other kids out there. I always knew what his expectations were, and he expected me to be in the front and I expected myself to be a leader. That's what I learned growing up in watching him as a father and a coach.''

Bob and Linda Garcia had two more daughters a decade after the tragedies. But Jeff's twisting road to where he is today was inspired by those members of the family who went along for the ride in spirit only.

When Jeff led Gavilan to an upset of City College of San Francisco, longtime CCSF coach George Rush had to double-check the roster. ``Jeff threw for about 450 yards,'' Bob recalled. ``(Rush) came down to me after the game and said, `Bob, don't tell me that's your son.' `Oh yeah.' ''

Walsh got his first look at Garcia when he lit up Walsh's Stanford team in 1993 and the Spartans almost pulled off an upset.

Walsh, also a San Jose State graduate, had stepped down as Stanford's coach and wasn't tied to any NFL teams when he found out about Garcia's quest to get an NFL gig.

Walsh worked the phones, calling old friends throughout the league. He sold Garcia's grit, ability to scramble out of the pocket and improvise when a play was doomed.

Walsh hooked up Garcia with a respected agent, Jim Steiner, before the draft after his senior season at San Jose State.

``No results at all. Jim did everything he could, finally gave up,'' said Walsh, who eventually found a place for Garcia in Canada.

Garcia was a celebrity in Hamilton, Ontario, and Vancouver, British Columbia, and all points in between during five seasons quarterbacking the CFL's Calgary Stampeders. He won Canada's Super Bowl, the Grey Cup, in 1998, without creating anything more than a blurb south of the border.

Walsh never gave up on Garcia. He was one of a handful of believers and presumably the only one who wasn't a blood relative.

``The next time around,'' Walsh told Garcia, ``if I'm in the National Football League, you'll be playing quarterback for us.''

Walsh was named the 49ers' vice president/general manager in 1999.

Now 32, Garcia doesn't have much time to achieve NFL greatness. So he'll make every snap count.

He said he led a great life even before the Pro Bowls and the huge contract. Canada was a fun time. Playing at San Jose State and finishing his career as the Spartans' career total-offense leader was a hoot. Earning a business/marketing degree was invaluable. And he got to play football for his dad.

``I've always grown up in a family where we as kids always lived a good life. We may not have had everything that we wanted or dreamed about, but we were never suffering,'' he said. ``And we realized what it took for my dad to provide that life. It took a lot of hard work and dedication. In a lot of ways, that has carried over to me. I really value everything that I have today. I'm not going out buying four or five cars or going crazy with my money. But I'm having a good time with what I've been able to achieve. I'm sharing that with my family.''

After a training-camp practice under the usual scorching Stockton summer sun, Garcia politely withstood the standard interview deluge, doing three separate chats with print reporters and one with a local television station. He also spoke with a Spanish-language television station.

He was one of the last 49ers on the field with hundreds of autograph seekers calling his name. A front-office staff member asked if he wanted an escort back to the locker room.

``No, I'm going to sign autographs,'' he said. ``Everybody's yelling.''

Finally, somebody wanted Jeff Garcia as their quarterback.

NFL SEASON OPENER

San Francisco 49ers at New York Giants

Kickoff: Today, 5:30 p.m.

SAN FRANCISCO AT N.Y. GIANTS

Line: 49ers by 3

2001 record vs. spread: 49ers 9-7; Giants 5-9

Series record: 49ers lead 12-11

Last meeting: 49ers beat Giants 31-7 on Nov. 30, 1998 at San Francisco

2001 rankings: 49ers: Offense (rush No. 2, pass No. 14, overall No. 4) Defense (rush No. 9, pass No. 19, overall No. 13). Giants: Offense (rush No. 15, pass No. T8, overall No. 9) Defense (rush No. 8, pass No. 21, overall No. 14)

Key stat: 49ers have won past six meetings.

Worth watching: Giants have not scored more than 17 points against 49ers since 34-24 loss to San Francisco in 1989.

Outlook: One of the best rivalries in the NFC a decade ago has been dormant lately, considering the up-and-down fortunes of these teams. The Niners are supposed to be up this year and the Giants down. Jim Fassel has had two good seasons and three that were mediocre. The two good seasons both came in years the Giants were supposed to do nothing.

Prediction: 49ers 31, Giants 27

-Daily News Wire Services

CAPTION(S):

2 photos, 3 boxes

Photo:

(1 -- color) Jeff Garcia was a quarterback no major college or NFL team wanted, until San Francisco's Bill Walsh, a fellow San Jose State alumnus, brought him to the 49ers.

Paul Sakuma/Associated Press

(2) no caption (Jeff Garcia)

Box:

(1) NFL SEASON OPENER (see text)

(2) SAN FRANCISCO AT N.Y. GIANTS (see text)

(3) JEFF GARCIA'S CAREER STATISTICS