GREATEST RECEIVER'S WORK IS DONE RICE RETIRES FOLLOWING 20 SEASONS, MANY RECORDS.

Byline: Billy Witz Staff Writer

When Jerry Rice was growing up in the small town of Crawford, Miss., he and his brothers spent their summer days helping their father, a bricklayer, tossing and catching bricks as he worked up on scaffolding.

His huge hands handled bricks better, his father once said, than any worker he'd ever had.

Nobody handled a football better either.

Rice, who holds NFL career records for receptions, yards and touchdowns and carried a widely held reputation as the best receiver who has played the sport, announced his retirement Monday.

At an emotional news conference in Denver, Rice decided to walk away after being told by Broncos coach Mike Shanahan that he'd begin the season as the team's No. 4 receiver, which would mean scant playing time.

``I never thought I'd ever see this day,'' said the 42-year-old Rice, who was to begin his 21st season next weekend.

After an opening statement, Rice sniffled and wiped tears from his eyes as he began to thank the Broncos, his former San Francisco 49ers teammates, and then his wife.

``This is a happy day for me,'' he said. ``The tears that you see, I have really enjoyed this ride.''

It is fitting that Rice announced his retirement on Labor Day, because it was his work ethic, which he said his father instilled in him, that set him apart.

``I'd be speaking to kids at elementary schools, and, inevitably, they'd ask about Jerry Rice,'' former 49ers quarterback Steve Young said in a conference call Monday. ``The difference between Jerry Rice and everybody else is he woke up and said, 'I'm going to be the greatest receiver of all time.' While everyone else was watching Oprah and hanging out, he was going to be the best receiver of all time. He played like it was game day when nobody else was watching.''

This meant being up at daybreak in the offseason to run up a 2 1/2-mile hill - more like a mountain, his teammates would say - near his home in Atherton, a fly pattern from Stanford. Often, he was joined by teammates, who just as often were left behind.

Then they would drive to the gym, lift weights for an hour, and by 9:30, they'd be on their way home.

``Jerry never wavered,'' said Mike Wilson, a former 49ers receiver who would join Rice in the workouts during their six seasons together. ``He had a work ethic that nobody else could touch.''

Wilson, the Arizona Cardinals' receivers coach, says that although Rice is far from his prime, many of today's players still put him on a pedestal.

When the Cardinals were warming up Friday night for their game against Denver, he began to tell two of his young receivers, Bryant Johnson and Charles Lee, about Rice.

``They said, 'You know Jerry?' '' Wilson said in a phone interview. `` 'Can you get us his autograph?' That goes to show you how respected he is.''

It seems hard to fathom now, but Rice was the 16th overall pick in the 1985 NFL Draft and the third receiver chosen, after the Jets took Al Toon 10th and the Bengals took Eddie Brown 13th.

After putting up prodigious numbers at Mississippi Valley State, where he set 18 NCAA Division II records, there were questions about Rice's speed - he ran an ordinary, 4.6 40-yard dash - and the level of competition he had faced.

When, as a rookie, he struggled to catch the ball, a Bay Area newspaper chronicled his troubles in a story headlined: ``Snap, Crackle, Drop.'' Late that season in a Monday night game against the Los Angeles Rams, he marked his arrival by catching 10 passes for 241 yards and a touchdown.

Two years later, in 1987, Rice set an NFL record with 22 touchdown receptions - a mark that still stands - despite playing in just 12 games and catching but 65 passes in the strike- shortened season. He was the league's Most Valuable Player.

After the 1988 season, he took home a Super Bowl MVP trophy after catching 11 passes for 215 yards - the latter still a Super Bowl record - in the 49ers' 20-16 win over Cincinnati. Although that game is best remembered for Joe Montana's touchdown pass to John Taylor in the final seconds, Rice caught three passes for 51 yards on the 92-yard winning drive.

Rice's true value was that he was there when his teammates needed him most. He holds Super Bowl records for receptions, yards and touchdowns.

``You've got to be a quarterback to know what it's like to have somebody like that making plays,'' Young said. ``When it's third-and-10, you're on the road, and everybody's tired. When everybody else is headed for the bus, not only is Jerry not going to quit, he's going to be there and be open.''

Rice's greatest season statistically came in 1995. He caught 122 passes for 15 touchdowns and an NFL-record 1,848 yards, breaking a 34-year-old record.

Soon after, he began to chafe as the 49ers slid down the list of Super Bowl contenders, and Terrell Owens began to assume a larger role in the offense. After the 2000 season, Rice was not re-signed and went to Oakland.

Rice showed he still had plenty left, catching 83 and 92 passes his first two seasons with the Raiders for a total of 2,350 yards and 16 touchdowns, helping them to the 2002 Super Bowl. He began to slip in 2003 and, relegated to a reserve role, was traded to Seattle midway through last season. He finished the year with the Seahawks and weighed retirement before signing with Denver, his only suitor.

In each of his last two stops, he was brought in to contribute as a role player and a role model, working for coaches - Mike Holmgren in Seattle and Shanahan in Denver - who had been offensive coordinators in San Francisco.

``It was difficult,'' Rice said of the last few days. ``I came in and gave it my best shot. I still wanted to play. It didn't happen. I'm still going to hold my head up high.''

Billy Witz, [phone]

billy.witz(at)dailynews.com

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JERRY RICE BY THE NUMBERS