The SN Rushmore project selected four professional players from each of the 13 cities that have had at least four of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, or WNBA represented for at least 20 years. Although there were no strict guidelines for the sportsmen chosen, our panel of experts took into account each athlete’s resume, team performance, and history within each city’s sports scene. There was no need that every team be represented; multiple players from the same organisation might participate. Every sports fan has a stance on this issue. Ours is this.

Both the Bay Area and many of the greatest professional sportsmen to ever call it home are not always associated with the word “grit.” The grandeur of Rice, Montana, Bonds, Mays, Henderson, McCovey, and Barry was so dreadfully stephortless.

But as you delve a bit farther, you begin to get what makes them so exceptional.

Talent x Grit

Some of the top performers in the Bay Area were preceded in legacy. Joe Montana, who won a national title at Notre Dame, contributed to the introduction of a revolutionary offensive strategy that would fundamentally alter the league. Barry Bonds returned to his native Bay Area after winning the MVP award in Pittsburgh.

Others responded to their arrivals with mistrust. Outside of the national spotlight, Jerry Rice dominated collegiate football. Would he be able to gain separation against the NFL’s top defences? Although Stephen Curry was a charming character with a lovely swing, could a Davidson guard really be more than the NBA’s sixth man?

Yes and again.

The Mount Rushmore of the Bay Area is made up of four legends that have the honour of being considered for GOAT status in each of their respective sports. Above the numerous other legends who performed at Oracle Arena, the Coliseum, the Cow Palace, and the ‘Stick, Rice, Curry, Bonds, and Montana stand out. In order to hear who We Believe belongs on the mountain, blast the foghorn, fire the water cannons, and so forth.

RICE, JERRY (49ers, 1985-2000; Raiders 2001-04)

The best football player to ever live was possibly Jerry Rice. When ranking the top 100 players in league history in 2010, the NFL Network agreed, placing him at No. 1.

Much was anticipated from the moment general manager John McVay and head coach Bill Walsh traded up to get Mississippi Valley State’s Rice in the 1985 NFL draught.

According to longtime Bay Area columnist Ray Ratto, “Bill Walsh was unlike most other talent evaluators in that he didn’t feel there was a man he’d truly like to have.” Rice was arguably the best illustration of one of the few guys he had to have.

Despite having a difficult first season, he still managed to accumulate about 1,000 yards receiving. It began in the second year. Rice led the NFL in both categories with a total of over 1,500 receiving yards and 15 touchdown catches. Possibly his most spectacular season of his Hall of Fame career was the 1987 one that was cut short by a strike. He caught 22 touchdown passes in just 12 games, placing second in the MVP voting and winning the AP Player of the Year award.

Ratto remarks, “The ironic thing is he didn’t really have a defining moment (in his career). He played a lot of games that defined him.

One of these was the thrilling 20-16 victory by the 49ers over the Bengals in Super Bowl 23. Rice dominated the Bengals with 11 catches for 215 yards and a touchdown, winning MVP honours because he was simply unstoppable.

According to Bonta Hill, anchor of Warriors pregame live on NBC Sports Bay Area and radio personality on 95.7 The Game, “He dominated the game coming off an ankle injury.” “He was incredible. It made no difference whether the defence was double-teamed or triple-teamed, Hill added.

Rice was at his best when the lights were on. He played in four Super Bowls, averaging 147.3 yards and two touchdowns per game (three in San Francisco and one with Oakland). No other wide receiver with Super Bowl experience has averaged more than 117 receiving yards.

After spending 16 seasons with the Niners, Rice moved across the Bay and, at the age of 40, with a 1,200-yard season, helped Oakland make its lone Super Bowl trip. He nevertheless managed to average 61 yards per game and score 18 touchdowns in 54 relatively forgotten games with Oakland, all of which came after the age of 39.

In July and August, he put in more effort than you did, then in September, October, November, December, and January, Ratto says, “He beat you like an old rug.”

In two words, his career stats are completely absurd. Despite the NFL’s transformation over the last 20 years into a pass-first league, he still holds the top spots in the league’s records for receptions, receiving yards, touchdowns, and all-purpose yards. He ranked top 10 in the NFL 12 times for receptions, receiving yards, and touchdowns. He concluded with three Super Bowl rings and was an All-Pro pick ten times.

According to Ratto, Rice was the only player who could never be located by any other squad, despite their best efforts. “You couldn’t take him out of the game by double-teaming. And that’s most likely the extraordinary statement you can make about anyone.

In the end, there aren’t enough goat emojis to adequately summarise his career.

Rice By The Numbers

Career receptions; rec yds; rec TDs	1,549*; 22,895*; 197*
First-team All-Pro	10
Super Bowl titles	3
Super Bowl MVP	1
Career points	1,256**

STEPH CURRY (Warriors, 2009-current)

The game was simply altered by Stephen Curry.

When the Warriors selected him seventh overall in the 2009 draught, everyone knew he could shoot. But few envisioned him becoming possibly the best shooter to ever live, with a superb handle, a flair for the theatrical, and the catalyst for an NBA dynasty that almost no one predicted.

Curry was teamed with Monta Ellis in the backcourt early in his career when the Warriors were buried in well over a decade of mediocrity after Run TMC and a brief return to relevance with We Believe. Ellis was a favourite of many Warriors supporters, but the team’s management had other ideas.

It was either team Monta or team Steph, according to Hill. “I recall thinking that the Warriors made a mistake when they moved Monta. Steph was the one with the wounded ankles. Another cursed warrior, he is.

When Ellis was moved to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012, Curry and youngster Klay Thompson were able to take Ellis‘ place as the backcourt for the Dubs. Curry started the most productive shooting streak in NBA history during the 2012–2013 season. In 2013, he shattered the league’s all-time mark for made 3-pointers in a single season (272). Additionally, in 2015 (286). And once more in 2016, setting a new record (402). Curry has 127 more triples than Ray Allen for the career record and four of the top five single-season marks in league history. He’s only 34, too.

But it is clear that he is more than just a shooting prodigy because, prior to the arrival of Kevin Durant, he guided the Warriors to back-to-back NBA Finals trips and brought four rings to the Bay Area, which had not won an NBA title since 1975.

Ratto asserted, “I think it’s safe to say at no point in his career was he the best player in the league, but he was the most crucial player on the best team four times.”

There are the championships Curry has brought to the Bay, a brand-new, cutting-edge arena in San Francisco as a result, and the memories. His performance against the Celtics in Game 4 of the NBA Finals was legendary.

“In a gotta-have-it game, it’s hard not to say that’s not the iconic moment,” adds Hill. “He quiet the crowd and dropped 43 big ones.” “On the most magnificent stages. Under all of those flags in Boston.

It’s possible that his 54-point outburst in 2013 at Madison Square Garden against a Knicks team who had passed him in the draught served as his NBA Superstar inauguration. The 40-foot bomb he made on his 12th 3-point attempt, which tied the NBA record at the time and helped his team defeat the OKC Thunder in 2016, may be his most famous shot.

Hill says, “Me and my friends watched that on DVR.” “Purchased some wings. We were on the floor rolling around, completely confused and asking, “What is this?” He also managed to play through an ankle injury earlier in the game.

As impressive as his two MVP awards and four NBA championships are, it is his playing style that has truly revolutionised the game.

“These days, the phrase “changing the game” is used quite loosely. But he has changed the game, claims Hill. “Players, both boys and girls, aspire to look like Stephen Curry. Because of what Stephen Curry can accomplish beneath the rim, they want to imitate him.

Bonds, Barry (Giants, 1993-2007)

Baseball is the sport that relies on statistics the most. Nothing makes sense when you look up Barry Bonds‘ statistics on baseball reference. Even after refreshing the website, nothing makes sense. His slugging percentage resembles OPS in format. His power numbers are really astounding during both of his professional eras in San Francisco.

Obviously, the figures must be interpreted with extreme caution because PED use in baseball peaked in the late 1990s.

According to Ratto, “There is an asterisk next to that entire era, and that’s baseball’s issue because baseball allowed it to happen because baseball took all the money and allowed that to happen.”

Bonds was demonised by some baseball fans in general, but his reputation in San Francisco was and will always be unshakeable.

Hill replies, “I mean yeah, it’s debatable, but he is without a doubt a Hall of Famer.” The dispute is what it is, after all. Here steroids involved? Probably. But who wasn’t living then?

It’s simple to see why he won 7 MVP awards, second only to Wayne Gretzky in the annals of professional sports, while examining the statistics that marked the end of his time in the Bay. He won his third MVP award in 1993, his first full season in San Francisco, playing at wind-battered Candlestick Park, with 46 home runs, 123 RBIs, and 29 stolen bases. In spite of making 617 plate appearances and 232 walks, he blasted 45 home runs and drove in 101 runs in 2004, winning his final MVP title.

Ratto remarked, “He was the most dreaded player ever in terms of making managers simply sweat and making pitchers just wish they had taken up another career. He walked almost 240 times in a year and purposely walked 120 times.

In baseball history, Bonds was the most anticipated TV athlete, eclipsing probably even his Godfather Willie Mays. Everything came to a stop when he approached the plate, waggling the bat slightly. Flashbulbs went off, spectators stood to see either a 420-foot home run or—more frequently—a nervous pitcher gnawing furiously as Bonds made his way slowly toward first base.

Ratto remarked that Bonds “generated more dread than anyone else the game has ever seen.” More than (Ted) Williams, Joe DiMaggio, and even Mays, according to Ratto.

He walked an amazing 755 times between 2001 and 2004, which was the height of his power.

Regardless of the statistics, Barry Bonds‘ reputation in the Bay began when he played for Serra High School in San Mateo, which eventually turned out Tom Brady. His domination in the major leagues assisted the Giants organisation in 2000 in the construction of a brand-new ballpark on the San Francisco Bay shoreline.

Hill explains, “It’s the park that Barry Bonds developed.” Baseball was Barry’s sport in San Francisco. He was a big draw. Consider how much better Rich Aurilla is now thanks to him. Consider how much better Jeff Kent is now as a result. He was Barry’s backup and won an MVP.

Bonds By The Numbers

Most Valuable Player awards (with Giants)	5
Silver Slugger awards (with Giants)	9
Gold Glove awards (with Giants)	5
Career home runs*	762
Single-season home runs*	73

JOE MONTANA (49ers, 1979-92)

Joe Montana’s career is encapsulated in a single play.

In the 1982 NFC Championship game against the dreaded Dallas Cowboys, Montana rolled to his right, was pursued to the sideline, pump faked to wait for Dwight Clark to open up, and threw a ball high to the back corner of the end zone while trailing by a touchdown. In one of the most recognisable plays in NFL history, Clark caught the throw, solidifying Montana’s status as the Comeback Kid.

Ratto claims that throughout his career, there were numerous instances where he should have been full his pants instead of being as composed as possible.

The 49ers weren’t only sent to their first Super Bowl because to the turmoil. After the city had seven unsuccessful seasons in eight years, it helped a franchise to a decade of prosperity. The fact that Montana did it against the Cowboys, who had eliminated the 49ers from the playoffs three times in a row from 1970 to 1972, was the cherry on top of The Catch.

Joe Cool led 31 comeback drives throughout the course of his 15-year career. Up until the likes of Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers arrived, he was largely regarded as the best quarterback to ever play in the NFL. He contributed to Bill Walsh’s West Coast offence revolutionising the NFL.

According to Hill, “This guy revolutionised the culture of the 49ers, similar to what Steph Curry accomplished for the Golden State Warriors.” “People overlook Joe’s past. That guy was Joe. He was that time period’s Brady. every single commercial Everything. When contemplating pin-point precision It was Joe, if you consider the clutch gene.

Although his total stats aren’t particularly impressive, his influence on the game is apparent after earning three MVP awards in Super Bowls and back-to-back MVP awards in 1989 and 1990.

According to Ratto, “the stats are the worst approach to compare because the NFL today hardly resembles what it was 40 years ago.” “You can’t really remove a man from his timeline, which is yet another reason why Montana is significant. The fact that quarterbacks are given so much credit for what is fundamentally an ensemble sport is probably the best illustration of why he should be on the list.

Montana By The Numbers

Super Bowl titles	4
Super Bowl MVPs	3
MVP awards	2
Pro Bowls	8
First-team All-Pro	3