Tom Brady Revisits One of the NFL’s Great Dynasties in ‘Rise of the 49ers’
Tom Brady won Super Bowls with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and he’s currently a minority owner of the Las Vegas Raiders, but the legendary quarterback’s roots in the game grew deep in San Francisco.
“My family had season tickets to the San Francisco 49ers. That alone made me fall in love with football,” Brady says. He wanted to be Joe Montana throwing deep to Jerry Rice.
A native of San Mateo, California, Brady was fortunate to have witnessed one of the NFL’s greatest dynasties at its pinnacle. The Niners won five Lombardi Trophies from the early 1980s to the mid ’90s, and featured rosters laden with all-time greats and future Hall of Famers.
Brady executive produces, narrates and appears on camera in AMC’s Rise of the 49ers, a two-night, four-part docuseries looking at the 49ers’ “Gold Rush” dominance and including interviews with Niners greats Montana, Rice, Steve Young, Ronnie Lott, Randy Cross, former owner Eddie De Bartolo Jr. and many others. Brady also fulfills his boyhood dream by tossing a ball to Rice.
De Bartolo Jr.’s purchase of the team in 1977 ushered in a new era in the NFL. He hired West Coast offense innovator Bill Walsh as head coach, who then picked Montana in the third round of the 1979 NFL Draft. Montana’s famous touchdown pass to Dwight Clark in the 1981 NFC championship, simply “The Catch,” signaled the start of the Niners’ reign. Rice’s arrival in 1985 further tightened the team’s grip on the league.
After four titles and a quarterback controversy, Young succeeded Montana and in the 1994 season won the franchise’s fifth — and most recent — Super Bowl.
Rise of the 49ers, Sunday, February 1, and Monday, February 2, 9/8c, AMC and AMC+
Puzzler '80s Comedy Classics
Vol 1, Issue 6
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