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Steve Young

"You are smarter than you think you are," was the lesson Pro Football Hall of Famer Steve Young had drilled into him by English teacher Charles Reich.

"Steve was usually quiet during the first half of class, absorbing the commentary," Mr. Reich recalls of the legendary quarterback. "Then, as if he were surveying an NFL defense before taking the snap from center, he would synthesize the ideas and take the discussion to a higher level of discovery."

Behind Every Famous Person is a Fabulous Teacher.

Steve Young and Charles Reich

Steve Young was born on October 11, 1961 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He is a former quarterback for the NFL's San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Los Angeles Express of the short-lived United States Football League.

Steve attended Brigham Young University which is named for his great-great-great grandfather Brigham Young. During his senior year, Young was named first team All-American, won the Davey O’Brien National Quarterback award, and came in second in Heisman Trophy voting. In 2001, he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.

After one and a half seasons in the US Football League, which ultimately ceased operations, Young was drafted first in the 1985 supplemental draft and signed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. After two unsuccessful seasons in Tampa Bay, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers where he would play for the next thirteen seasons until he retired. After spending his first few seasons as backup to Joe Montana, Young became the 49ers’ starting quarterback until he retired after the 1999 season.

He was named the Most Valuable Player of the NFL in 1992 and 1994, the MVP of Super Bowl XXIX, and was a 7-time Pro Bowler. Steve was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2005, the first left-handed quarterback to be so honored. He holds the NFL record for highest career passer rating and won six NFL passing titles.

In 1993, Young founded the Forever Young Foundation which serves children who face significant physical, emotional, and financial challenges by providing academic, athletic, and therapeutic opportunities that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Steve currently appears as an Analyst on Monday Night Football

Charles Reich earned his Bachelor’s degree at Tufts University and his Master’s at SUNY, Albany.  He did his 6th year at Teachers College at Columbia University and was a visiting scholar at Cambridge University in England.  He has been awarded several fellowships, including the John Hay Fellowship from the University of Chicago, the Wall Street Journal Fellowship from the University of Wisconsin, and the NDEA Fellowship from Northwestern University.  In addition to working as a teacher of English, he has served as a housemaster at Greenwich High School in Connecticut, an adjunct faculty member at Norwalk Community College, and an administrator for the American Institute of Foreign Study in Europe.  He is also the owner and director of the Cambridge-American Summer School in England and the foreign expert for Beijing University of Chemical Technology.  Additionally, he is the author of two novels and a collection of short stories.

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