VIDEO: Steve Young Reveals The Habits Of A Champion
Steve Young once left $4 million in uncashed salary checks in a nightstand next to his bed.
At the end of the 1989 NFL football season, the San Francisco 49ers beat the Denver Broncos 55 – 10 in Super Bowl XXIV. Joe Montana was named MVP and threw five touchdown passes. Montana’s backup, Steve Young, played the final four minutes. “I felt like I wasn’t doing anything valuable because I was being paid to play,” Young told me in wide-ranging interview for his autobiography, QB: My Life Behind The Spiral. He only deposited the $4 million in paychecks after receiving an irate phone call from 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo. Young’s uncashed checks were throwing off the accounting department.
It wouldn’t be the first time Young didn’t feel as though he had earned his pay. On March 6, 1984, agent Leigh Steinberg stalled journalists for an hour to announce the signing of Young for the LA Express, part of the upstart USFL. Young’s $40 million contract would make him the highest paid athlete.
“I’m not going out there,” Young told Steinberg. “I never asked to be the highest paid player in sports…I hadn’t proven myself. I hadn’t earned it.” Steinberg coaxed Young to do the press conference. Although most of the money was deferred and not guaranteed, the media dubbed Young “The $40 million Dollar Quarterback.” Young took the field with something to prove. In his second game, Young became the first player in professional football history to rush for 100 yards and to throw for 300 yards in one game.
Steve Young’s actions remind us that inspiring leaders walk the talk. They have character and conviction. They live by a different moral compass. They back up their words with action.
Young vividly remembers the season—and the exact moments—he became a leader who his team wanted to rally behind.
On October 2, 1994, the 49ers were losing to the Eagles 40-8. Head coach George Seifert pulled Young from the game. Years of pent-up frustration boiled to the surface. Young was livid and visibly argued with the coach. While it was out of character for Young to show such anger publicly, the players began to perceive him in a different light. They saw a fiery leader committed to winning. The “Steve Young Rant” became a rallying cry for the rest of the season.
Five days later the team played in Detroit. Young got hit so hard an excruciating pain shot up his leg. “Writhing in pain” Young crawled on his elbows to the sideline. The doctors were worried he had injured a nerve and told him not to play. Young overruled them. As long as he could walk, he wanted back in. Two plays after crawling off the field he jogged back to the huddle and completed 17 of 20 passes, leading a come-from-behind victory. “Dude, you really are crazy. You did the death crawl,” one of his teammates said. Young had cemented his leadership role.
The 49ers played like a team with a new conviction. They won the next ten games and ended the season with the number one offense in the league. Young was named MVP, but didn’t feel a sense of accomplishment. In the locker room he gave the speech of his life:
“It’s 34 days to the Super Bowl. We need to make a commitment that every day we do everything we can to put the flag on top of Everest. Let’s go make some history!” Everyone roared. Young had become the leader everyone wanted to rally behind, but only after his actions during the season gave them a reason to follow him.
“Perception is reality. I had worked hard my entire career to establish myself as a leader. But I wasn’t a leader until I was perceived as one. You become a leader in times of trouble ,” says Steve Young. “Leaders emerge when things don’t go well. When everyone else starts pointing fingers, a leader takes responsibility.”
On January 29, 1995, Steve Young and the 49ers beat San Diego in Super Bowl XXIX. Young was named the Super Bowl MVP, but he missed the after-party. Suffering from dehydration, he was propped up in a hotel bed and hooked up to an IV. He had left everything on the field and yet, he “relished” the moment. He was right where he wanted to be.
The parties, the money, and the fame did not matter to Young. His joy came from leading teams to victory. But he learned that leadership must be earned. You can’t rally people to put “the flag on Everest” if they don’t respect, admire, and believe in you. And that’s why Young says it’s important to remain true to one’s convictions. He lives by a strict personal code to set a positive example on the field and in private. Steve Young has the arm of a quarterback, the mind of a champion and the attitude of a true leader.