SANTA CLARA – Watching the 1985 draft from his brother's apartment in Jackson, Miss., Jerry Rice figured his NFL career would begin with America's Team – the Cowboys.

"I really thought it was going to be the Dallas Cowboys because they had the next pick," Rice said in a teleconference Saturday, two hours after he was voted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and announced in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

Bill Walsh and the 49ers also suspected the Cowboys were eyeing the little-known wide receiver from Mississippi Valley State.

The 49ers coach had front-office accomplice John McVay work out a deal with the Patriots that gave the 49ers New England's No. 16 selection for the 49ers' first two draft picks. The 49ers grabbed Rice one slot ahead of Dallas, which ended up taking Kevin Brooks, a defensive end from Michigan.

Brooks played six seasons in the NFL. Rice made NFL history.

After 20 seasons – 16 of them in San Francisco – his name is next to the NFL's most significant receiving records: most catches, most touchdowns and most receiving yards. He is considered the best receiver ever, and for that he will be enshrined in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 7.

Joining Rice in the 2010 Hall of Fame class are Cowboys running back Emmitt Smith, who is the NFL's all-time rushing leader, Washington Redskins offensive lineman Russ Grimm, Minnesota Vikings defensive lineman John Randle, New Orleans Saints linebacker Rickey Jackson, Denver Broncos running back Floyd Little and Detroit Lions cornerback Dick LeBeau.

Other former 49ers, Roger Craig, Charles Haley and Richard Dent, did not make the final cut.

Although Rice's body of work made him a shoo-in in his first year of eligibility, he said he never took his induction for granted and broke down in tears minutes after learning he was in.

Rice cited two men, both deceased, who played pivotal roles in his life. The first was his father, Joe Nathan, a bricklayer in Crawford, Miss., who would toss bricks to his sons and who helped Rice develop his legendary work ethic.

The other was Walsh, who died in 2007.

Walsh famously became smitten with Rice when he happened to see college highlights of the wide receiver during a 49ers trip in Houston in 1984. He zeroed in on Rice before the 1985 draft.

"Bill was so high on this kid, there was no way we weren't going to work something out," recalled former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr., who will introduce Rice in August. "Dallas had their eye on him. We had to jump ahead to No. 16 to grab him. Obviously, it was a phenomenal move."

McVay said Walsh loved the excitement of draft-day deals. McVay would call every team in the league asking if they'd be interested in making a deal. In 1985, the key was slipping ahead of the Cowboys, who also liked to wheel and deal. That's when McVay called the Patriots.

"Bill was the final word," he said. "I said, 'We've got a deal.' He gave it the OK."

Rice, meanwhile, said the deal initially looked like a disaster. Rice had trouble holding onto passes as a rookie, and his background as a bricklayer was used pejoratively to describe his clumsy hands.

"Everybody looked at Bill as not being a genius," Rice said with a laugh.

The rookie's hands, however, quickly improved. He finished with 927 receiving yards in 1985 and 1,570 the following year. That began a string of 11 seasons in which he finished with more than 1,000 receiving yards.

"It was hard work and appreciation for the game," said Rice, a consultant to DeBartolo, who runs a sports agency. "And I loved this game. It was everything to me."

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