Tom Brady

 Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. was born in San Mateo, California, on August 3 1977. He was the sole fourth son of Galynn Patricia (nee Johnson) and Thomas Brady Sr.[11 He was raised as a Catholic. His father is Irish and his mother is from Norway, Sweden, Germany, and Poland. [12][13] Two of Brady's great-great-grandparents on his father's side, John and Bridget Brady, were Irish refugees from the Great Famine who moved to San Francisco from Boston before the American Civil War. Bridget's sister Ann Meegan and her husband Lawrence Meegan were there to accompany them. They were the parents of 19-century American Major League Baseball pitcher "Steady" Pete Meegan. Brady's great-uncle Michael Buckley Jr. was the first American prisoner of war during the World War In the 1980s, Brady regularly attended San Francisco 49ers games at Candlestick Park, where he was a big fan of the quarterback Joe Montana; Brady called Montana his idol and one of his inspirations. 19 years ago, Brady was just four years old when he went to the 1981 NFC Championship against the Dallas Cowboys. Montana threw The Catch to Dwight Clark. [20] Brady was a youngster who attended college football camp at the College of San Mateo. He learned to throw the ball under Tony Graziani who would later become an NFL/AFL quarterback. 21. Brady was raised as in the midst of a Los Angeles Lakers or Boston Celtics fan despite the rivalry between the two teams. He was a student at Junipero San Mateo High School where he graduated in 1995. [23] He was a high school basketball, football and baseball player. He was a player against Bellarmine College Preparatory rival Pat Burrell in football as well as baseball. (24) Brady began his football career as a backup quarterback for the Padres junior-varsity team. Brady was not proficient enough at first to to be a part of the JV team which had a score of 0-8, which hadn't scored a touchdown for all of the season. [25] Brady was elevated to the starting position after the quarterback suffered an injury. When he was in his junior year, he was named the varsity starter and held it until he graduated. Brady was determined to be noticed by coaches at colleges by Brady's senior year. Brady recorded highlight tapes of his performances and sent them out to schools that he was interested. He made highlight tapes and sent them to schools he was interested in. Brady was a four-star prospect for recruiting during the 2000s. In essence Brady was a highly rated player. He was rated 28 times. Brady was also featured in Blue Chip Illustrated as well as a Prep Football Report All-American selection. [29] After his recruiting process, he narrowed down his list to five schools. [30] "Probably the ones that we actually heard from and then narrowed the list down to were Cal-Berkeley UCLA, USC, Michigan and Illinois" the father said. His father, who was a Cal fan, was hoping that Brady would attend Cal where Brady was a quiet committed and that he would be able to watch Brady play.