After  his  retirement,  Rice’s  celebrity  has  grown  beyond  the  football  field.  He  finished second in the second season of the ABC hit-reality show Dancing with the Stars and has appeared on  NBC’s  Deal or No Deal and  Law  and  Order  SVU,  FOX’s  Don’t  Forget  the  Lyrics,  CBS’s  The Class,  CW’s  The Game and One Tree Hill,  Spike  TV’s  Pros vs. Joes,  ABC’s  American Inventor and The Biggest Loser. Rice also previously co-hosted  “Sports  Sundays”  with  Raj  Mathai  on   the San Jose NBC local affiliate. He is currently in a multi-year marketing contract with Van Heusen and part of his endorsement includes an International Advertising campaign.

Born in Crawford, Mississippi, Rice did not start playing football until he was a sophomore in high school. Despite becoming an All-State player, Rice was not recruited by many major college football programs and attended Mississippi Valley State University, a Division I-AA school. As a senior, he broke NCAA records for receptions, yards and touchdowns and acquired  the  nickname  “World”  because  there  wasn’t  a  ball  in  the  world  he  couldn’t  catch.   MVSU later renamed its football stadium Rice-Totten Stadium in honor of Rice and quarterback Willie Totten. He was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

In 1985, Rice caught the eye of future 49ers Hall of Fame head coach Bill Walsh who drafted him with the 16th overall pick in the 1985 draft. In only his second season, Rice set the NFL record for touchdown receptions with 22 – a feat even more significant because the season was  shortened  to  12  games  because  of  the  players’  strike.  By  the  late  1980s,  Rice  had   become one of the biggest receiving threats in the NFL, teaming with Hall of Fame quarterbacks Joe Montana and Steve Young to win three championships. After leaving the 49ers, Rice continued to excel, having his 13th and 14th 1,000-yard receiving seasons and scoring his 200th TD in 2002 with Oakland.

During his career, Rice was selected to the Pro Bowl a record 13 times, won the NFL Most Valuable Player Award in 1987 and was Super Bowl MVP in Super Bowl XXIII. In 1999, he was ranked No. 2 in The Sporting News’ list of 100 Greatest Football Players – the highest- ranked active player and receiver – and in 2010, was voted the No. 1 player in the NFL Network's The Top 100: NFL's Greatest Players.

Rice resides in the San Francisco Bay Area and has four children.