Joseph Clifford Montana, Jr., (born June 11, 1956), nicknamed Joe Cool and Comeback Joe, is a retired American football player whose professional career in the National Football League (NFL) spanned the late 1970s through the mid-1990s.

Montana started his NFL career in 1979 with the San Francisco 49ers, where he played quarterback (QB) for the next 14 seasons. He spent the 1993 and 1994 seasons, his final two years in the NFL, with the Kansas City Chiefs. While a member of the 49ers, Montana started four Super Bowl games and the team won all of them. In 2000, Montana was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

In 1989, and again in 1990, the Associated Press (AP), an American news agency, named Montana the NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and Sports Illustrated magazine named Montana in the 1990 "Sportsman of the Year".

Four years earlier, in 1986, Montana won the AP NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award too. As a result of his high level of play, Montana appeared in eight Pro Bowls, the NFL's version of an all-star game. Montana had the highest passer rating in the National Football Conference (NFC) five times (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1989); and, in both 1987 and 1989, Montana had the highest passer rating in the entire NFL.

Noted for his ability to remain calm under pressure, Montana helped his teams to 31 fourth quarter come-from-behind wins. In the closing moments of the 1981 NFC Championship Game and Super Bowl XXIII, Montana threw game-winning touchdown passes. The touchdown at the end of the championship game was so memorable that sports journalists, fans, and many others, refer to the play simply as "The Catch". The touchdown in the closing moments of Super Bowl XXIII came at the end of a 92-yard drive.

The 49ers retired the number 16, the jersey number Montana wore while with the team. In 1993, Montana was traded to the Kansas City Chiefs and led the franchise to its first AFC Championship Game in January 1994. In 1994, Montana earned a spot on the NFL 75th Anniversary All-Time Team; he is also a member of the NFL 1980s All-Decade Team. In 1999, editors at The Sporting News ranked Montana third on their list of "Football's 100 Greatest Players." Also in 1999, ESPN named Montana the 25th greatest athlete of the 20th century. In 2006, Sports Illustrated rated him the number one clutch quarterback of all-time.

Montana was born in New Eagle, Pennsylvania, a borough of Washington County located in the western portion of the state. He grew up in nearby Monongahela, a coal mining town 25 miles south of Pittsburgh. His grandparents emigrated to Western Pennsylvania from Sicily.

Born to Joseph and Theresa Montana, Joe Montana expressed an early interest in sports, and it was Montana Sr. who first taught him the game of football. Montana started to play youth football when he was just eight years old, aided in part by his father. Montana Sr. listed his son as a nine-year-old so that Montana could meet the league's minimum age requirement.

During his formative years, Montana took an interest in baseball and basketball, in addition to football. In fact, basketball was Montana's favourite sport as a child. Montana Sr. started a local basketball team that his son played on. The team practiced and played at the local armory and played their games in various regional tournaments.

Montana received his primary education at Waverly Elementary and his secondary education at Finleyville Junior High and Ringgold High School. While at Ringgold, Montana played football, baseball, and basketball. Montana showed potential as a basketball player and helped Ringgold win the 1973 WPIAL Class AAA boy's basketball championship. He was so good that during his senior year, North Carolina State University (NCSU) offered Montana a basketball scholarship. Although Montana turned down the scholarship, he seriously considered NCSU because of a promise that he could play both basketball and football for the university.

Montana has been married three times. His first wedding was in 1974, when Montana married his hometown sweetheart, Kim Moses, during his second semester at Notre Dame; however, they divorced less than three years later. Montana wed again in 1981, to Cass Castillo; they divorced in 1984. He met Jennifer Wallace, an actress and model, while the two worked on a Schick commercial, and the two married in 1985. He and Jennifer are still married and have four children: Alexandra Whitney (b. 10 October 1985), Elizabeth Jean (b. 20 December 1986), Nathaniel ("Nate") Joseph (b. 3 October 1989), and Nicholas Alexander (b. 28 April 1992). His oldest son, Nate, was a walk-on quarterback at Notre Dame starting in Fall 2008 after being a third stringer at De La Salle. Montana's other son, Nicholas, is a quarterback at nationally ranked Oaks Christian High School in Westlake Village, near Los Angeles, CA. Nicholas was a junior in Fall 2008.

In 1986, doctors diagnosed Montana as having a narrow spinal cavity. He elected to have an operation, which was successful, and was able to return to football and continue his storied career.

Montana resides in Lafayette, CA. He now owns horses and produces wine under the label Montagia.

Montana is an Americanized form of the surname Montani, which comes from northern Italy. Montana earned the nickname "Joe Cool" for his ability to stay calm at key moments, and "Comeback Kid" for his history of rallying his teams from late-game deficits. He was called "Golden Joe" because he played in California (the Golden State), and also appeared on a poster superimposed in front of the Golden Gate Bridge with the wording "The Golden Great". Two more names were provided by a San Francisco Chronicle nickname contest early in his NFL career: the winner was "Big Sky", but another contestant suggested that since "Joe Montana" already sounded like a nickname, Montana needed a real name, and christened him "David W. Gibson." Montana liked the Gibson name so much that he had it stenciled above his locker.

Montana appears as the character "Joe Clifford" (a pseudonym derived from his first and middle names) in the NFL Network's Joe's Diner (TV Short) television spots.