ESPN The Magazine is a bi-weekly (once every two weeks) sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut in the United States. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998.

The main sports covered include Major League Baseball, National Basketball Association, National Football League, National Hockey League, college basketball, and college football. The magazine typically takes a more light-hearted and humorous approach to sporting news compared to competitors such as Sports Illustrated and Sporting News. It often covers players whose careers have suffered as a result of incidents off the field.

Departments[link]

Here are some of the regular departments, in their magazine order:

• Two Way: Stuart Scott answers questions from readers, giving his own opinions.
• The Biz: Peter Keating writes about the business side of sports and its effect on the sporting world.
• The Post: Looking back at the previous edition of the magazine with some of the readers' comments and updates on past stories.
• Zoom: One large "image of the week," occupying two pages.
• The Jump: A mix of different regular features, offering an alternative and usually humorous take on the current sporting scene.
• Outtakes: A transcript of an interview from The Dan Patrick Show with a sport star mostly talking about non sports issues. Interviews now done by Kenny Mayne.
• The Life of Reilly: Former Sports Illustrated columnist Rick Reilly gives his opinions on the sports world, and reports upon various "special interest" stories in sports.
• NEXT Athlete: Yearly award given out to young rising star athletes

References[link]

External links[link]

• ESPN The Magazine
• ESPN The Magazine Video on ESPN Video Archive

This sports magazine or journal-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction (later Fantasy & Science Fiction and usually referred to as just F&SF) is a digest-size American fantasy and science fiction magazine first published in 1949 by Mystery House and then by Fantasy House. Both were subsidiaries of Lawrence Spivak's Mercury Publications, which took over as publisher in 1958. Spilogale, Inc. has published the magazine since 2001. Since the April/May 2009 issue, it is published bimonthly with 256 pages per issue.^[1]

Titles[link]

It began as The Magazine of Fantasy (Fall 1949), with Anthony Boucher and J. Francis McComas as editors. To encompass the full spectrum of speculative fiction, the title expanded into The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction with the second issue. The quarterly became a bimonthly with the fifth issue (December 1950). Switching to an ampersand, it became The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction with the sixth issue (February 1951), returning to The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction when it went monthly with issue 17 (October 1952). The ampersand reappeared in May 1979, and the title was finally shortened to just Fantasy & Science Fiction with the October 1987 issue. With the April/May 2009 issue, it changed from monthly back to bimonthly publication.^[2]

1940s-1950s[link]

In the mid-1940s, McComas was the co-editor, with Raymond J. Healy, of the pioneering anthology, Adventures in Time and Space (1946). The massive volume, a Modern Library Giant, introduced many readers to science fiction when it appeared on library shelves during the post-WWII years. Boucher was writing radio scripts in the late 1940s, but he left dramatic radio in 1948, as he explained to William F. Nolan, "mainly because I was putting in a lot of hours working with J. Francis McComas in creating what soon became The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. We got it off the ground in 1949 and saw it take hold solidly by 1950. This was a major creative challenge, and although I was involved in a lot of other projects, I stayed with F&SF into 1958."^[3]

In actuality, four years passed as Boucher and McComas attempted to launch their magazine of fantasy and supernatural stories. They initially proposed to Fred Dannay the notion of a sister publication for Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine. Dannay recommended them to Spivak. In January 1946, Boucher and McComas went to New York and met with Spivak, who suggested they assemble the contents for a test issue. Returning to California, they submitted their outline on March 11, 1946, resulting in a letter of agreement that August.

In September 1947, Joseph Ferman, the general manager of Mercury Publications, requested the complete material for the experimental issue to be titled Fantasy and Horror (subtitled A Magazine of Weird and Fantastic Stories). Boucher and McComas delivered this the following month. Studying sales figures of other digest-size magazines, Ferman postponed publication. A full year passed before he reactivated the project in February 1949, suggesting the addition of a science fiction story. Three months later, Ferman came up with the new title, The Magazine of Fantasy. On October 6, 1949, the magazine was introduced with a big splash during an invitational luncheon at the Waldorf-Astoria with Basil Rathbone as the master of ceremonies.

The second issue (Winter-Spring 1950), with a George Salter painting, introduced the distinctive Salter logo style used by the magazine for the next two years.

What Boucher and McComas were striving to reach was a literary plateau far above the pulp plotlines and action-adventures many associated with the genre, and one way they achieved this was with a concentration on reprints. By eliminating interior illustrations and displaying text in a single column across the page, they gave their magazine the appearance of a literary journal. The story prefaces Boucher wrote were carefully calculated to pull the reader into the first paragraphs of the stories, setting the tone while providing background information and insights. This was one of the magazine's more distinctive features, and some readers chose to go through and absorb all of Boucher's prefaces before deciding which story to read first. Nolan, in the dedication to his book, 3 to the Highest Power (1968), took note of Boucher's brilliance in those illuminating introductions:

For Anthony Boucher, who... in eighty-seven splendidly edited issues of Fantasy & Science Fiction, perfected the Grand Art of the Preface.

At the time of the magazine's debut, Spivak was well known as the moderator-producer of radio's American Mercury Presents: Meet the Press, in addition to publishing the unprofitable American Mercury magazine, 30 annual mystery reprints and the profitable Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, which had a 200,000 circulation. The Magazine of Fantasy was launched with a print run of 70,000. Interviewed by Time about Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine's new companion, Boucher looked ahead to monthly publication and commented, "The detective story is getting into a blind alley of repetition. Science fiction may be the next big escape."

Boucher's Berkeley residence at 2643 Dana Street served as F&SF's office, and shortly after the magazine began, the Berkeley Post Office called to inform Boucher that it was creating a special mail sack for all the incoming correspondence, a constant flow that included some 80 to 120 manuscript submissions each week.

The Magazine of Fantasy was subtitled An Anthology of the Best Fantasy Stories, Old and New. That first issue offered a mix of new contributions and reprints. The new stories were by Cleve Cartmill, H.H. Holmes (pseudonym for Anthony Boucher), Philip MacDonald, Winona McClintic and Theodore Sturgeon. The Sturgeon story, "The Hurkle Is a Happy Beast," later resurfaced in many anthologies. The reprints were Guy Endore's "Men of Iron" (1940), Richard Sale's "Perseus Had a Helmet" (1938), Stuart Palmer's "A Bride for the Devil" (1940), Perceval Landon's 1908 "Thurnley Abbey,"^[4] Oliver Onions' 1910 "Rooum"^[5] and Fitz-James O'Brien's "The Lost Room" (1858).^[6]

The second issue, as The Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction, featured stories by W. L. Alden, Robert Arthur, Ray Bradbury, Robert M. Coates, Miriam Allen DeFord, Anthony Hope, Damon Knight, Kris Neville, Walt Sheldon and Margaret St. Clair, plus a collaboration of L. Sprague de Camp and Fletcher Pratt. With "The Gnurrs Come from the Voodvork Out," that issue introduced Reginald Bretnor, who became the magazine's resident humorist for many issues to come, contributing such stories as "Bug-Getter."^[7]

The third issue introduced the 23-year-old Richard Matheson, who made an indelible impression on readers with "Born of Man and Woman," his first published story.

Boucher and McComas began their "Recommended Reading" column in the second issue, with both editors handling the reviews. After the August, 1954 announcement that McComas was leaving the magazine to travel and write, Boucher took over as the sole book reviewer until his own departure in 1958.

When it began in 1949, the magazine was initially quarterly until the Fall 1950 issue. Frequency of publication increased to bimonthly in December 1950 and to monthly in 1952.

1990s-2000s[link]

From 1991 to 2008 there were 11 issues per year (including an extended "anniversary double issue" every October). In January 2009, publisher-editor Gordon Van Gelder announced that as of April the magazine would reduce postage costs by switching to bimonthly publication of double issues, with a 10% net loss in content.^[8] "In the end, we make about the same money from an electronic subscription as from a print sub," wrote Van Gelder on March 7, 2009.^[9]

Circulation[link]

Monthly circulation in 2011 was 14,462.^[10] 2011 reported demographics of readership: 61% male, 39% female, 52% age 26-45, 23% 46-55, 93% have attended college, 28% have post-graduate degrees.^[11]

Chronology of editors[link]

• J. Francis McComas, Fall 1949 – August 1954
• Anthony Boucher, Fall 1949 – August 1958
• Cyril M. Kornbluth, 1958^[12]
• William Tenn, 1958^[13]
• Robert P. Mills, September 1958 – March 1962
• Avram Davidson, April 1962 – November 1964
• Joseph W. Ferman, December 1964 – December 1965 (supervising his son, Edward Ferman, who was the actual editor)
• Edward L. Ferman, January 1966 – June 1991
• Kristine Kathryn Rusch, July 1991 – May 1997
• Gordon Van Gelder, June 1997–present

Columns and features[link]

Robert Bloch wrote a notable series of essays on fandom in the 1950s. Following McComas and Boucher were other book critics, including Alfred Bester, Damon Knight, Avram Davidson, Judith Merril, James Blish, Joanna Russ, Algis Budrys, John Clute, Orson Scott Card, Charles de Lint, Elizabeth Hand and Michelle West. Charles Beaumont, Baird Searles, Harlan Ellison, Kathi Maio and Lucius Shepard have covered film and related media with, briefly, William Morrison reviewing live theater.

Isaac Asimov wrote a science column for the magazine that ran for 399 monthly issues without a break, from November 1958 to February 1992,^[14] ending two months before his death, at which time he was in such poor health that he dictated the final essay to his wife Janet Asimov.^[15] Theodore L. Thomas, Gregory Benford and Pat Murphy have also contributed science columns. Charles Platt contributed interviews and essays on speculative fiction. Various writers have highlighted literary oddities in the "Curiosities" column. The regular feature of humorous reader "Competitions" were collected by Ed Ferman in the anthology Oi, Robot. A series of shaggy dog stories known as "feghoots", written by Reginald Bretnor under his anagrammatic pseudonym Grendel Briarton, ran in the magazine from 1956 to 1973 with the series title, "Through Space and Time with Ferdinand Feghoot."

Cover illustrators[link]

In 1950-51 the magazine's art director George Salter painted almost all the front covers using an imaginative, surrealistic approach that was remarkably appropriate to match the diverse interior contents. Two exceptions were astronomical paintings by Chesley Bonestell for the December 1950 and August 1951 issues. Salter and Bonestell were joined in 1952 by Ed Emshwiller, who became, through three decades, the magazine's most prolific cover artist.

With a painting by George Gibbons on the August 1952 issue, F&SF introduced a wraparound cover, used most effectively by Hannes Bok for his illustration of Roger Zelazny's "A Rose for Ecclesiastes" (November 1963). Noted World War II military and maritime artist Jack Coggins, who illustrated four F&SF covers in 1953-54, also did cover paintings for Galaxy Science Fiction and Thrilling Wonder Stories during this same period.

F&SF's top ten cover illustrators ranked by number of paintings (up to April 2005): Ed Emshwiller (70), Ron Walotsky (60), David A. Hardy (56), Chesley Bonestell (42), Mel Hunter (32), Barclay Shaw (24), Jill Bauman (23), Jack Gaughan (21), Kent Bash (17) and Bryn Barnard (14).

Unlike F&SF's companion magazine, Venture Science Fiction Magazine, The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction did not use interior illustrations of stories, except for 14 issues (April–October 1954, September–December 1956, September 1957 and April–May 1959). These interior illustrations were by Emshwiller, Kelly Freas and others.

However, it did occasionally use cartoons as fillers on the last page of a story. Gahan Wilson contributed a cartoon to every issue for more than 15 years. Sidney Harris was also a frequent cartoon contributor, prompting Budrys's comment, "Harris is different. Harris plays with science and technology... and he's funny."^[16]

Fantasy Records, began in 1949, and the jazz recording company's first subsidiary label, formed in 1951, was Galaxy Records. The two labels were named in honor of F&SF and Galaxy Science Fiction. The Eureka Years, a history and anthology of fiction and correspondence from the first years of F&SF, makes the claim that George Salter's first logo for the magazine was imitated by the Circle Record Company for the logo of their Fantasy Records. However, the early Fantasy Records' logo actually bears little resemblance to Salter's calligraphy.

Notable authors and stories[link]

• Thomas M. Disch's On Wings of Song was the first fantasy or sf magazine serial to be nominated for the American Book Award. Disch's "The Brave Little Toaster" became a Hyperion Pictures animated film in 1987.
• "Jeffty is Five" and "The Deathbird" by Harlan Ellison. He also contributed both a regular film column and many of his best stories to the magazine.^[17]
• Howard Fast's "The Martian Shop"^[18]
• Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers, October, November 1959, serialized as "Starship Soldier".
• Shirley Jackson's "One Ordinary Day, with Peanuts".
• Daniel Keyes's Flowers for Algernon. A Hugo Award-winning novelet which led to many radio, TV, stage and films, notably Charly (1968).
• Stephen King's The Dark Tower short stories which comprised the first volume, beginning with "The Gunslinger" (October, 1978).
• Fritz Leiber's "Ill Met in Lankhmar" won the 1970 Nebula Award for Best Novella and the 1971 Hugo Award for Best Novella (1970).
• A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.. The novelets were incorporated into the novel and later adapted into NPR radio dramas.
• Kurt Vonnegut's "Harrison Bergeron"

Special author issues[link]

F&SF assembled more than a dozen special issues devoted to a single author, beginning with a special issue on Theodore Sturgeon (September 1962), followed by Ray Bradbury (May 1963), Isaac Asimov (October 1966), Fritz Leiber (July 1969), Poul Anderson (April 1971), James Blish (April 1972), Frederik Pohl (September 1973), Robert Silverberg (April 1974), Damon Knight (November 1976), Harlan Ellison (July 1977), Stephen King (December 1990), Lucius Shepard (March 2001), Kate Wilhelm (September 2001), Barry N. Malzberg (June 2003) and Gene Wolfe (April 2007).

Anthologies[link]

In 1952, Boucher and McComas began their annual hardcover anthology series, The Best from Fantasy and Science Fiction. Initially published by Little Brown, the series moved to Doubleday in 1954. Ace published later paperback editions. After the first three in the series, McComas dropped out, leaving Boucher as the sole editor.^[19] Eventually, the series was not published annually but instead appeared irregularly. More recently, the books have been theme anthologies, edited by Gordon Van Gelder. Earlier, Ed Ferman co-edited The Best Horror Stories from Fantasy and Science Fiction with Anne Devereaux Jordan during his tenure as editor. In 2009, Van Gelder compiled The Very Best of Fantasy & Science Fiction: Sixtieth Anniversary Anthology, including stories in F&SF issues ranging from 1951 (Alfred Bester's "Of Time and Third Avenue") to 2007 ("The Merchant and the Alchemist's Gate" by Ted Chiang).^[20]

Current staff[link]

• Gordon Van Gelder, editor, June 1997 – present; publisher, 2001 – present
• Barbara J. Norton, assistant publisher, 2001 – present
• Keith Kahla, assistant publisher, 2001 – present
• Robin O'Connor, assistant editor, 1990 – present
• John Joseph Adams, assistant editor, 2001 – 2009
• Stephen Mazur, assistant editor, 2010 – present
• Harlan Ellison, film editor, 1990 – present
• Carol Pinchefsky, contests editor, 2004 – present
• John M. Cappello, newsstand circulation, 2004 – present

Sources[link]

• Bradbury Chronicles Correspondence Database
• Indiana University: Lilly Library Manuscript Collections: Anthony Boucher/William Anthony Parker White Mss. (30,000 items spanning 1932-69)
• Locus: The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Checklist

See also[link]

• List of literary magazines

References[link]

External links[link]

• Fantasy & Science Fiction Official website
• Fantasy & Science Fiction Czech edition
• Jack Coggins Gallery of Illustrations
• S. Harris Cartoon Gallery
• Visual Index of Science Fiction Cover Art (VISCO), includes F&SF cover archive (1949 – current)
• "Wonder World"; Time, October 10, 1949 (announcement of Magazine of Fantasy, its first issue published the previous week)
• Suvudu (Random House, Inc.) and The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction Join Forces

Patrick Willis

Willis at 49ers training camp in August 2010
No. 52     San Francisco 49ers
Inside Linebacker
Personal information
Date of birth: (1985-01-25) January 25, 1985 (age 27)
Place of birth: Bruceton, Tennessee
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 240 lb (109 kg)
Career information
College: Mississippi
NFL Draft: 2007 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11
Debuted in 2007 for the San Francisco 49ers
Career history
San Francisco 49ers (2007–present)
Career highlights and awards
5× Pro Bowl (2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011) 4× AP First-team All-Pro (2007, 2009, 2010, 2011) AP Second-team All-Pro (2008) AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year (2007) 3× NFL Alumni Linebacker of the Year (2007, 2009, 2010) 2× Butkus Award (2006, 2009) 2× First-team All-American (2005, 2006) Other College Awards and Honors
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2011
Tackles 692 Quarterback sacks 17.0 Interceptions 5 Forced Fumbles 12 Stats at NFL.com

Patrick L. Willis (born January 25, 1985) is an American football player who plays inside linebacker for the San Francisco 49ers of the National Football League (NFL). He was selected by the San Francisco 49ers 11th overall in the 2007 NFL Draft. He played college football at the University of Mississippi.

During Willis's senior season at Ole Miss, he received the Butkus Award and the Jack Lambert Award as the nation’s top linebacker. A year later as a member of the 49ers, Willis led the NFL in tackles, earned first-team All-Pro and Pro Bowl honors while being named the 2007 AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year. Willis has earned Pro Bowl and All-Pro honors in all five years he has played in the NFL. He is the only player to receive the Butkus Award for best linebacker in more than one category. He won the college Butkus Award in 2006 while at Ole Miss and in 2009, he won the professional Butkus Award while with the San Francisco 49ers.^[1]

Patrick Willis is regarded by many as the best inside linebacker in professional football.^[2][3][4]

Early life[link]

Born in Bruceton, Tennessee, Willis attended Hollow Rock-Bruceton Central High School,^[5] where he was a two-time All-State selection, Regional Most Valuable Player, and West Tennessee Player of the Year. He earned 4 letters in football and basketball, and 3 in baseball. He was also the first person in Tennessee state history to be nominated for both the Mr. Football Award for a Lineman (as a linebacker) and the Mr. Football Award for a Back (as a tailback) in the same season.

Regarded as a three-star recruit by Rivals.com, Willis was listed as the No. 60 linebacker prospect in the class of 2003.^[6] He chose Ole Miss over Memphis.

College career[link]

Willis attended the University of Mississippi ("Ole Miss"), and played for the Ole Miss Rebels football team. As a freshman at Ole Miss, Willis played in all 13 games, making 20 stops. He received the Scholar-Athlete Award from the Ole Miss Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Football Hall of Fame.

As a sophomore in 2004, he appeared in 10 of 11 games and earned honorable mention All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) honors from The Associated Press. He recorded 70 tackles (54 solo), and led the team with 11.0 TFLs (tackles-for-loss) and five sacks.

In Willis's 2005 junior campaign, he led the SEC in total tackles at 12.80 per game, which placed him sixth nationally. He finished season with 128 total tackles, 9.5 TFLs, three sacks, an interception, two forced fumbles and a fumble recovery. Willis was named SEC Defensive Player of the Year by CollegeFootballNews.com^[8] and Scout.com. He was also named as a first-team All-American by CollegeFootballNews.com and the All-American Football Foundation.^[9] Willis earned first-team All-SEC honors from Associated Press, SEC Coaches, CollegeFootballNews.com and Rivals.com.

During Willis's last collegiate year in 2006, he led the SEC in tackles once again with 11.4 per game and collected 137 tackles, 11.5 TFLs, seven passes deflected, three sacks, two forced fumbles and one fumble recovery. He was awarded SEC Defensive Player of the Year, first-team All-SEC, and consensus first-team All-American. He was the winner of the Jack Lambert Award and the prestigious Dick Butkus Award, given to the most outstanding linebacker in college football. He also won the Conerly Trophy, voted upon by the media in Mississippi and awarded to the best college football player in Mississippi. In addition, he was a finalist for the Bronko Nagurski Award and semifinalist for both the Rotary Lombardi Award and the Lott Trophy.^[10]

Awards and Honors[link]

• 2× First-team All-SEC (2005, 2006)
• 2× All-American (2005, 2006)
• SEC Defensive Player of the Year (2006)
• Butkus Award (2006)
• Jack Lambert Award (2006)
• Conerly Trophy (2006)

Professional career[link]

2007 NFL Draft[link]

Originally regarded as a late-first to early-second round draft pick,^[11] Willis improved his draft stock with an impressive performance at the NFL Combine; his 4.51 40-yard dash^[12][13][14] was one of the fastest among linebackers. He also posted a 39-inch vertical jump and recorded 22 repetitions of the 225-lb. bench press. Willis clocked in at 4.37 seconds for his 40-yard dash during his University of Mississippi pro-day workout.^[15] Analysts of The Sporting News compared him to Jeremiah Trotter.^[16] Willis also earned South Team Defensive MVP honors at the 2007 Senior Bowl.

Willis was selected by the San Francisco 49ers with the 11th overall pick in the 2007 NFL Draft, re-uniting him with the staff that coached his South Squad at the 2007 Senior Bowl. He signed a five-year, $16.7 million contract with the 49ers.^[17]

San Francisco 49ers (2007–present)[link]

2007 NFL season

Willis was coached directly by Hall of Fame middle-linebacker/coach Mike Singletary (who later became 49ers head coach), and eventually started at inside linebacker, specifically the "Mike" position, in the 49ers' 3-4 defense. In his first NFL game, Willis recorded 11 tackles, including 9 solo, and a forced fumble as the 49ers defeated the Arizona Cardinals in dramatic fashion by a score of 20-17. For his effort, he won the Diet Pepsi Rookie of the Week Award. One of Willis's strongest performances came against the Minnesota Vikings, as he led the 49ers defense in containing Offensive Rookie of the Year, Adrian Peterson, who managed just 3 yards on 14 carries. Willis's most impressive statistical performance came in week 16 at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In this game he recorded 20 total tackles, 2 sacks, 1 forced fumble and 1 pass deflected in a 21-19 victory, earning Rookie of the Week honors for the fourth time. In addition to receiving the award in weeks 1 and 16, Willis took home the award in weeks 2 and 12. He was also awarded the GMC Defensive Player of the Week twice.

In a game against the Arizona Cardinals on November 25, Willis ran down wide receiver Sean Morey after a 62-yard, catch-and-run for the game-saving tackle in overtime. The Niners eventually won 37-31.^[18]

Willis finished the 2007 campaign with an NFL-leading 174 total tackles, along with 4 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and 5 passes deflected. According to the 49ers, however, he is unofficially credited with over 200 tackles during that season. As a result, Willis was one of two 49ers selected to the Pro Bowl along with punter Andy Lee. Other honors earned at the conclusion of his first professional season included being named AP NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, first-team All-Pro, and NFL Alumni Linebacker Of The Year. He was the only rookie in the NFL to make the AP All-Pro squad and the first defensive rookie from the 49ers to make the Pro Bowl since Ronnie Lott in 1981. His season was capped by being named one of ESPN The Magazine's "NEXT" athletes of 2008, alongside Yankee Joba Chamberlain and Trail Blazer Brandon Roy.

2008 NFL season

Willis in October 2008

In his second NFL season Willis scored his first career NFL touchdown against Seattle, returning an interception for 86 yards. On December 16, during another dominating season with the 49ers, Willis was named the starting inside linebacker for the NFC Pro Bowl team. In just two seasons, he has established himself as one of the top linebackers in the NFL.^[19]

At the end of the year, Willis finished second in tackles and was voted to his second consecutive Pro Bowl, this time as a starter. He was also voted second-team All-Pro, barely missing the first team as Jon Beason of Carolina Panthers collected one more vote than Willis.

2009 NFL season

Patrick Willis started the season strong in the opener against the Arizona Cardinals. He recorded 14 tackles and an interception in a 20-16 win in Arizona. He also had a huge game in week 4 against St. Louis finishing with 8 tackles, 2.5 sacks and an interception return for a 23 yard touchdown.

The biggest improvement in his game from the previous year was the increased sideline-to-sideline range. Willis made 54 tackles on plays labeled as “Wide left” or “Wide right” which accounted for 35.5% of his total tackles. In that area, he led all inside linebackers by a large margin. He was also the league leader in impact plays with a total of 27.^[20]

At the end of the year, Willis accumulated an NFL-leading 152 tackles along with 4 sacks, 3 forced fumbles, 8 pass deflections and 3 interceptions. He has now led the league in tackles in two of his first three seasons. Willis also earned first-team All-Pro receiving 49/50 votes from the AP and was voted to his third consecutive Pro Bowl. However, shortly before the Pro Bowl, which was set in South Florida, Willis decided to play it safe and opted not to play due to a leg injury he sustained. He stayed in South Florida for the game and stood on the sideline in support of the NFC team and 49er teammates Frank Gore, Vernon Davis, Justin Smith and Andy Lee.^[21]

Patrick Willis was named the 2009 NFL Alumni Linebacker of the Year, an award voted on by past NFL linebackers.^[22] Willis also became the second NFL player to win the Butkus Award since it was expanded in 2008 to include high school and professional winners in part to help end anabolic steroid abuse among young athletes. He became the first linebacker to receive the prestigious award in more than one category, both in college and in the pros.

2010 NFL season

On May 4, Willis signed a five-year contract extension worth $50 million, with $29 million in guaranteed money making him the highest paid inside linebacker in the NFL.^[23]

In 2010, Willis strengthened a new dimension of his game, totaling a career-high 6.0 sacks. He played through the season with several injuries, playing a game against the San Diego Chargers with a cast on his broken hand. Willis was ruled out for Week 17 after undergoing a second surgery on his broken right hand. It was the first time that Willis had ever missed a game in his career. Willis has also made a habit of making it to the Pro Bowl. He’s gone all four seasons of his NFL career and even with his tackle numbers down (largely due to offenses scheming against him), Willis still finished with the second-most fan votes for inside linebackers in the entire NFL.^[24] He now joins Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott as only 49ers to be selected to the Pro Bowl in each of their first four seasons.

Willis also earned first-team All-Pro from the Associated Press alongside Jerod Mayo of the New England Patriots.^[25] For the third time in his career, and the second year in a row, he was named Linebacker of the Year by the NFL Alumni Association.^[26]

2011 NFL season

Before the start of the 2011 season, Patrick Willis ran away from the field in the voting for the NFL's best linebacker on ESPN.com. "Nobody in the NFL plays their position better than Patrick Willis, and that is saying a lot," said Matt Williamson of Scouts Inc. "He is as good a linebacker as Peyton Manning is a quarterback, as Andre Johnson is a receiver, as Adrian Peterson is a running back. He has no weaknesses."^[3] Even 12-time Pro Bowler Ray Lewis, the dominant linebacker of his era, pointed to Willis as a worthy successor to his undisputed reign. ESPN's Dana Jacobson asked Lewis which young linebacker reminded him of himself. "I just love the way he plays the game," Lewis said. "He plays the game with a fire. He reminds me of myself—a lot, a lot, a lot."^[27] Willis also came in fourth in an ESPN expert vote for the NFL's 10 best defensive players, finishing only behind 2010 AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Troy Polamalu, Demarcus Ware, and Darrelle Revis.

In 2011, Willis led a top ranked 49ers defense which set a NFL single season record of not allowing a rushing touchdown until week 16. The previous record was held by the 1920 Decatur Staleys, who did not allow a rushing touchdown in a 13 game season.^[28] The 49ers' stingy defense ranked fourth overall and played a huge role in the 49ers finishing with a 13-3 record. This also marks the first time since 2002 the 49ers are division champs and back in the playoffs.

During a game against the St. Louis Rams in week 13, Willis landed awkwardly after missing a tackle and injured his right hamstring.^[29] Despite missing nearly four games due to the hamstring injury, Willis finished the season with 97 tackles along with 2 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, 12 pass deflections and an interception. He also improved his game significantly in coverage recording a career high 12 pass deflections.^[30] Willis was named to his fifth consecutive Pro Bowl and becomes the first player in franchise history to make five Pro Bowl appearances to start a career.^[31] In addition, he earned first-team All-Pro from the Associated Press for the third consecutive year.^[32]

NFL career statistics[link]

Personal[link]

Willis was separated from his biological father at the age of 17, and along with his three siblings moved in with his parental guardians, Willis's high school basketball coach, Chris Finley, and his wife, Julie.^[33]

He holds a degree in criminal justice and envisions a future in law enforcement.^[33]

His uncle, Arthur Willis, was a professional super middleweight boxer who later fought world champion James Toney to a split decision.^[34]

Willis's brother, Detris, drowned in 2006 while swimming with his friends.^[35]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Patrick Willis

• Official Website
• Patrick Willis on Twitter
• Ole Miss Rebels bio
• San Francisco 49ers bio
• Scout.com profile
• Interview with Michael Tillery of "The Starting Five"
• [2] Article with SignonSanDiego.com