Nicknames
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. His teammates in San Francisco called him "Bird Legs" due to his very thin legs and small calves. 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" (pseudonym derived from his first and middle names) in the NFL Network's Joe's Diner television spots.
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