Hands down! It’s Rice

KIRKLAND – The man is 42 years old, yet has a wrinkle-free face, a chiseled frame and a six-pack stomach.

Still, the only body part anyone seems to notice about Jerry Rice is his hands.

Just about every time a stranger crosses paths with the Seattle Seahawks’ receiver, his or her eyes drop from the familiar face to the long, legendary fingers that have grabbed more flying footballs than anyone in NFL history.

He may have slowed down a step, and lost a little of the youthful exuberance, but Jerry Rice will always have those hands.

And people will always take notice.

Well, here’s the catch: The hands don’t look all that special up close.

When Rice holds them out, he’s quick to mention the dozens of dislocations his fingers have endured over the years. He’ll shrug off the sight of them, as if his two palms and 10 fingers have done nothing that special at all.

“You hear about people taking out insurance policies and stuff like that on certain body parts,” Rice said last week while holding out the hands that make football fans swoon. “I’ve never done that.”

Liberace and Keith Richards have had their hands insured.

Bruce Springsteen once insured his voice for $5.6 million. Claudia Schiffer paid $5.5 million to insure her face. Jennifer Lopez even insured her … well, you get the idea.

Rice just isn’t about that. Although he once had a disability insurance that covered his entire body – many young athletes have similar policies to protect them from career-ending injuries – Rice never singled out his hands. He doesn’t even take extra precautions to protect them.

“I play basketball,” he said, “I do everything.”

Many NFL players are more careful with the body parts that are responsible for bringing home the bacon.

Take Josh Brown, for example. The Seahawks’ kicker handles his right leg with care. He doesn’t take part in any activities that might jeopardize the health of his kicking leg.

Seahawks quarterback Matt Hasselbeck takes a few precautions to protect his right arm, which is the one that throws passes on Sundays. Hasselbeck makes sure to sleep on his left side during the season. And when he holds both of his daughters, 3-year-old Annabelle goes in the left arm, while his smaller 1 1/2 -year-old, Mallory, goes in the right.

But those guys have less prolific body parts. Hasselbeck has never had his right arm immortalized by an artist, nor has Brown his right leg.

But for Rice, there is “127th Touchdown,” a sculpture displayed in the Hall of Fame that immortalizes his most famous assets. The sculpture, which was made by Bay Area artist Steve Hoskins after Rice’s NFL-record 127th touchdown in 1994, is an exact replica of the future Hall of Famer’s hands.

“Jerry’s the best wide receiver of all-time,” Hoskins said of his reason for doing the sculpture, “so the one part of his body he’s going to be known for is his hands.”

There are 622 of the “127th Touchdown” sculptures around the world, including – you guessed it – 127 that came with an actual football. Hoskins said he gets the same reaction every time someone sees the piece of artwork.

“Nobody believes that his hands are that big,” Hoskins said. “People look at it and still don’t believe it.

“I work with a lot of athletes and have never seen anyone with hands that big. I even work with basketball players, and their hands aren’t that big.”

Yet Rice refuses to do anything special to protect his legendary meathooks. No extra lotion. No daily manicures. No gloves to shield them while he drives.

That’s probably because of the way Rice’s hands became so dependable. His father, Joe Nathan Rice Sr., who passed away in February, was a brick layer who used to rely on young Jerry and his brothers to help out. While the boys would stand on a roof above, Joe would throw bricks up to Jerry and his brothers. If Jerry didn’t use his hands to catch the bricks, his nose would have been the other option.

That kind of development taught Rice that his hands could endure a lot.