| No. 65 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position: | Guard | ||||
| Personal information | |||||
| Born: | May 12, 1956 Montebello, California, U.S. | ||||
| Height: | 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) | ||||
| Weight: | 295 lb (134 kg) | ||||
| Career information | |||||
| High school: | La Puente (La Puente, California) | ||||
| College: | UCLA | ||||
| NFL draft: | 1979 / Round: 7 / Pick: 168 | ||||
| Career history | |||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||
| Career NFL statistics | |||||
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| Player stats at NFL.com | |||||
Max Montoya Jr. (born May 12, 1956) is an American former professional football player who was a guard for 16 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins.
Montoya who is of Mexican–American descent, attended La Puente High School[1] in La Puente, California. He was unable to play football or basketball his senior season due to a heart murmur. [2]
Montoya was cleared to play football again[2] and began his college football career playing for Mt. San Antonio College (Mt. SAC), a community college in Walnut, California. He did not start as a freshman, but after an outstanding sophomore season, he earned a football scholarship to UCLA,[2] where he would play for head coach Terry Donahue.[3] After redshirting for a year,[2] Montoya was a starter in 1977 as the Bruins posted a 7-4 record. In 1978, he was again a starter, earning All Pac-10 honors.[2] The Bruins in 1978 went 8-3-1, ended the season in both the AP and UPI Top 20 rankings and played to a 10-10 tie against Arkansas in the 1978 Fiesta Bowl.[4]
Montoya was drafted in the 7th round (168th overall) of the 1979 NFL Draft. Montoya was a four-time Pro Bowl guard who played in two Super Bowls with the Cincinnati Bengals. He played 11 seasons for the Bengals, from 1979 to 1989, becoming a starter in his second season. He then played five seasons for the Los Angeles Raiders, starting in all but his final season.[5]
After retiring from the NFL, Montoya invested in a restaurant franchise of Cincinnati-based Penn Station East Coast Subs and eventually owned four in northern Kentucky.[6] He is also a founder and silent partner of Montoya's Restaurant in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky.[7] He also spent five years helping coach the Beechwood High School football team (including son Matthew, now a multimedia freelancer) in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky. His daughter, Alison Montoya (a twin of Matthew), is a general assignment reporter and anchor for Cincinnati FOX affiliate WXIX[8] after previously working for WLWT.[9][10]
Montoya is now semi-retired and lives with his wife, Patty, on a farm in Hebron, Kentucky, where he raises horses.[10]