By BOB MATTHEWS
Rochester (N.Y.) Democrat and Chronicle

Oakland's Rich Gannon and Tampa Bay's Brad Johnson had humble NFL beginnings, but one of them will join the exclusive 23-member club of Super Bowl-winning starting quarterbacks Sunday in San Diego.

Gannon and Johnson are journeymen who toiled in relative obscurity for many NFL seasons with several other teams before taking center stage in Super Bowl XXXVII.

Rags-to-riches quarterbacks are nothing new in the Super Bowl.

Only three members of the Super Bowl-winning QB club were No. 1 overall draft picks who justified their selections by leading their original teams to championships:

Terry Bradshaw (1970 by Pittsburgh): Won Super Bowls IX, X, XIII and XIV.

John Elway (1983 by Denver): Won Super Bowls XXXII and XXXIII after being on the losing side three times.

Troy Aikman (1989 by Dallas): Won Super Bowls XXVII, XXVIII and XXX.

Of the six No. 1 overall QB picks since Aikman (Jeff George, Drew Bledsoe, Peyton Manning, Tim Couch, Michael Vick and David Carr), only Bledsoe has reached a Super Bowl (he was the losing starter for New England in Super Bowl XXXI and on the bench for the team's Super Bowl XXXVI victory over St. Louis).

Jim Plunkett was the No. 1 overall pick in 1971 by New England but he struggled mightily with the Patriots after an impressive rookie season and finally was traded to San Francisco after the 1975 season for three first-round draft picks and one second-round pick. After two less-than-awesome seasons with the 49ers (22 TD passes and 30 interceptions) he was released.

Owner Al Davis took a gamble and signed Plunkett for his Raiders (three years for $465,000). He didn't throw a pass as No. 3 QB in 1978, threw 15 passes in 1979 and finally became starter when Dan Pastorini broke a leg early in the 1980 season. He wound up leading the Raiders to victory in Super Bowls XV and XVIII.

Steve Young, the winning QB for San Francisco in Super Bowl XXIX, was projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the 1984 NFL draft but opted to sign with the Los Angeles Express of the new USFL because he wanted to start immediately and preferred to play relatively close to his home in Provo, Utah.

The NFL held a supplemental draft in 1984 for USFL and Canadian Football League players. Tampa Bay selected Young No. 1 overall and he joined the Buccaneers after the USFL folded. After two less-than-spectacular seasons with Tampa Bay, he was traded to the 49ers in April 1987 for cash and two draft picks.

New York Jets' Super Bowl III-winning QB Joe Namath also merits inclusion on the list of Super Bowl-winning QBs who were selected No. 1 overall.

Namath technically was the No. 2 pick in the 1965 AFL draft (the Houston Oilers anointed Baylor tight end Lawrence Elkins the No. 1 pick). But Jets' owner Sonny Werblin had already locked up Namath with a record $427,000 contract. The St. Louis Cardinals made Namath the No. 12 overall pick in the NFL draft even though they suspected he was bound for the AFL.

Six other Super Bowl-winning QBs were first-round draft picks, but only three of them won the Super Bowl with their original NFL teams:

Bob Griese (No. 4 overall by Miami in 1967) won Super Bowls VII and VIII.

Jim McMahon (No. 5 overall by Chicago in 1982) won Super Bowl XX.

Phil Simms (No. 7 overall by the New York Giants in 1979) won Super Bowl XXI.

The three remaining first-rounders won Super Bowls for other than their original NFL teams:

Len Dawson (No. 5 overall in 1957 by Pittsburgh). After throwing only 17 passes in three seasons with the Steelers and 28 passes in two seasons with Cleveland, he finally found a happy home with AFL Dallas/Kansas City and was MVP of the Chiefs' Super Bowl IV victory over Minnesota.

Doug Williams (No. 17 overall in 1978 by Tampa Bay). The first black QB selected in the first round since in the 1970 AFL/NFL merger, he played five seasons with the Buccaneers before jumping to the USFL in 1983. When the USFL folded, he passed up offers to start for several NFL teams in favor of backing up Jay Schroeder with the Washington Redskins. He won the starting job late in the 1978 season and was MVP of the Super Bowl XXII victory over Denver.

Trent Dilfer (No. 6 overall in 1994 by Tampa Bay). After six seasons with the Buccaneers, he signed with Baltimore as a free agent in March 2000. He replaced Tony Banks as starting QB midway through the season and guided the Ravens to victory over the New York Giants.

Ten other Super Bowl-winning QBs were selected from the second- through the 17th rounds of the NFL college draft. Seven of them won Super Bowls for the teams that selected them:

Bart Starr (No. 200 overall in 1956 by Green Bay): The 17th-round pick was MVP of Green Bay's Super Bowl I and II victories.

Roger Staubach (No. 129 overall in 1965 by Dallas): The Cowboys had the patience to draft the Navy star as a "future" and the move paid off with victories in Super Bowl VI and XII.

Ken Stabler (No. 52 overall in 1968 by Oakland): The second-rounder helped the Raiders win Super Bowl XI over Minnesota.

Joe Montana (No. 82 overall in 1979 by San Francisco): The fourth QB selected in his draft year started and won four Super Bowls (XVI, XIX, XXIII and XXIV) and was MVP in three of them.

Jeff Hostetler (No. 59 overall in 1984 by the New York Giants): He took over for an injured Phil Simms during the 2000 season and went all the way in the Super Bowl XXV victory over Buffalo.

Mark Rypien (No. 146 overall in 1986 by Washington): The sixth-rounder was MVP of the Super Bowl XXVI victory over Buffalo.

Tom Brady (No. 199 overall in 2000 by New England): The seventh QB picked in the draft (after Chad Pennington, Giovanni Carmazzi, Chris Redman, Tee Martin, Marc Bulger and Spurgon Wynn) won the starting job from an injured Drew Bledsoe during the 2001 season and was MVP of the Super Bowl XXXVI victory over St. Louis.

Here are the three non-first round picks who won the Super Bowl with their second NFL teams:

Johnny Unitas (No. 102 overall in 1955 by Pittsburgh): He was cut before he played a game for the Steelers, with one Pittsburgh official saying that he was "too dumb to remember the plays." Unitas was running a pile driver and playing with the semi-pro Bloomfield Rams when he was signed by Baltimore for $7,000. He became one of the all-time greats and started in the Super Bowl V win over Dallas.

Joe Theismann (No. 99 overall in 1971 by Miami): The eighth QB selected in the NFL draft opted to play in Canada rather than return punts and sit behind Griese in Miami. The Dolphins traded him to Washington for a second-round pick in 1976 and he led the Redskins to Super Bowl XVII victory over the Dolphins.

Brett Favre (No. 33 overall in 1991 by Atlanta): The Falcons traded the future Pro Football Hall of Famer to Green Bay for a first-round draft pick in February 1992 and he led the Packers to victory over New England in Super Bowl XXXI.

The only non-drafted Super Bowl-winning QB was Kurt Warner, the Green Bay Packers' free-agent reject and NFL Europe and Arena Football League hero who signed with St. Louis and was MVP of the Super Bowl XXXIV victory over Tennessee.

Two of the Super Bowl-winning QBs were left-handed passers (Stabler and Young). The other 21 were right-handed passers.

Only two players have won football's two top prizes (the Heisman Trophy and a Super Bowl) as quarterbacks - Staubach and Plunkett. Paul Hornung won the 1956 Heisman as a Notre Dame QB but was a running back-kicker for the Super Bowl-winning Packers.

Super Bowl XXXVII will be one of the most inspiring QB matchups. Johnson would become the lowest-drafted Super Bowl-winning QB. Gannon would be the first Super Bowl-winning QB drafted as a defensive back.

There is an excellent chance that one of them will emerge as MVP of Super Bowl XXXVII. QBs have accounted for 19 of the 37 MVP selections (Dallas teammates Randy White and Harvey Martin were co-MVPs of SB XII).

Gannon could join Starr, Bradshaw, Montana, Young, Favre and Warner as the only QBs to be Associated Press league MVP and Super Bowl MVP in the same season.

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