Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Joe Montana, left, Class of 1974, talks to members of the Ringgold football team prior to its game against Indiana at Ringgold High School yesterday.

On a day when high schools all around football-crazed Western Pennsylvania filled their gyms for the first pep assemblies of the year, Joe Montana took a trip back in time.

More than 30 years after he left Ringgold High School, the Hall of Fame quarterback entered the gym yesterday to a deafening roar. He smiled shyly, told the students to mind their academics and reminded the 2006 Rams about a golden rule in sports.

"You're going to have wins and losses, but the most important things are the guys around you," he said to the team members clad in their jerseys and seated in two rows along one wall of the gym.

Mr. Montana, 50, made a rare trip home to Monongahela for a couple of honors.

The Ringgold stadium, bright with new FieldTurf, was named after Mr. Montana before last night's season opener against Indiana. Tonight, Mr. Montana will be inducted into the Ringgold Hall of Fame, along with longtime NFL kicker Fred Cox and baseball stars Stan Musial and Ken Griffey Sr. Mr. Cox and Mr. Griffey also attended the event, but Mr. Musial did not because his wife was ailing.

With two signs on either side of the press box already visible with "Welcome to Joe Montana Stadium," a larger one remained covered by canvas on the opposite side of the field last night.

As players from Ringgold and Indiana warmed up 90 minutes before the game, dozens of elementary school children ran around wearing No. 13 "MONTANA" T-shirts they had been given at an assembly earlier in the day. The scoreboard read "16" points for each team with "19:74" the time remaining -- Mr. Montana's 49ers uniform number and Ringgold graduating class year.

The new sign was unveiled as fireworks cracked and blue and gold balloons were released. Mr. Montana gave the wide-eyed Rams' players a pep talk -- "To earn respect, you've got to make [Indiana] believe you are better than they are" -- before addressing the chilly and drizzle-soaked crowd just before dusk.

"Sometimes in a lifetime, something happens that goes beyond your wildest dreams and your wildest imagination," he said. "And that's what's happening here tonight."

Mr. Montana hadn't been back to his hometown since he had a gymnasium and two highway bridges named after him a few years ago.

The last time he had been to a Ringgold football game, he was wearing the team's uniform. Don't ask him to recount his statistics from that game, or even the score or the opponent.

"It's been so many years," he said. "I was trying to think about high school games. I remember parts of the games, and I remember the pep assemblies a little bit."

It's probably not that Mr. Montana, looking fit and happy, has a failing memory. It's just that his football career got a little busy after high school.

After he left Ringgold, Mr. Montana led Notre Dame to a national championship in 1977. In the NFL, he led San Francisco to four Super Bowl titles in the '80s, was the league MVP twice and is the only three-time Super Bowl MVP.

He certainly has never forgotten where he's from, though.

"He's still the same as he always was, very down to earth," said Bonnie Polonoli-Kosh, who grew up with Mr. Montana. "He hasn't changed a bit -- he's just got four Super Bowl rings."

The Polonoli family still lives across Park Avenue from the house Mr. Montana called home. Late yesterday morning, between assemblies at Monongahela Elementary Center and the high school, he swung by the old neighborhood to visit with the Polonolis and the family of Stanley Fabin, another childhood friend.

"We hung up the tire in the back yard, and he threw through it a few times -- just like he used to," Ms. Polonoli-Kosh said.

There must be hundreds of tire swings that over the years have swallowed the football passes of aspiring young quarterbacks across Western Pennsylvania, an area that has produced skeins of pro players, including big-name passers such as Mr. Montana, Dan Marino and Joe Namath.

Although Mr. Montana, who says he's busier in retirement than when he was playing, doesn't get home all that often, his legacy is further cemented with Joe Montana Football Stadium.

"It's a great honor," he said. "It'll last longer than me."