Super Bowl LVIII: Brock Purdy's high school ready to cheer on 49ers quarterback

QUEEN CREEK, Ariz. (KGO) -- It was junior year and his English class just finished reading "The Great Gatsby." His teacher threw a roaring 20s party and asked the students to dress accordingly. Brock Purdy chose to wear a cowboy hat with a loose fitting tie. Why?

"That's just who he is," said Katie Cambra, his teacher. "He has always been unapologetically himself. He doesn't worry what others say about him."

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His attire may not have been a speakeasy prohibition-era style, but the quarterback for Perry High School had no problem trying to be a part of the fun.

"Sometimes you couldn't tell he played football," Cambra said. "He was always focused sat in the front of class, and focused on his work."

Purdy achieved great success while in high school. He led his team to being runners up on the state championship, and won Arizona High School Player of the Year in 2017. He was no doubt a star quarterback, but his teachers say he certainly didn't act like it.

"He was always focused on getting it done," said Tracy Gibson, his economics teacher. "He interacted with other students who were also working. He didn't really interact with his football teammates in class. He did at times, but he was friendly with everybody."

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Friendly, hard-working and never afraid to put himself out there and take risks.

"I remember a story, we had to do a debate between Karl Marx and Adam Smith," Gibson said. "And one of the things I said, well if you're going to come up here, you have to have an accent. Either a German or a Scottish accent and he just killed it like he put himself out there and that was the second week of school."

To them, his success doesn't come as a surprise.

"He was just an everyday guy on campus," said Preston Jones, his high school coach. "He is a servant leader. He is there for his teammates. He is there for his friends. That is who he is and it is hard not to get behind a guy who is like that."

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That is why Perry High School is throwing their support behind their star alum. Purdy has a chance to be the first 49er quarterback to win a Super Bowl since Steve Young, 29 years ago.

"I think they saw something special in him," Jones said. "Brock has had some luck in those situations, but I always tell kids, there is no such thing as being lucky. You prepare and put yourself in the situation where an opportunity presents itself you are able to capitalize on it."

Now, a new opportunity presents itself for Purdy. If you ask anyone who knew him in at Perry, he was always ready for this moment.

"We know he is focused and ready for the challenge, that is who he is," Gibson said. "We are proud of our Perry Puma."

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