Values distinguished Christian McCaffrey in high school. And led him to Super Bowl 58

Ask anyone at Valor Christian High School about Christian McCaffrey — coaches, teachers, board members — and the response is a chorus of what a “humble,” “polite” and “classy” kid he is.

He’s not a kid anymore, but the San Francisco 49ers’ star running back used the work ethic and values he exhibited in high school to propel him to his first Super Bowl. The 49ers face the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday in an attempt to tie the franchise record for the most Super Bowl wins in NFL history.

Rex Rolf was McCaffrey’s running backs coach during his time at Valor, a private school in Highlands Ranch, Colorado just south of Denver.

“I just said, 'My job is don’t screw him up,'” he laughed during an interview with USA TODAY Sports.

“He had all this natural ability and the worst thing you can do is overcoach somebody. … By the time you get to the junior and senior year, you go, ‘What do you think of this, Christian? Oh yeah, let’s go with that.’”

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The 49ers made the same decision: let’s go with that. Let’s go with McCaffrey right, left, everywhere on the field. It may seem obvious now that McCaffrey was going to be a star with the 49ers when the franchise traded for him in 2022, but that wasn’t the case then.

Many NFL front offices don’t believe in spending big money on running backs, particularly ones like McCaffrey with an injury history. But McCaffrey has thrived with the 49ers and helped unlock additional dimensions to the offense.

And it all started on those high school fields in Colorado.

McCaffrey won back-to-back Gatorade Player of the Year titles while playing for the Eagles and broke multiple state records during his high school career, including career points (848), career touchdowns (141), career all-purpose yards (8,845) and single season all-purpose yards (3,032).

Valor administrator Jim Kirchner recalled the first time he was struck by McCaffrey’s talent.

“First time I ever heard a crowd be stunned silent,” Kirchner said. “And it was a play where he was running up the middle, and in a very small space he did a 360-kinda turn and took off and scored a touchdown and the crowd had a delayed response to that. It was the funniest thing.”

Valor football’s current head coach, Bret McGatlin, took the reins of the team in 2022. He is the son of local legend Don McGatlin, who racked up 205 career wins and won two state championships as the head coach of Green Mountain High School. Bret won his first state championship with Chatfield High School in 2021.

He said he hasn’t met McCaffrey, but knows his impact on the school and the state. 

“Being in Colorado football my entire life, my dad being a longtime coach, I've always looked up to the high school athletes even when I was a kid,” McGatlin said. “They looked like NFL stars to me. I didn't know any different. Christian might be the only kid that I would watch play just because I wanted to see one athlete play live.”

He said he went to Valor’s 2013 state championship game against Fairview High School, where the Eagles won their fifth consecutive title. McCaffrey had 221 total yards and four touchdowns for an MVP performance, which was his high school finale.

“It was like watching a superstar on the field,” McGatlin said. “Everyone in the stadium knows he’s getting the ball and they still can’t stop him.”

That year, McCaffrey also won the Denver Post's Gold Helmet award, given to the best football player in Colorado. He got a scholarship to play football at Stanford, where his parents went, and then the Carolina Panthers picked him up with the No. 8 overall pick in the 2017 NFL draft. He played five seasons with the team, including two 1,000-yard campaigns, before being traded to the 49ers last season. This year, he led the league with 1,459 rushing yards despite not playing in the season finale.

Since joining Valor, which golf sensation Wyndham Clark also attended, McGatlin said everything he’s heard about McCaffrey, including from the running back's longtime trainer Brian Kula, has been positive. His work ethic is something that stands out and is something he hopes to instill in the current Eagles team.

“Just a completely different mindset,” McGatlin said. “Just like you probably hear the Michael Jordans and the Kobe Bryants, these people that have this elite mindset, is what I hear about him. So that's what's cool for us to express to our players.”

Besides dominating the gridiron, McCaffrey starred in track and field and played basketball. People who knew him said he was quiet, but led by example. When he spoke, everyone listened.

McCaffrey's three brothers — Max, Dylan and Luke — also played football at Valor and received scholarships to Division I college programs. Max played two seasons in the NFL after playing at Duke and Dylan won the Gold Helmet award in 2016 before heading to Michigan. Luke played at Rice and is a 2024 NFL draft hopeful.

“They were real leaders in our school and really set the tone, set the pace for so many good things," Kirchner said.

Valor's assistant athletic director Justen Byler was the basketball coach at the time the McCaffrey family was at the school. He conducted Christian’s admissions interview and thought he was getting a point guard. Circumstances didn’t play out, but Byler expressed gratitude for how the running back exemplified the school's mission.

“One of the first things that people talk about is the excellence that we hope that Valor students embody for sure, but also the humility that goes along with that," Byler said. "And those two things don’t always go together, whether it’s an athlete or anybody that has that type of platform and you see that at the professional level. That is every bit what he was here.”

McCaffrey’s father is Ed McCaffrey, a three-time Super Bowl champion, and his mother, Lisa, also has athletic prowess in her blood. She was a track phenom who took after her father. Dr. Dave Sime won a silver medal in the 100-meter dash at the 1960 Olympics and was once known as the fastest man in the world.

A photo of Christian as a toddler sitting on Shannon Sharpe’s lap from Ed’s days with the Denver Broncos went viral last month.

It could be easy for a kid with such an esteemed background to get a big head. Coach Rolf said the family name never seemed to affect the McCaffrey. He noted that Ed was more quiet and introverted while Lisa was the more outspoken one who probably kept the boys humble.

“I gotta give the family dynamic credit,” he said. “This isn't words that I've ever heard her use, but kind of like, ‘Hey, just remember who you are. You're not as cool as you think you are.’ She'd be the kind of person to say that. Keep everybody level.

"At their home behind the scenes, they're just regular people. They have fun like everybody else.”

Among the behind the scenes moments that Rolf looked back on with a smile was Christian playing piano and singing songs with his friends.

Valor music teacher Marty Magehee, an award-winning Christian music recording artist, said McCaffrey often asked to play at school during his off time. He laughed at how the teenager said a friend convinced him to learn the instrument to impress girls.

“He would sit down at the keyboard and he’d kind of blow me away," he said. "He has an incredible ear and he’s the guy that no matter what he got into, he poured himself into it and he had to be the best that he could be at that.”

McCaffrey joined country sensation Zach Bryan in June for a concert at the famed Red Rocks Amphitheater. He played keyboard and sang along during the finale, “Revival.” Even though he hadn't previously heard about the appearance, Magehee knew how special it must have been to McCaffrey, who he remembers as the student who wore glasses, "looked really studious" and "was such a nice guy."

“That made his life,” Magehee beamed.

Valor has had several athletes go to Division I programs and reach stages like the college football national championship. Linebacker Christian Elliss went to the Super Bowl last year as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.

Besides priding themselves on elite athletics facilities and high-tech arts programs, one of Valor’s core principles that McCaffrey made his own is faith.

"I think that his faith, which he was not ashamed of and within his style, he was very free to demonstrate," Rolf said. "He's maintained that. . . . You always see him given a little bit of nod, you know, upstairs, every time he scores a touchdown. I know that's part of his inside and mental connection and motivation.”

As a first-round draft pick, two-time All-Pro player and now adding Super Bowl participant to his own resumé, McCaffrey has built a name for himself apart from his family and any academic institution.

“It’s the epitome. It’s the ultimate team sport. He’s the ultimate teammate,” Byler said of McCaffrey going to his first Super Bowl. “Certainly, he’s going to be the same human being win or lose."