Retirement. It’s something that most people look forward to. A time when years of work have paid off and now you get the chance to relax, travel and do whatever you feel like.

For some athletes, “retirement” means much of the same. Ricky Williams tried to retire early a year ago. Robert Smith and Barry Sanders both retired early, and happily. Michael Jordan retired early and attempted to play baseball. The list could go on for miles.

But for others, retirement is synonymous with death. Many players and coaches refuse to hang it up.

It looked like Barry Bonds was going to have to throw in the towel, but now it looks like he’s poised to make a return. Joe Paterno has all kinds of people pressuring him to retire, but refuses to do so. It feels like Julio Franco should have retired years ago, but somehow he is still batting .287 with nine homers and 41 RBI despite turning 47 last month.

You could put Jerry Rice in that same category, until Monday. The 42-year-old legend retired after 20 seasons, all but four of them with the San Francisco 49ers.

Rice had just 30 receptions and more than 400 yards last season, mostly with the Seahawks. He was set to play for the Broncos this season, but after a talk with head coach Mike Shanahan, realized that he was not meant to play as a fourth receiver while getting shuffled around from team to team.

Perhaps it was a year late, but good for him. After all, the best player in the history of the NFL deserves to go out with respect and dignity.

I’m not just saying that he is the greatest player ever because I grew up a 49ers fan, although I do have some great memories of No. 80.

My favorite was the 1994 Super Bowl, in which Rice caught 10 passes — three of them touchdowns — as San Francisco toppled San Diego 49-26.

Of course, Jerry Rice was no stranger to the Super Bowl. He had 11 receptions for 215 yards and a score in 1988 and seven catches for 148 yards and three touchdowns in 1989. Even in 2002 when he made it to the NFL’s biggest game with the Oakland Raiders, he had five catches for 77 yards and a touchdown.

That’s what makes a great player into one of the best of all-time. He helped get his team to the championship game, and when they got there he was exceptional and helped them win — at least with his true team, the 49ers.

In the same 1994 season, he set the league’s career touchdown record with 139, set the single season record with 112 receptions and set another NFL record with his ninth-straight 1,000-yard season.

Now, of course, Jerry Rice owns every major receiving record and then some.

With 1,549 career receptions, he has nearly 450 more than Cris Carter. His 22,895 career receiving yards blow every other receiver out of the water. Tim Brown, his closest competitor, is nearly 8,000 yards short.

He finished with 197 receiving touchdowns, 23,540 total yards from scrimmage and 207 total touchdowns, just to name a few more. In fact, as he retires, he holds an amazing 38 NFL records.

Like many great athletes, he was not even the first pick the year he was drafted. He was not even the first receiver selected, but who could blame the NFL teams? He was not the speediest of receivers and he came from Mississippi Valley State — not exactly your powerhouse football program.

So Rice watched as the Bills selected Bruce Smith with the first selection overall — obviously that turned out to be a great pick.

The Packers could have had him with the seventh pick but took Ken Ruettgers. Al Toon, a former Badger, was the first receiver taken in the draft with the 10th pick.

Cincinnati took wide receiver Eddie Brown in the 13th slot. He had one 1,000-yard season and one Pro Bowl appearance in seven years. The Bengals may wish they would have had Rice.

The Chiefs took tight-end Ethan Horton two selections later. He made it to the Pro Bowl … once. He finished with little more than 2,000 yards and 17 touchdowns in his eight years, only one of them in Kansas City.

Rice went next, the 17th pick overall, to Bill Walsh and the 49ers.

All he did was make 13 Pro Bowls, all of them in San Francisco. In fact, he had a mere 115 fewer yards and five more touchdowns than Horton … in the postseason alone.

Then again, it’s easy to second-guess draft choices 20 years after they were made.

Would I have liked to see Rice as a fourth receiver, seeing minimal time over the next year or two, wearing a number far from 80, in a jersey not red and gold? Of course not, but I will miss watching him play.

Whether or not you think he should have retired a year ago, and whether or not you agree with me that he is the greatest player in football history, you have to respect him.

Deemed slow out of college, he worked hard — harder than many people realize — his whole career. He didn’t whine about contracts and money. He was loyal to the team that drafted him until they stupidly told him they didn’t need him anymore.

It’s a shame that Terrell Owens didn’t follow his example in San Francisco, but it’s still out there for everyone — football players and average fans alike — to learn from.

I’ll be waiting for his speech in Canton.