New Orleans Saints Forums - blackandgold.com - NOLA.com New Orleans Saints' Jonathan Vilma, San Francisco 49ers' Frank Gore set to renew rivalry

The rivalry between New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma and San Francisco 49ers tailback Frank Gore was so intense during their time together at Coral Gables High School in South Florida that their coach, Joe Montoya, said he often had to replace one of them on the practice field out of fear that "they'd end up killing each other."

Elaine Thompson/The Associated Press
San Francisco 49ers running back Frank Gore and his former high school teammate, New Orleans Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma, had different paths to NFL stardom.
And the competition didn't end there.

Montoya also recalled a time when the two alpha males broke into a full-on wrestling match inside his office.
"They started out arm-wrestling, then they're throwing each other against my table," said Montoya, who stopped short of calling it a "friendly" rivalry but said that Vilma and Gore have always held each other in high esteem as their careers led them both to the University of Miami, then to NFL stardom.
Vilma, who agreed with that assessment, laughed at the memory of that impromptu wrestling match, which took place when he came back to visit during his freshman year at Miami, while Gore was still a senior in high school.
"He swore that he was stronger than me, and I knew that I was stronger than him, so we started wrestling, " Vilma said. "So of course I won, then obviously he tried to act like he won. ... We respected each other, but I was definitely winning that one.
"We competed in anything and everything. He was by far the best back in Dade (County), and I was trying to be the best linebacker in Dade. It was best on best."
More than a decade later, that still will be the case Monday night in San Francisco, when Vilma once again lines up across the field from Gore.

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