Arizona Cardinals: Kurt Warner, a class act
By Scott Allen
Humbled Beginnings
When Warner began his speech, after a brief few seconds explaining how the moment was kicking in for him, he started off talking about the others being enshrined. That’s Kurt Warner for you, always putting others before himself.
He said he was “humbled to be joining this new team, made up of men I admired”. He was inducted with former San Diego Chargers running back LaDainian Tomlinson, former Denver Broncos running back Terrell Davis and former New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, New York Giants, and Kansas City Chiefs kicker Morten Anderson.
Also being inducted were current Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Miami Dolphins, Washington Redskins, and New York Jets defensive end Jason Taylor, and former Seattle Seahawks safety Kenny Easley. Quite the class Warner is a part of.
He spent a good part of the first few minutes talking about his love of football growing up. He told of how he would play with his brothers, Matt and Matt.
He talked about how he emulated other quarterbacks. Guys like Roger Staubach, Bart Starr, Len Dawson, Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath. He also spent time talking about how his dad gave his time to him growing up.
He was thankful for the opportunities he was given, starting with NFL Europe. He also was thankful for all of his coaches who believed in him. Guys like Al Luginbill and Dick Vermeil who went the extra mile for him.
He singled just one player out. Former quarterback Trent Green. Without his unfortunate injury, Warner may have never seen the field much less the career he had.
He was thankful to Green for providing him the knowledge needed to move forward. He ultimately won a Super Bowl and an MVP using the insights he was given.