Kurt Warner: A Study in Excellence
- Updated: February 11, 2017
The Pro Football Hall of Fame website lists its mission statement rather simply: to honor the heroes of the game; preserve the history of the NFL; promote the values of commitment, integrity, courage, respect, and excellence; and to celebrate excellence, everywhere.
Kurtis Eugene Warner, called Kurt Warner throughout his career, will be inducted into the NFL’s Hall of Fame in August. Since he retired in 2009, some have questioned his credentials as a Hall of Famer. Many have wondered whether his body of work was strong enough. Some have brought up the illustrious supporting cast that often surrounded him. During Super Bowl runs with the St. Louis Rams and Arizona Cardinals he threw to the likes of Marshall Faulk, Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Larry Fitzgerald. Great ones, to be sure. Though he played 12 years, he only played a full slate of 16 games 3 times in those years. He threw 128 interceptions in 124 regular season games. He lost 2 of the 3 Super Bowls he played in. There are many arguments to be made against Kurt Warner.
But Kurt Warner is no stranger to the arguments against him. Undrafted out of Northern Iowa, he was invited to the Green Bay Packers’ training camp in 1994, but was cut before the season began. Without prospects, and with no other professional league willing to give him a try, Kurt Warner went to work at a grocery store, stocking shelves and sweeping aisles. He would sleep in a basement, work out before his night shift, and watch his girlfriend’s children while she went to school. He lived a regular life, without complaint, but strived for a more excellent one. It wasn’t until the Spring of 1995 that anyone gave Kurt Warner another chance.
When the Arena Football League tabbed an expansion team for Des Moines, Iowa, Warner landed the starting job. With the passion of a man who worked and waited for his chance, he lit up the Arena League, leading the Barnstormers to two championship appearances in three years. Finally, Kurt Warner caught the attention of the NFL.
The St. Louis Rams, a struggling franchise throughout the 1990s, scooped up the Arena League phenom in 1998. The Rams assigned Warner to NFL Europe that year. With the Amsterdam Admirals, Kurt Warner led the league in both passing yards and touchdowns. He would not return for a second season.
Later in 1998, he made the Rams roster as the 3rd-string quarterback behind Tony Banks and Steve Bono. He barely saw the field.
The following season, in 1999, head coach Dick Vermeil had seen enough in Kurt Warner to promote him to the backup role behind Trent Green. Trent Green was coming off a productive campaign with the Washington Redskins and was largely considered the answer to the long-suffering Rams at QB. It was not to be.
In the third preseason game of Trent Green’s highly anticipated tenure with the St. Louis Rams, Green went down. A low hit destroyed Green’s knee as he planted. His season was over.
Kurt Warner, unheralded and still unknown, was named the starter for the 1999 season. The undrafted Kurt Warner. The shelf stocker. The Arena League guy. Kurt Warner.
Dick Vermeil famously pronounced in a press conference that the Rams would rally around Kurt Warner, and that the Rams would play good football. Only Vermeil knows now if that was the voice of hope or the voice of confidence, but rally they did. Play good football, they did.
The Rams scored more than 500 points that season. Warner threw for over 4000 yards and more than 40 touchdowns. The Rams earned the moniker of “Greatest Show on Turf.” They were a thrill to watch under the poise and daring of their quarterback. Kurt Warner became a household name.
And, oh yeah, they won the Super Bowl that year.
It was only the beginning. The Greatest Show on Turf lasted a few years and the Rams would score over 500 points for an NFL-record three consecutive seasons. They would appear in another Super Bowl after the 2001 season. By all accounts, Kurt Warner’s struggles were behind him.
Those accounts were wrong.
Poor play at the beginning of 2002 gave rise to questions whether the clock had struck midnight on Warner’s Cinderella story. A broken finger sat him down. In the first game in 2003, he lost his starting job for good. The Rams released him after the season, and Kurt Warner was without a football job once again.
The New York Giants took a chance on Warner the following season, but he lost his starting job there, too. After one season with the Giants, he was on the street again.
It looked for all the world like the story would come to a close. Kurt Warner was a shining star for three wonderful seasons in the NFL. The dream was realized, ever so briefly, then over.
That account, too, was wrong.
Kurt Warner signed with the Arizona Cardinals in 2005. In that year – and the next few that followed – he would battle to return to glory, winning and losing the starting job several times. Even after a pretty decent 2007 season, he was not assured the starting role in 2008. Past performance, in the NFL, never indicates future success, and accolades of the past assure nothing. Still, in the preseason of 2008, Warner seized the starting QB position from Matt Leinart and never looked back. He threw for over 4500 yards that year, and 30 touchdowns. He led the Arizona Cardinals back to the playoffs for the first time since 1998, and led them to their first Super Bowl appearance, ever. The star was shining once again.
After another prolific year in 2009, and another playoff berth, Kurt Warner retired from the NFL.
During his career in the biggest league in professional football, Kurt Warner threw for 32,444 yards and 208 touchdowns. He went to 3 Super Bowls. Twice he was the League MVP, and once the MVP of a Super Bowl. He went to 4 Pro Bowls. Twice he led the league in passing yards, and once in passing touchdowns. He held the record for most yards passing in a Super Bowl until 2017. He was the fastest player to reach 10,000 yards in the history of the NFL, and is tied with Dan Marino as the fastest player in history to reach 30,000. Kurt Warner shares a bevy of other records with the folks named Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Peyton Manning, and Johnny Unitas.
Excellence.
The Pro Football Hall of Fame names excellence in its mission statement twice. It’s a very important attribute to the Hall of Fame. Kurt Warner proved excellence in his 12-year career. But he proved something beyond that. He proved his commitment to the game through his perseverance. He showed courage to overcome setback after setback, integrity in his personal and professional life, and respect for the game itself, never once thinking himself better than it. These are the values listed in the mission statement, and these are the values in which Kurt Warner excelled.
In the history of the NFL, his rags-to-riches story is often cited as perhaps the best. The store-stocker-come-superstar is the stuff of Hollywood legend. And yet, Kurt Warner maintained a humility rarely seen by superstars throughout his career.
If the Pro Football Hall of Fame is about preserving the rich history of the NFL, and honoring its heroes, then let the question fall away now. Kurt Warner is not only deserving of his induction into the Hall of Fame, he epitomizes it. His values stand in unison; his story stands alone.
He made it. From undrafted rookie to supermarket stocker to NFL starter to the Hall of Fame. That’s a story worth remembering. That’s a story worth remembering, in bronze, for all time.
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4 Comments
About Tom Cummings
Lavoy Briscoe
February 12, 2017 at 8:02 am
Tom, this article on Kurt Warner is pure excellence. Great work.
Tom Cummings
February 12, 2017 at 9:09 am
Thank you, Lavoy!
Dave Andrade
February 19, 2017 at 7:22 pm
Great article Tom. Humility and class are two things I will always associate with Kurt Warner. He is deserving.
Tom Cummings
February 20, 2017 at 8:59 am
Couldn’t agree more, Dave. He is deserving on so many levels. Thanks for reading and joining in!