Larry Fitzgerald
Larry Darnell Fitzgerald Jr. is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 17 seasons with the Arizona Cardinals of the National Football League. He played college football for the Pittsburgh Panthers, earning unanimous All-American honors in 2003. Fitzgerald was selected by the Cardinals with the third overall pick in the 2004 NFL draft. He is widely considered by fans, coaches and peers to be one of the greatest receivers in NFL history.
Fitzgerald has been selected for the Pro Bowl eleven times. He was named first-team All-Pro in 2008 and second-team All-Pro twice in 2009 and 2011. He is second in NFL career receiving yards, second in career receptions, and sixth in career receiving touchdowns. He was named to the NFL 2010s All-Decade Team and NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team.
Fitzgerald became a minority owner of the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association in 2020.
Early life
As a teenager, Fitzgerald worked as a ball boy for the Minnesota Vikings under coach Dennis Green. "You know just being around your childhood idols," Fitzgerald said in a 2015 interview. "Coach Green gave me an opportunity of a lifetime to be around Cris Carter, Warren Moon, Joey Browner, Randy Moss, and Robert Smith. I can go on and on. To see their work ethic and dedication to their craft, that was really an eye-opening experience for a 14-year-old, 15-year-old. It was like on-the-job training almost."Fitzgerald attended and played high school football at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota. While there, he was a two-time first-team All-State wide receiver. Fitzgerald did not meet NCAA requirements to play football as a freshman, so he spent a year at Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania.
College career
Fitzgerald attended the University of Pittsburgh, where he played for the Pittsburgh Panthers football team under head coach Walt Harris. He was widely considered one of the best wide receivers in college football from 2002 to 2003.2002
In his freshman season, Fitzgerald was an instant contributor. In the second game of the season against #20 Texas A&M, he had ten receptions for 103 yards in the 14–12 loss. Three weeks later, against Toledo, he had six receptions for 121 yards and his first two collegiate touchdowns in the 37–19 victory. On November 2, Fitzgerald had another stellar outing against #3 Virginia Tech with five receptions for 105 yards and three touchdowns in the 28–21 victory. In the last regular season game on November 30, he had 11 receptions for 159 yards and two touchdowns against #24 West Virginia in the 24–17 loss. Pitt finished with an 8–4 record and qualified for a bowl game. In the 2002 Insight Bowl, Fitzgerald had five receptions for 88 yards and a touchdown in the 38–13 victory over Oregon State. Overall, in the 2002 season, Fitzgerald had a Big-East conference leading 69 receptions for 1,005 yards and twelve touchdowns.2003
Fitzgerald had a stellar sophomore season in 2003. He began the campaign against Kent State with six receptions for 123 yards and three touchdowns in the 43–3 victory. In the next game against Ball State, he had seven receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns in the 42–21 victory. Fitzgerald once again put out a great effort in the following game against Toledo with 12 receptions for 201 yards and a touchdown in the 35–31 loss. In the next game against Texas A&M, Fitzgerald had his fourth consecutive game with at least 100 receiving yards with seven receptions for 135 yards and three touchdowns in the 37–26 victory. Two weeks later, against Notre Dame, he was held under 100 yards for the first time but still had five receptions for 79 yards and two touchdowns in the 20–14 loss. Fitzgerald bounced back in the next game against Rutgers with eight receptions for a season-high 207 yards and two touchdowns in the 42–32 victory. Fitzgerald's hot streak continued in the next game against Syracuse, where he had eight receptions for 149 yards and two touchdowns in the 34–14 victory. Fitzgerald's performance against the Orange was his fourth consecutive game with at least two touchdowns.Fitzgerald started the month of November with seven receptions for 156 yards and a touchdown in a 24–13 victory over Boston College. In the following week against #5 Virginia Tech, he had eight receptions for 108 yards and a touchdown in the 31–28 upset victory. Fitzgerald added another great performance against West Virginia in the following week with nine receptions for 185 yards and two touchdowns in the 52–31 loss. In the following week against Temple, he had seven receptions for 102 yards and two touchdowns as the Panthers won 30–16. Fitzgerald's performance against the Owls was his sixth consecutive game with at least 100 receiving yards. Fitzgerald's impressive streak ended the following week against #10 Miami with three receptions for 26 yards and a touchdown in the 28–14 loss. Despite having a season-low in yardage, Fitzgerald ended up recording his 12th consecutive game with at least one touchdown reception in the 2003 season, and 18th straight game with a touchdown reception dating back to the previous season. Pitt finished with an 8–4 record in the regular season and qualified for a bowl game. In the 2003 Continental Tire Bowl, Fitzgerald had five receptions for 77 yards against Virginia in the final game of his collegiate career, a 23–16 loss. He was held without a touchdown for the first time in 18 collegiate games.
Overall, Fitzgerald led the Big East conference with 92 receptions for an NCAA-leading 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns in the 2003 season.
After his sophomore season, Fitzgerald was recognized as the best player in the NCAA with the 2003 Walter Camp Award and the Touchdown Club of Columbus's Chic Harley Award, and as the nation's outstanding receiver in college football with the 2003 Biletnikoff Award and the Touchdown Club's Paul Warfield Award. He was a unanimous All-American selection in 2003 and a runner-up for the prestigious Heisman Trophy, given to the most outstanding player in college football; Oklahoma's Jason White won the award that year with 1,481 total points to Fitzgerald's 1,353.
In just 26 games in his collegiate career, Fitzgerald caught 161 passes for 2,677 yards and set a new Pitt record with 34 receiving touchdowns. He was the first player in school history with back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving seasons, and his 14 games with at least 100 yards receiving broke Antonio Bryant's previous all-time Panthers record of 13. Fitzgerald's 18 straight games with at least one touchdown reception is an NCAA record.
On July 1, 2013, Fitzgerald's #1 jersey was retired by the University of Pittsburgh. Fitzgerald was the ninth Pittsburgh player to receive this honor. In 2021, Fitzgerald was ranked second on ESPN's list of the 50 greatest wide receivers of the past 50 years.
College statistics
Professional career
Although Fitzgerald had played at Pitt for only two years without redshirting, he petitioned the NFL to allow him to enter the NFL draft, as he had left his high school, Academy of Holy Angels, during his senior year to attend Valley Forge Military Academy. The NFL granted an exception to allow Fitzgerald to enter the draft, as Fitzgerald had convinced the NFL that the time he spent at VFMA, combined with his time at Pitt, was the minimum three years removed from high school to make him eligible for the draft. Although former Ohio State running back Maurice Clarett was suing the NFL at the time to overturn the rule, the NFL considered Fitzgerald's case separate from Clarett's.After his tremendous sophomore year, Fitzgerald was selected third overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the Arizona Cardinals, whose then coach, Dennis Green, knew Fitzgerald from his time as a Vikings ball boy. He was the first wide receiver to be selected in the 2004 NFL Draft. In addition, he was the first of six Pitt Panthers to be selected that year.
2004
Fitzgerald made his NFL debut against the St. Louis Rams in the season opener on September 12. In the 17–10 loss, he had four receptions for 70 yards. In the fifth game of the season on October 10, he had his first career touchdown reception, a 24-yard pass from Josh McCown, against the San Francisco 49ers. On December 19, against the St. Louis Rams, Fitzgerald became the youngest player at 21 years and 110 days, to record at least two touchdown receptions in a single game. His record has since been broken by Aaron Hernandez of the New England Patriots in 2010 and Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2014. He followed up his historic performance in the next game in Week 16 against the Seattle Seahawks, in which he had four receptions for 70 yards and two touchdowns in the 24–21 loss.Fitzgerald finished his rookie year with 59 receptions for 780 yards and eight touchdowns as the Cardinals missed the playoffs with a 6–10 record.
2005
Fitzgerald started his second NFL season catching 13 receptions for a former career-high 155 yards and a touchdown in a 42–19 loss to the New York Giants in the season opener on September 11. Fitzgerald's season was strong throughout, finding the endzone in ten separate games and totaling seven games with over 100 receiving yards. Fitzgerald and the Cardinals missed the playoffs with a 6–10 record.In 2005, Fitzgerald led the NFL with 103 receptions for 1,409 yards, which ranked fourth in the NFL, and ten touchdowns, which ranked fifth in the NFL. He was named to his first Pro Bowl. Fitzgerald teamed with Anquan Boldin to create one of the most productive wide receiver tandems in the NFL. In 2005, Fitzgerald and Boldin became only the second tandem from the same team, the first tandem being Herman Moore and Brett Perriman of the Detroit Lions in 1995, to each catch over 100 passes and top the 1,400-yard mark.
2006
Fitzgerald started his third NFL season with nine receptions for 133 yards in a 34–27 victory over the San Francisco 49ers. He had his first touchdown of the season in Week 3, 14–16 loss to the St. Louis Rams. He sustained a hamstring injury and missed three games. He returned against the Dallas Cowboys on November 12 in a 27–10 defeat. Two weeks later, he had 11 receptions for a career-high 172 yards against the Minnesota Vikings in a 31–26 loss. He closed out the 2006 season with four receiving touchdowns in the last five games.Overall, Fitzgerald finished the 2006 season with 69 receptions for 946 yards and six touchdowns as the Cardinals finished the year with a 5–11 record.