How Larry Fitzgerald goes back to normal after HOF nod

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Larry Fitzgerald was in the middle of dinner with the rest of the board of directors of Dick’s Sporting Goods in Boca Raton, Florida, on Jan. 20 when his phone rang.

It was a friend of his who told the former Arizona Cardinals All-Pro receiver about his new yacht. At the end of the message was a request: “I would love to show you my new boat.”

“I was like, ‘This is random,'” Fitzgerald said, but he accepted the invitation with the caveat that he couldn’t arrive until 8:15 p.m., when his dinner would be over. After the meal, Fitzgerald was taken to the docks – which was just across the street from his hotel, which Fitzgerald again thought strange.

“Why, of all places, would his boat be parked in front of my hotel?” Fitzgerald thought to himself.

His friend met him at the pier and both of them started walking towards the boat, which was standing at the last turn. “Get out there,” Fitzgerald said.

During their walk, Fitzgerald’s friend talked about how he chose the upholstery, and about the stern and mast. Fitzgerald likes boats but doesn’t know much about them, so he nodded, interested in what his friend had to say and happy to see him excited.

When they finally reached the boat, Fitzgerald’s friend let him go first. When Fitzgerald turned a corner and stepped into the boat, Hall of Fame wide receiver and longtime friend Randy Moss was standing there, waiting to give Fitzgerald some good news.

“You know why I’m here, boy,” Moss said to Fitzgerald as the two hugged. “Hey man, brother, with all my love, want to welcome you to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Class of 2026, man.”

Looking back at that moment, Fitzgerald said he was genuinely surprised.

“Man, I had no clue,” Fitzgerald told ESPN. “I didn’t have a clue. And there weren’t any inclinations that could give me a clue, and I’m very good at this. I figure things out very quickly. I didn’t have a clue.

“So, that was a huge surprise.”

Fitzgerald went back to his hotel room and got in the shower. It was here that the horror of that moment overwhelmed him.

“I broke down in the shower,” Fitzgerald said. “And I was grateful and appreciative, but I was sad that my mom wouldn’t be here to celebrate it with me. And then you start to go into that reflection mode and all the people who have contributed to your life in a meaningful way.”

She thought about her mother, Carol, who died of breast cancer in 2003; His grandparents and uncle Robert, all deceased; And her Aunt Grace. He thought they’d take him to football practice as a kid, to support a young kid when the Hall of Fame wasn’t even remotely gleaming on the horizon.

“I’m talking, I was 8 years old. I just wanted to get some KFC chicken after practice and they took me to get it,” Fitzgerald said. “They were doing it before it was sexy and there was something in it for them, and there was nothing in it for them. And all these things, it affects you.”

Then another reality set in: Fitzgerald had to keep his election to the Hall of Fame secret, which he accomplished in his first year of eligibility. He had to ask some people on his team to work on logistics and messaging, but besides them, Fitzgerald didn’t tell anyone – not even his children or his father.

Certainly not his father, longtime Minneapolis sports writer Larry Fitzgerald Sr.

Fitzgerald said, laughing, “I’ve told my dad things in the past and somehow it came out in a way I didn’t expect and it wasn’t good.” “So, I just said, ‘I’ll allow it to be a surprise for Pop.’ And I love her, but some people don’t do as well with secrets as others.”

Essentially, if anyone didn’t need to know, Fitzgerald said, they didn’t find out until the rest of the world did during NFL Honors on Feb. 5 in San Francisco.

Fitzgerald held his Hall of Fame election for 16 days.

“It felt very strange to hold it,” Fitzgerald said. “But I know that if you have a secret, I can keep it. I can keep it.”

Fitzgerald said he thought a lot about the other members of his class during those 16 days: Drew Brees, Luke Kuechly, adam vinatieri And Roger Craig. Among his reasons for not telling anyone about his election, Fitzgerald felt it was paramount to keep it to himself out of respect for the other four men. If she told one person and the rest of the class walked out, Fitzgerald felt it would be disrespectful to them, their trips, and also their Hall of Fame experience.

After the wait, the announcement came at NFL Honors. The announcement was followed by recognition on the field at Levi’s Stadium during Super Bowl LX.

But after the Super Bowl, Fitzgerald was back to his life, albeit without a life-changing secret on his shoulders.

“Obviously, becoming a Hall of Famer is a wonderful, wonderful thing, but the light bill still comes in, the kids’ needs are still the same, tuition has to be paid,” Fitzgerald said. “There are some things that will never change and life will go on. My neighbors were a little nicer to me.”

“But life is life, friend.”

And it hasn’t slowed down.

Two days after standing on the field, with a camera broadcasting his face to millions of people around the world, announcing that he was a Hall of Famer, Fitzgerald sat in the empty dining room of Dominick’s, a steakhouse in Scottsdale, jumping from one interview to the next. He was there to talk about his foundation, which is supporting breast cancer awareness and K-12 initiatives through the Larry Fitzgerald Supper Club, now in its 16th year. Although the Hall of Fame was certainly a topic at every table he visited, he talked about the money and awareness it raised, not only to promote his work in the community but also to honor his mother, who worked for two nonprofits in Minneapolis before she died.

Talking about his foundation’s work was part of the way Fitzgerald feels he repays those who helped him along the way.

“I’ve been the recipient of a lot of generosity and I’ve been blessed a lot and I think that’s our responsibility,” he said.

Fitzgerald noticed about 10 years ago that helping others gave her satisfaction. He knew then that he didn’t have many years left in the NFL, but he wanted to use his presence in his final season to maximize his impact on the causes he was most passionate about.

Sitting at a table in a tailored plaid suit and navy button-down, it was just another day for Fitzgerald, doing what he would have been doing even if he hadn’t just been named to the Hall of Fame.

His life had changed. He had reached the pinnacle of a football player’s journey. And within 48 hours, he was back to his normal life.

“I think in most cases, I’m a cat with an even body,” he said. “You won’t see me at extreme highs, you won’t see me at extreme lows. I’m just like any person. I have very high highs and I have very low lows, but I don’t let it dictate how I treat people and how I interact with people on a daily basis.

“And I’m really thoughtful about how I do that because no matter how bad my day is, I know there are people who have much harder days than me and so it keeps things in perspective for me, and that’s how I keep it in check.”

Despite the return to normalcy, there will be moments when Fitzgerald’s new reality – him as a Hall of Famer – will come to the forefront. Monday will be one of those days.

As he does with his team every Monday, he will appear on the call to discuss the upcoming week. However, this Monday’s call will be different. All 15 members of his team, including a speechwriter and speech coordinator, will be on the call to begin planning Fitzgerald’s Hall of Fame speech.

They’ll start creating the outline for the speech, thinking about talking points and making a list of everything they want to make sure to include.

“We’ll start running the train and we’ll be in a good spot,” Fitzgerald said.

Then it’s back to reality until his next Hall of Fame moment.