CANTON, OH — Throughout his career, Larry Fitzgerald often spoke about all the players, coaches and friends who were instrumental in helping shape his 17 seasons in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.
It will be interesting to see how many names he can cram into his enshrinement speech here as one of the five members of the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class on Saturday, Aug. 8. If he decides to mention them all, he’s going to go well over his allotted 8-10 minutes, the recommended time allowed.
During a recent one-on-one phone conversation with The Arizona Republic ahead of his big day, Fitzgerald was at a loss for words when asked who helped him the most on his way to earning a bronze bust, Gold Jacket and immortal status as one of the best
to ever play the game.
“It’s hard to say who helped you the most because a ton of people helped me, man,” he said after giving it some thought. “It’s like, ‘Who’s the most responsible for the Hoover Dam?' A ton of people put in an inordinate amount of time to help me get to that place, so to single out one individual is too difficult.”
Two people will especially be part of Fitzgerald’s prepared remarks when he is inducted alongside quarterback Drew Brees, linebacker Luke Kuechly, running back Roger Craig and kicker Adam Vinatieri.
Those two pivotal souls will be Fitzgerald’s parents, his mother, Carol, who died in 2003 while being treated for breast cancer, and his father, Larry Sr., who passed away on June 1 at 71 following a series of health issues.
They taught him so much and he’s mentioned them as much as anyone for helping him stay the course, be the best person he could be and live an honest and caring life.
“I think just operating with integrity,” Fitzgerald said. “That’s something I recognized they always tried to do. Be helpful to people who are in need. Those are things that I always saw them do very consistently. I don’t even know if it was talked about between them, but it was something I recognized as a youngster.”
Larry Fitzgerald Jr. became a pillar of the community and has always sought ways to give back and help others. Sometimes, his charitable endeavors weren’t publicized because he wasn’t seeking praise or attention.
He also never sought the spotlight for his exploits during his legendary playing career, which ended following the 2020 season when he left owning every receiving mark in the Cardinals’ record books in addition to ranking second in the NFL in total receptions (1,432) and receiving yards (17,492) and sixth in touchdown receptions (121).
“It means everything,” Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill told The Republic about Fitzgerald’s time with the franchise, their friendship and the receiver’s enshrinement. “He’s like a member of the family. He spoke at my father’s (Bill) funeral (in 2019). Probably the day I remember the best is Thanksgiving of 2016, the year my mother (Nancy) passed. We were on the practice field that morning.
“He had his own Thanksgiving and then he came over to visit my dad. … He knew it was going to be an emotional day for my dad, and he came over and spent a couple hours. Then he went to serve food at St. Vincent de Paul, and at the end of the night he stopped by Phoenix Children’s Hospital after visiting hours and called ahead because he knew it would mean a lot to the kids.
“He’s just an exceptional person. There’s a reason why he won the NFL’s Walter Payton Award and there’s a reason why he’s a first-ballot Hall of Famer.”
Although Fitzgerald didn’t reveal any details about what’s in his Hall of Fame acceptance speech, he is sure to mention the Bidwill family and at least two of the multiple quarterbacks from whom he caught passes in Arizona.
One of them is Kurt Warner, who was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 2017 and played for the Cardinals from 2005-09. It was Warner, Fitzgerald said, who forced him out of his comfort zone and allowed him to better reach his full potential.
“He just wouldn’t accept me not pushing myself to be better,” Fitzgerald explained. “In everything we did and all of our interactions, he didn’t beat me over the head when he said, ‘Look, Larry, if you really want to be great, these are the things you have to do.’
“It was like how you introduce vegetables to your kids, right? You don’t like the taste of it, but if you can explain the nutritional value of it and how spinach makes you strong like Popeye and carrots make your eyes strong, like all of these things, and you get to reap the benefits of those things. It was just how he was able to convey and articulate how certain things are important.”
Being one of the best like Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, Warner told him, was not out of the realm of possibility because the talent was already there. Warner, Fitzgerald said, “just got me to buy in maybe a lot faster than maybe I would have.”
And yes, if you’re curious, Fitzgerald always eats his vegetables.
“Always. Always,” he said. “Vegetables are a huge part of my diet.”
The most underrated quarterback Fitzgerald said he ever played with was Carson Palmer, who spent five years in Arizona from 2013-17.
“I think Carson was underrated on the national stage,” Fitzgerald said. “Carson played in three relatively small marketplaces. Oakland, you could say, was an AFC power and world champion, and they had one of the most famous owners in Al Davis and all of those things.
“But it’s not a big market. It’s not the 49ers. It’s not the Dallas Cowboys. It’s not the Chicago Bears and not the Green Bay Packers and not the New York Giants or the Pittsburgh Steelers. It’s not these iconic franchises ... that play on nationally televised games five times a year and are synonymous with greatness.”
Palmer began his NFL career with the Cincinnati Bengals in 2003 before being traded to the Raiders during the 2011 season.
“Cincinnati might be viewed maybe worse than the Cardinals, I don’t know,” Fitzgerald said. “I would imagine they were pretty similar. … I just don’t think he got a chance to play in the big markets at the time or in the games that would have really shown how special of a thrower of the football he was.”
Fitzgerald resisted the temptation of moving on to a bigger market himself with a better shot at winning a Super Bowl title. He remained loyal to the Cardinals his entire career and says he’s pulling for them this season.
Reach McManaman at bob.mcmanaman@arizonarepublic .Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azbobbymac and listen to him live every Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. on Roc and Manuch with Jimmy B on ESPN 620 (KTAR-AM) and every Thursday on the Doug Franz Unplugged podcast via Apple or Spotify.
Sign up for our free newsletters at https://profile.azcentral.com/newsletters/manage/ for complete coverage.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Larry Fitzgerald thankful to many as he enters Hall of Fame | Exclusive
