When you’re on your way to the top, it’s important to always remember the people you met at the bottom.
Larry Fitzgerald never forgot that.
And that’s why when the Arizona Cardinals induct the legendary former wide receiver into their Ring of Honor and officially retire his No. 11 jersey at halftime of their game against the Denver Broncos on Sunday, Oct. 25, Fitzgerald will be thinking a lot about all the lower-level team employees who were there during his rise to stardom en route to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
They were trainers, assistant equipment managers, security guards, cafeteria workers, groundskeepers and custodians. Fitzgerald always made sure to not only be friendly to them, but to make them feel special. He struck up lasting friendships
with nearly everyone at the team’s Tempe training facility and State Farm Stadium, making sure they knew they were as essential to the organization as any trusted teammate.
Mike “Slim” Duran, a longtime security manager at the Tempe training facility, is one of those people. Fitzgerald always made sure to greet Duran with a hug and a smile and some encouraging words.
“I think it’s just his nature. His nature is to be good,” Duran said Thursday, Oct. 23, before Fitzgerald’s Ring of Honor preview news conference. “It’s just his way. He was good to everybody and I think he treated everybody the way he wanted to be treated. He’s just that kind of a guy.”
Duran said Fitzgerald taught him a valuable lesson during coach Bruce Arians’ era from 2013-17.
“When he changed from receiver to slot, he took it, he owned it, he made it his own,” Duran said of Fitzgerald, who will also be receiving his Ring of Excellence from the Hall of Fame at Sunday’s celebration. “And when I changed my career here at the Cardinals, I did the same thing.
"I went from a contractor to an employee to a manager and I made it my own and I owned it. So, he taught me a lot without even knowing it.”
Larry Fitzgerald's everyday heroes
When asked about the everyday folks within the Cardinals’ franchise and why they were so important to him, Fitzgerald first mentioned Duran. It was a playful jab, of course, but that’s also true to Fitzgerald’s friendly demeanor.
“Yeah, there’s some guys that are just very average at their job. Like, I saw one earlier today, Slim,” Fitzgerald said. “You talk about a guy who doesn’t take a lot of passion in his job. Shows up late every day. If you’re waiting on a delivery, it’s never going to get there.
“In all seriousness, you talk about guys like that and what they mean to an organization. Is he catching touchdowns on Sunday? No, but he takes just as much pride in doing his job to the highest level as I would, and you recognize that in people. You see it exemplified in a lot of different departments here and it meant a lot.”
There have been countless others as well, such as Andy Levy, the longtime groundskeeper and chief turf director.
“There’s nobody in the world that takes (as much pride) in the way the field presents every single week,” Fitzgerald said. “When the Super Bowl was here (in February 2023 between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles) and people were bitching and complaining about the grass (at State Farm Stadium), it made me upset because I know the time and energy he puts into it every day.
“We’re talking meticulous detail. Our surface is one of the best in the game. He doesn’t get the accolades and the recognition that he deserves. But I see it and I love it and I appreciate it.”
Fitzgerald went on to mention other Cardinals employees behind the scenes such as former longtime head athletic trainer John Omohundro, who he said, “got me through games I probably had no business playing in,” and another former head athletic trainer, Tom Reed, who he said, “would show up at 4 o’clock in the morning if I needed something.”
Once, when Fitzgerald’s son Devin was young and feeling ill, he called Reed for help.
“He was up one night all night crying and I’m like, ‘Tom, I’ve got practice in the morning,’” Fitzgerald said. “I called him at like midnight and I said, ‘He will not sleep. What am I supposed to do?’ He’s like, ‘OK, do this,’ and I was able to get him down to sleep.
Different faces shaping Larry Fitzgerald
“All those things, they mean a lot to me. It shaped me.”
Fitzgerald tried to mention as many of them as he could during his 12-minute Hall of Fame induction speech in Canton, Ohio, back in August. But he had only so much time to talk and he said he wishes he could have said more.
Fitzgerald spoke fondly of his parents, Carol, who passed in 2003 while being treated for breast cancer, and Larry Sr., who died this past June from multiple health issues. He’s had time to contemplate losing his mother, but the pain of losing his father still stings.
“It’s been a really rough time,” he said in a hushed voice. “The sacrifices he made to get me to this place are immense and they don’t show up on a stat sheet. Thousands of hours driving me around and when I was being a jerk and not doing right … he continued to love me through the process of growing up.
“It’s been tough not to have him since June. I look at the text messages we shared, and it’s been very tough to process and fill that void. He was somebody you could talk to every day about anything you’re going through — relationships, business. Not being able to have that sounding board has been a difficult adjustment.”
Larry will always have the fans, however, and they will get the chance on Sunday to chant “Lar-ry, Lar-ry, Lar-ry” at least one more time during the halftime honor and celebration.
It will be their first chance to say goodbye because Fitzgerald never announced his retirement, and fans were not in stands during his final NFL season in 2020 because of the COVID-19 epidemic.
“As you guys remember, it was a very different time and playing in empty stadiums,” he recalled. “You weren’t really having the same media availability, and everything became just Zoom everything. I feel like my goodbye was on Zoom.”
Fitzgerald said it will be special for him on Sunday to “go into that stadium and feel that energy again. I’m just hoping when I go out there, we’ll be up at half, taking care of business. The fans will be in a lot better mood.”
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.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Larry Fitzgerald greatly admires people you likely don't know | Opinion
