A week into the Minnesota Vikings’ 1999 training camp, a young Larry Fitzgerald was fired from a job checking media parking passes after breaking curfew, then rehired and reassigned as the wide receivers’ ball boy, a change that members of his family say altered the course of his career.
Marcus Fitzgerald called the move the start of the ‘true story’ of Larry Fitzgerald as a wide receiver, saying the episode made him take the opportunity much more seriously and appreciate how few chances people are given to correct their course.
The assignment placed Fitzgerald alongside future Hall of Famers Randy Moss and Cris Carter on a Vikings team that went 15-1 and finished one game shy of a Super Bowl berth. Over the next three seasons, team veterans provided what the source described as a Ph.D.-level education in the position and in life as a professional football player.
Fitzgerald told ESPN he does not believe he would be entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame without those years, saying being around established players exposed him to the ‘underbelly of the league’ and helped him focus on the bigger picture — avoiding distractions such as drinking and drug use and making decisions that determine a young player’s trajectory.
Carter recounted learning personal lessons about Fitzgerald during that time, including one incident in which Fitzgerald took the change from Carter’s car after a wash. ‘I said I hope he’s good at football, because you’re not going to be a good thief,’ Carter said. Carter also noted Fitzgerald’s rare combination of intense study and natural ability, calling him ‘a student of information’ and saying ball boys are many, but only one became a Hall of Famer because of his ‘DNA.’
The three seasons as a ball boy, close mentorship from veterans and hours spent observing practices and routines culminate this Saturday when Fitzgerald will be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
