Ben Frederickson
Sports columnist
A little more than 20 years ago in a St. Louis Rams season opener against the visiting Arizona Cardinals, a 21-year-old rookie Cardinals receiver drafted third overall out of Pittsburgh made the first catch of what would become a marathon career defined by greatness both on and off the field.
Looking back, there were signs.
In his first NFL game, Larry Fitzgerald Jr., was trusted enough by his coaching staff to be targeted on a flea-flicker surprise on the Cardinals’ opening drive. Hall of Famer Emmitt Smith took the handoff before tossing the football back to quarterback Josh McCown. Fitzgerald soared above Rams Hall of Famer (and former Cardinal) Aeneas Williams to make an impressive catch for a gain of 37 yards.
Fitzgerald jumped to his feet and celebrated, keeping his keepsake football close, but if you pull up the clip on YouTube, you will notice he never once taunted anyone in a Rams uniform, a bit of foreshadowing about the touchdowns that would soon come the young receiver’s way. Fitzgerald almost always just handed the ball to an official after reaching an end zone.
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From that eye-opening debut in the Dome, Fitzgerald would go on to play in 263 games for Arizona through 17 seasons, catch 1,432 passes, score 121 touchdowns and make 11 Pro Bowls. During that time and since his retirement from playing following the 2020 season, Fitzgerald’s non-football work, while less celebrated, has been just as if not even more impressive than his lengthy highlight reel.
His philanthropic work has funded research and resources for the ongoing fight against breast cancer, in honor of his late mother, who battled the disease. He has helped create and propel programs for youth in both Arizona and his home state of Minnesota in efforts that focused, among other things, on bridging the technology gap in underserved communities.
His work with the PGA and chess organizations has helped introduce golf and chess to kids who could have been blocked from both. He won the Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award in 2017 and just kept going.
Fitzgerald is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2026. Expect him to get a first-ballot pass to Canton. He has an important honor to pick up here in St. Louis first, and there’s no need to wait.
The most heartwarming annual evening on the STL sports calendar arrives Saturday, where one of the main events of this year’s Musial Awards will include Fitzgerald returning to the city where it all started to accept the Musial Award for Extraordinary Character. A lifelong Cardinal himself, Musial certainly would approve.
Fitzgerald and Bob Costas, the evening’s Lifetime Achievement Award for Sportsmanship winner, will be joined by a roster of Musial Awards winners who remind us sportsmanship comes in all shapes and sizes, whether it is represented from wire-to-wire fashion in decades-long careers or strikes like a lightning bolt, like when a fan favorite decides to put his car into park and take a minute to create smiles.
Anyone can be a great sport. But isn’t it extra special when the biggest stars create great examples?
Beloved by Royals fans as much as catcher cornerstone Yadier Molina was in Cardinal nation, Salvador Perez will get a deserved standing ovation on Saturday night for never losing the element of joy that too often gets sapped from his sport.
When during an off-day drive he spotted some suburban Kansas City kids in a game of Wiffle ball, Perez became a surprise participant. He homered. He also struck out. He made lifetime memories for kids who one day will tell their kids about that game. (One wonders how many will say they notched the Wiffle ball whiff?)
The story will get even sweeter Saturday at Stifel Theater, when the players Perez surprised will help present his award.
Perez, like Molina, should be in the Hall of Fame one day. Perez, like Fitzgerald, has some important hardware to collect here fist. His philanthropy in Venezuela has helped children receive surgeries for cleft lips. He’s helped support children’s hospitals and police officers. He won baseball’s prestigious Roberto Clemente Award in 2024.
Just when you think the days of Musial rolling around St. Louis with signed baseballs in his trunk, in case he encountered a young fan, are too far gone to feel real again, we get reminders some megawatt stars still play and live the right way.
It’s worth celebrating.
