Kurt Warner has just been elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and he has a story unlike any other Hall of Famer: Warner wasn’t just undrafted and overlooked, but he was a guy in his late 20s just trying to make it in Arena football, and he doubted the NFL would ever give him a chance to show what he could do.
Warner said this morning on PFT Live that he didn’t doubt his own abilities, but he did doubt that anyone in the NFL would recognize his abilities for long enough to give him a real chance.
“I wasn’t ready to give up playing football. I probably would have kept playing Arena football for a while because it was fun and it was a great living and I was taking care of my family,” Warner said. “But it was like, who’s really going to give a 28-year-old rookie a chance to play in the National Football League? It’s hard enough to develop a quarterback the way it is, so when you’re that late in the game, who’s going to do that? So I had moments like that when I thought I’m just not ever going to get that true opportunity.”
Warner admits that he asked himself, “Why me? Why can’t I get a shot?” But he didn’t quit, and now he’s glad he went down the path he went down.
“You’re thankful that you’re the one who did it this way and no one will ever have a story like you have,” Warner said.
It really is a unique story, unlike any other in the history of American sports: From the guy who famously stocked grocery store shelves to the Hall of Fame.