Kurt Warner was born in Burlington, Iowa, on June 22, 1971 and was raised in Cedar Rapids, Iowa by his mother who struggled financially. At times, she would have to work three jobs at a time to support Kurt and his brother. Warner would attend Regis High School in Cedar Rapids, where he played football. However, he did not get the starting job until his junior year. In his senior year, Warner earned a trip to Iowa’s Shrine Bowl, a game that features the state’s top high school players. He would lead his team to victory and take home the MVP award. After graduating in 1989, Warner would attend the University of Northern Iowa.
While playing at UNI, Warner did not start until his senior year in 1993. In that season as a starter, he lead the Panthers to an 8-4 record and a Conference Championship. Warner would earn the Gateway Conference Offensive MVP award for that season. To this day, Warner is ranked in the top 10 all-time at UNI in career passing efficiency, average yards per pass, and average yards per completion. After graduating, Warner entered the 1994 NFL Draft.
Warner’s dreams of playing in the NFL would not be accomplished yet as he went undrafted. Hope was still alive, however, as the Green Bay Packers invited him to training camp. Unfortunately, he was cut shortly after. After being cut by the Packers, Warner would return to Cedar Rapids and take a job stocking shelves at Hy-Vee Supermarket for $5.50 an hour. While no NFL teams were willing to take a chance on Warner, one team from the Arena Football League did.
The Iowa Barnstormers signed Warner to be their guy under center and he made an immediate impact leading the Barnstormers to Arena Bowl appearances in his first two seasons. He also earned First-Team All-Arena honors in both seasons. He was so dominate in the AFL that one NFL franchise took notice. In 1997 the St. Louis Rams signed Warner to a futures contract and was sent NFL Europe, a league the NFL had from 1991-2007, where he would join the Amsterdam Admirals. In that season with the Admirals, Warner would lead the league in touchdowns with 15 and passing yards with 2,101.
He would return to the Rams the following season and serve as the third-stringer. In 1999, Warner would be named starter after Trent Green tore his ACL in a preseason game. That season he would catapult the Rams to the top of the league. The UNI product had a season for the record books throwing for 4,353 yards and 41 touchdowns on his way to leading the Rams to their first playoff berth since 1989. Warner would, ultimately, take the Rams to Super Bowl XXXIV to face the Tennessee Titans and lead them to victory throwing for two touchdowns and a then Super Bowl record 414 passing yards earning him the Super Bowl MVP Award. Warner would be released from the Rams before the 2004 season after playing poorly. He was signed two days later by the New York Giants on a one year deal. He would only start nine games for the Giants and be replaced by then rookie Eli Manning. After the season Warner became a free agent and was picked up by the Arizona Cardinals.
Warner’s time with the Cardinals started off a little shaky after he injured his groin after just three games. He would later tear his MCL in week 15 of the season. Warner would struggle with inconsistency and have an up and down road with the Cardinals until 2008. In the 2008 season, Warner looked like his old self. He would throw for 4,583 passing yards and 30 touchdowns leading the Cardinals to their first playoff berth since 1998. It would not be a storybook ending however as the Cardinals would lose Super Bowl XLIII to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Warner would announce his retirement in January 2010 and was considered a Hall of Famer by the end of his career. The only question was how long would he have to wait for those honors? In May 2010, he was inducted into the Arena Football Hall of Fame. The wait for immortality in the NFL continued. In February 2017, that wait ended. Warner was selected to be forever remembered in Canton. The day would come on August 5, 2017 when he was officially enshrined into the NFL Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2017.
