When the final whistle of the NFL season blows, the football world takes a second to congratulate the new champions before turning their focus and attention to the NFL Combine. The combine is the most intense job interview in the world. Football players at every position, every race, every weight and height show up in Indianapolis to show off their strength and speed. They get the chance to sit down and talk with teams that might draft them. It’s an intense process that tends to weed out some of the people not capable of being mentally tough enough for the NFL.
Unfortunately for Warren Moon, the NFL scouting combine didn’t debut until 1982. Up until that point, teams had to schedule individual visits with players to run them through drills and tests. In a typical year, there are about 335 players invited to the scouting combine. Before the combine, it was impossible for any team to invite 335 players to work out for them. The result was that players slipped through the cracks. Teams missed the chance to be wowed by a player’s athletic ability. They missed out on the chance to ask questions and get answers from players that they weren’t sure could make it in the NFL. They made mistakes. One of the biggest mistakes ever made was passing up Warren Moon.
Moon grew up in Los Angeles, California, as the middle child amongst six sisters. His father passed away of liver disease when he was seven, and at an early age Warren was forced to be the man of the house. While Warren’s mom was working as a nurse he was forced to cook, clean, sew and take care of the family. When it was time to sign up for sports in high school, Moon decided to play only one. He chose football because he could throw the ball farther than anyone he knew.
Moon used the address of of his mother’s friend to be able to enroll at Alexander Hamilton High School on the west side of Los Angeles. Alexander Hamilton gave Moon a chance to study in a better learning environment and compete at a superior athletic institution. Moon waited patiently until his junior year when he earned the starting quarterback position. As a senior, Moon lead Alexander Hamilton to the city playoffs and was named to the all-city team.
Moon was recruited by many colleges, but most wanted him to convert to another position. Moon wasn’t viewed by most scouts as a realistic quarterback prospect. At the time, this was the norm for many major colleges recruiting black athletes. Most recruiters seen Moon as fitting in better as a tight end. Moon believed that his only chance to play in the National Football League was on the strength of his strong arm. Moon believed he was only an above average athlete and was either too slow, too small, or not strong enough to play the other positions that scouts pressured him to consider.
Moon settled on a near by junior college with about 10,000 students. West Los Angeles College was willing to allow Moon to come in and play the quarterback position. The gamble paid off for West Los Angeles. During the 1974-75 season Moon was a record setting quarterback in the junior college ranks. He put up the kind of numbers that would usually have four year colleges flooding the mail room with recruiting material and filling answering machines with pleas to set up official visits. Despite Moon’s achievements in junior college only a handful of four year schools showed interest in signing him.
University of Washington offensive coordinator Dick Scesniak must have been color blind. He didn’t think Moon was too big or too black to play quarterback at the division one level. Instead, he was eager to bring Moon to Seattle. After only one year at junior college, Moon was on his way to the Pac-10 as a black starting quarterback.
At Washington, Moon and the team struggled during his first two seasons on campus. The Huskies went 11-11 during that time and people began to question the coaching staff’s decision to leave the offense in the hands of a “black quarterback.”
Moon’s senior season was much different. Moon led the Huskies to the 1978 Rose Bowl against the Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines were heavily favored and few people gave Moon and the Huskies a chance. Like Joe Namath and the Jets shocked the world by defeating the Colts at Super Bowl III, Moon and the Huskies shocked the Michigan faithful and won the game, 27-20. Moon was named the game’s most valuable player on the strength of two short touchdown runs and a touchdown pass in the third quarter. Warren Moon was ready to leave college and begin his career in the National Football League. The only question left to answer was where.
The answer was, nowhere. Moon, without the advantage of a scouting combine where he could show that he was capable of playing quarterback, was asked by scouts before the draft to change his position to tight end. Maybe it was racism or maybe it was a breakdown in the scouting process, probably it was because Moon refused to switch positions. Either way, Moon went undrafted.
With not even a tryout available at the NFL level, Moon headed north to Canada for the chance to play quarterback in the Canadian Football league. Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos. Moon spent most of his time in Canada playing in a two quarterback system and sharing the signal-calling duties with Tom Wilkinson. The duo led the Eskimos to an unprecedented five consecutive Grey Cup victories from 1978 through 1982. Moon was named the Grey Cup’s Most Valuable player in 1980 and 1982. In his final season in the CFL, Moon threw for a record, 5.648 yards and won the CFL’s Most Outstanding Player Award.
In six seasons in the Canadian Football League, Moon lead his team to victory in 9 out of 10 playoff games. He threw for over 21,000 yards and 144 touchdowns. In 2006, Moon was ranked fifth on a list of the greatest 50 CFL players as presented by the Canadian sports network TSN.
After the 1983 season, Moon decided to leave Edmonton for a long awaited shot at the NFL. After proving himself in Canada, Moon was no longer asked to play tight end. His announcement actually led to a bidding war for his services that was eventually won by the Houston Oilers.
Moon describes signing in the National Football league as his most memorable NFL experience, “It was a dream of mine as a young kid to play in the NFL. Out of college I had to go to Canada to play for a while just because a lot of people didn’t think I could play the position of quarterback. So I went up there where people gave me a chance. Once I was finally able to come back down to the NFL and play it was a dream come true.”
As an NFL quarterback, a position that countless scouts told him he was too (fill in the blank) to play, Moon was a nine time Pro Bowl selection, a three time All Pro selection and the 1990 NFL Offensive Player of the Year. In 2006, Moon was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
We can only speculate if Moon would have been selected into the NFL in 1982 if there was a scouting combine. Last year, Moon spoke out for Cam Newton who he said was being targeted by football analysts and sports-writers because he is African-American. Newton was later drafted first overall by the Panthers and had a dazzling rookie season.
Last month at the league’s annual scouting combing, Robert Griffin III shot up teams draft boards by running a 4.41 in the forty yard dash. Griffin (who is African-American) is likely to be drafted second overall this year.
Warren Moon might not have had a chance to run at the combine, but his incredible career helped wipe away some of the questions that scouts unfairly placed on the “black quarterback.” Today, Michael Vick, Cam Newton, Josh Freeman, Jason Campbell, Tavaris Jackson, Vince Young and eight others all play the position for teams in the National Football League. Moon hopes to be on the stage in Canton wearing his yellow jacket the day another member of this elite fraternity is inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
