Larry Fitzgerald honors childhood idol Cris Carter with Hall of Fame gold jacket choice

Long before the Pro Bowl nods, the franchise records and the iconic catches that defined an era of Arizona Cardinals football, Larry Fitzgerald was just a kid in South Minneapolis, shoveling snow off the concrete just to get a clear patch of ground.

In the freezing December cold, his brother would stand on the front porch and throw passes. Fitzgerald, armed with a dream and a pair of gloves shoved up his sleeves, would leap, drag his toes and tumble face-first into the snowdrifts, mimicking his childhood idol over and over until he couldn’t feel his hands anymore.

That idol was Cris Carter.

Years later, the full-circle journey of one of the greatest wide receivers in NFL history has its official capstone. Fitzgerald announced that when he takes his place in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, it will be Carter who drapes the gold jacket over his shoulders.

“Cris Carter’s gonna put the gold jacket on me,” Fitzgerald said during a news conference Thursday. “It came down to him and Kurt (Warner), and I get a chance to spend a lot of time with Kurt and we’re very close, we talk, often. And Cris Carter was who I idolized as a child.”

Recognize this former @Vikings ball boy? pic.twitter.com/HHCPBEmGEn

— NFL Legacy (@NFLLegacy) March 18, 2021

The connection between Fitzgerald and Carter runs far deeper than childhood fandom. Fitzgerald served as a ball boy for the Vikings while Carter was making highlight-reel catches in Minnesota that Fitzgerald would later mimic.

Carter eventually became a mentor and a vital fixture in Fitzgerald’s life, opening his home, helping him navigate the path to elite competition and pouring invaluable knowledge into the future Hall of Famer.

“To be able to have Cris Carter, who poured into me the way he did and made a lot of sacrifices for me to help me go to school and let me stay at his house and train with him, taught me all these things — to know that it’s come full circle,” Fitzgerald said. “I wouldn’t have been on that stage and wouldn’t have this opportunity if he didn’t kind of show me the ropes. I thought that was pretty cool and what a great way to pay homage to my past.”

For a player whose career was built on relentless repetition, humility and an unmatched work ethic, having the man who inspired those snowy backyard drills place the gold jacket on him represents the ultimate tribute to where it all began.

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