http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/
January 27, 2009 21:07PM
Gene J. Puskar/AP PhotoTV analyst Deion Sanders interviews Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald during the team's media day for Super Bowl XLIII Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, in Tampa, Fla. The Cardinals will play the Pittsburgh Steelers in the NFL Super Bowl football game on Sunday, Feb. 1.
TAMPA, Fla. -- In a league with several flamboyant -- and often obnoxious -- "me-first" wide receivers, the two players most heralded at that position in Super Bowl XLIII provide equal production without the headaches.
Pittsburgh's Hines Ward has put together a potential Hall of Fame career, and Arizona's Larry Fitzgerald has had one of the greatest playoff runs for a wide receiver in NFL history.
Yet both lead their teams with their work ethic and leave whining and finger pointing to others.
For Ward, playing wide receiver isn't merely about catches and yards. He doesn't believe that a one-reception game is necessarily a bad day.
"I know all wideouts, we all want the ball," he said Tuesday at the Super Bowl media day. "There's no question. You wouldn't be the type of wideout that you are today if you didn't want the ball. But how (wide receivers) deal with it is really under their own circumstances."
Ward has amassed consistent, if not spectacular statistics in the Steelers' ball-control offense. But he attained superstar status after he was chosen the most valuable player of Super Bowl XL, in which the Steelers beat Seattle 21-10 in February 2006.
Afterward, Ward grew closer to his Korean heritage. Ward was born in 1976 in Seoul, South Korea, to a Korean mother and an African American father. The family soon moved to the United States, where his parents divorced and Ward grew up poor, living with his mother.
As a child, Ward said, he was teased about his mixed ethnicity and grew up ashamed of his heritage. But after the Super Bowl win, he visited South Korea and was welcomed as a hero by its citizens.
That experience, Ward has said, left him humbled, and his family's struggles during his youth helped toughen him up for the brutal world of the NFL.
'Heartbeat' of Steelers
Ward might be the only wide receiver in league history to be accused of playing dirty. He has assembled an impressive list of bone-crushing blocks during his career, including one on 345-pound Baltimore defensive tackle Haloti Ngata on a reverse play by wide receiver Nate Washington this season.
In the same game, Ward leveled Ravens linebacker Bart Scott. Baltimore players reportedly put out a bounty on Ward after that hit. .
"I'm not going to apologize for the way I play, because when I go across the middle, nobody's going to apologize for hitting me and knocking me out, so why should I apologize to those guys?" he said.
Ward's willingness to do the dirty work endears him to coaches and teammates.
Washington called him a "big brother." Pittsburgh offensive coordinator Bruce Arns called Ward the "heartbeat to our football team." And Steelers wide receivers coach Randy Fichtner said Ward is the "ultimate professional," whose work ethic rubs off on younger players.
Ross D. Franklin/AP Photo Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward reacts while being interviewed during the team's media day for Super Bowl XLIII Tuesday, Jan. 27, 2009, in Tampa, Fla. The Steelers will play the Arizona Cardinals in the NFL Super Bowl football game on Sunday, Feb. 1.
"I love coaching him because he wants to be challenged, he wants to be coached," Fichtner said. "You don't have to hold his hand. He understands that this is a team sport. Individual accolades come because of things like (going to the Super Bowl)."
With 9,780 career receiving yards and 72 receiving touchdowns, a Super Bowl MVP award and a hard-nosed style at his position, Ward should have a strong case for a spot in the Hall of Fame.
"The body of work he's done at one place, the Super Bowls, being Pittsburgh's all-time leader at the position ...," Fichtner said. "All I know is that he's not done yet. He has a lot more football left in him."
Staying humble
Ward believes Fitzgerald, 25, is just getting started on his own Hall of Fame career.
"I was a big fan of Larry's when he was at (the University of) Pittsburgh," Ward said. "I got a chance to work out in the same facility and watch him practice on the field. I knew he was going to be special because he has a great head on his shoulders. He's a humble kid."
With 426 receptions in his five seasons, Fitzgerald doesn't have much reason to complain about being a target of the Cardinals' quarterbacks. But even on slow days, he refrains from appearing selfish.
Part of that could be attributed to his upbringing.
Fitzgerald's father, Larry Fitzgerald Sr., is the sports editor of the Minnesota Spokesman Recorder, Minneapolis' African American newspaper. While the younger Fitzgerald was growing up, his father took him to events. Larry Fitzgerald spent several seasons as a ball boy for the Minnesota Vikings, then coached by Dennis Green, and learned the tricks of the wide receiver trade from stars such as Cris Carter, who became a family friend.
Watching such players prepare, Fitzgerald said, helped him avoid getting into trouble.
"I didn't go out. I didn't drink. I didn't smoke. I didn't do a lot of the things that other kids were doing in my neighborhood," he said, "just because I think my dad gave me the opportunity to see some of the NFL players and what they were doing and the sacrifices they were making."
He didn't avoid academic trouble, however.
Fitzgerald developed into a high school all-American, but poor grades prevented him from getting into the schools that recruited him. So his parents sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pa., where he became more disciplined.
That helped him get into the University of Pittsburgh. But in 2003, his mother, Carol, died after fighting breast cancer, and Fitzgerald used her memory to push forward. In 2004, Arizona, coached by Green, selected him third overall in the NFL draft.
Fitzgerald had 100-catch seasons in 2005 and 2007 for losing teams before this season's run to the Super Bowl. He has 35 receptions and five touchdowns in three playoff games and has a playoff-record 419 receiving yards -- with one postseason game remaining.
"I think the sky is the limit for Larry," Arizona wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "He's still young and still learning about this game."
Fitzgerald remains humble. His desire to get better makes him easier to coach.
"Larry doesn't think he's the best in the game," Arizona wide receivers coach Mike Miller said. "Larry says he wants to be at the end of his career the best in the game. He keeps that in front of him."
Fitzgerald's work ethic, like Ward's for Pittsburgh, rubs off on his teammates as well.
"(In practice), you'll see him catch a pass and run 50 yards downfield just because," running back Tim Hightower said. "Or, dive and catch one-handed passes, all the little things. It's like it's a game for him in practice."
Said Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt: "When you are trying to hold your team accountable to those things, when you have a player like Larry that is willing to do those things, it kind of sets the standard for your team."
-- Aaron Fentress: 503-221-8211; aaronfentress@news.oregonian.com
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