Larry Fitzgerald Biography

Larry was born on August 31, 1983, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, US. His father, Larry Fitzgerald Sr., serves the ‘Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder’ as a sportswriter; he became the first reporter to cover his own son in a ‘Super Bowl.’

He lost his mother to a brain hemorrhage in 2003, while she was undergoing breast cancer treatment. Larry later established the ‘Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund’ in her honor.

He studied at the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Minnesota, and at the University of Pittsburgh.

He played with the intercollegiate football team of the University of Pittsburgh, the ‘Pittsburgh Panthers,’ also referred to as ‘Pitt,’ during his college years. From 2002 to 2003, he was widely counted among the best wide receivers in college football.

He displayed impressive performance right from his freshman season in 2002. He qualified for a bowl game, and during the Copper Bowl, he had 5 receptions for 88 yards and 1 touchdown. He finished the season with 69 receptions for 1,005 yards and 12 touchdowns.

In 2003, he had a fantastic sophomore season. He scored 92 receptions for 1,672 yards and 22 touchdowns, leading the ‘Big East’ conference. He received Walter Camp Award, Chic Harley Award, Paul Warfield Award, and Biletnikoff Award in 2003, apart from making to 2003 All-America selection. He also became the runners-up of the ‘Heisman Trophy’ (awarded to the most outstanding player in college football), missing the award by a small margin to Jason White.

His 34 touchdowns in the 26 games he played for ‘Pitt’ during two seasons was a new record for the team. He also made history by becoming the first player of the school with two successive 1,000-yard receiving seasons.

The record of Antonio Bryant's 13 games with at least 100 yards receiving, an all-time record of the Panthers, was also broken by Larry with 14 games. The University of Pittsburgh later retired Larry’s #1 jersey on July 1, 2013, and with this, he became the ninth player of the university to receive this honor.

During the 2004 NFL Draft, he was drafted third overall by ‘Arizona Cardinals.’ Larry made his NFL debut on September 12 that year against ‘St. Louis Rams.’

He became the youngest player at 21 years and 110 days to set a record of scoring at least two touchdown receptions in a single game in a match against the ‘St. Louis Rams’ on December 19, 2004. The record was later broken in 2010 by Aaron Hernandez of the ‘New England Patriots.’

Larry had 103 receptions for 1,409 yards and 10 touchdowns during the 2005 NFL season and was named in the NFL’s all-star game for the 2005 season, and the 2006 Pro Bowl, marking his first ‘Pro Bowl.’ He joined hands with Anquan Boldin and created one of the most powerful wide receiver tandems in the league.

He had 100 receptions for 1,409 yards and 10 touchdowns during the 2007 season and was nicknamed by the local media "The Best Hands in the NFL" and "Sticky Fingers.” The Arizona Cardinals signed a 4 years contract extension, worth $40 million, with him at the end of the season.

The 2008 season proved to be one of the most successful seasons for Larry. He finished it with 96 receptions for 1,431 yards and a league-high of 12 touchdowns. The Cardinals also completed the season with a winning record of 9–7 and made the playoffs.

His three touchdown receptions in a playoff game in the NFC Championship for the 2008 NFL season tied an NFL record. With this, he emerged as the first player in the history of the NFL to achieve such success during a conference championship game.

The Cardinals (including Larry), as the National Football Conference (NFC) champions, faced the American Football Conference (AFC) champions, Pittsburgh Steelers, at the Super Bowl XLIII on February 1, 2009. The ‘Steelers’ won the game with a score of 27–23.

With 546 receiving yards, 30 receptions, and 7 touchdown receptions, Larry set a single postseason record that outperformed the earlier records of Jerry Rice set during the 1988–89 NFL playoffs. He continued his remarkable performance in the NFL’s all-star game for the 2008 season, the 2009 Pro Bowl held on February 8, 2009. He caught two more touchdown passes in the game where the NFC defeated the AFC, 30–21. Larry received the ‘MVP’ honor and was named a ‘First-team All-Pro’ for the 2008 season.

His performance in the 2009 season (including 97 receptions for 1,092 yards and 13 touchdowns) got him his third consecutive Pro Bowl, overall fourth of his career.

The Cardinals signed an 8-year, $120 million contract with him on August 20, 2011, that tied him with Richard Seymour as the NFL’s fifth highest-paid player. He earned the ‘NFC Offensive Player of the Week’ honors after having 7 receptions for 146 yards and 2 touchdowns against the Philadelphia Eagles on November 13 that year. He earned the honor three more times - in 2012, 2014, and 2015.

He finished the 2011 season with 80 receptions for 1,411 yards and 8 touchdowns, apart from setting a personal record of 17.6 yards per catch.

He was named to his seventh successive consecutive ‘Pro Bowl’ in the 2013 season which marked an overall eighth of his career.

The Cardinals signed a new multi-year contract with him on February 18, 2015, with a minimum of $11 million guaranteed over the next two seasons. He became the youngest and the eleventh player to reach the milestone of 1,000 career receptions in the thirteenth week of that season. The Cardinals completed the season with a 13–3 record and won the NFC West. Larry had 109 receptions for 1,215 yards and 9 touchdowns and was selected for his ninth Pro Bowl.

The Cardinals signed a one-year and $11 million contract extension with him on August 5, 2016. Larry finished the season with 107 receptions for 1,023 yards and 6 touchdowns and garnered the 3rd position on the all-time career reception list. He was selected to his tenth career Pro Bowl that season.

The Cardinals signed a one-year contract extension for the 2018 season with him on November 17, 2017. Although he was named in his eleventh Pro Bowl on December 19 that year, later it was declared that Larry would be replaced by Seattle Seahawks’ Doug Baldwin.

In 2019, the Cardinals faced off against the Detroit Lions in the first week. The match ended in a 27-27 tie. In the coming weeks, the Cardinals faced losses against the ‘Baltimore Ravens’ and ‘Seattle Seahawks.’ In 2020, Larry signed a one-year contract with the Cardinals for $11 million. He appeared in 13 games and finished with 54 receptions for 409 receiving yards and just one touchdown.

In early 2022, Larry stated that he didn’t plan on returning to the NFL which signaled his retirement. In September of that year, it was announced that Larry would be joining the pregame television program ‘Monday Night Countdown.’

The cover of the video game, ‘NCAA Football 2005,’ of EA Sports featured him. He was also featured on the cover of ‘Madden NFL 10’ with Troy Polamalu.

An order of protection was filed against him by former ‘Oakland Raiders’ cheerleader, Angela Nazario. Larry was charged with domestic violence against her during the 2008 season.

His charitable and social endeavors include the ‘Larry Fitzgerald First Down Fund,’ and ‘Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund.’ He was also associated with the NFL for three years for their initiative on breast cancer awareness ‘A Crucial Catch’.

His social and humanitarian efforts and contributions got him the 14th annual ‘Pro Football Weekly Arthur S. Arkush Humanitarian Award’ in August 2012, the ‘NFL Players Association Georgetown Lombardi Award’ in 2013; and the ‘Henry P. Iba Citizen Athlete Male’ in 2014.

He had promised his mother to complete his education, so he pursued a degree from the University of Phoenix in 2016. Following his graduation, Larry became a paid spokesperson of the university.