Football is filled with inspiring people and stories throughout its long history. People who had to overcome great obstacles just to have a chance at participating on the great green stage. Their stories touch our hearts and pull us out of a bad day. They inspire and uplift us to accomplish some of our own goals in daily life, they are Inspiration Sensations.
The subject of this Inspiration Sensation is former quarterback, Kurt Warner. According to Biography.com Kurt Warner was born on June 22, 1971 in Burlington, Iowa to his parents Gene and Sue Warner. The couple divorced when he was about four so spent most of his childhood in Cedar Rapids, Iowa under the care of his mother with his older brother Matt. Sue made ends meet by working three jobs and eventually remarried for about five years in what ended up to be a rough relationship for her and her sons.
The sporting life
Kurt found a peaceful distraction to his changing homelife in athletics. Warner starred in Basketball, football and baseball while in high school at Cedar Rapids own Regis High School. The youngster earned himself the starting quarterback at Regis in his junior season and earned the trust of his coaches. After his final high school season he earned the right to play in Iowa’s all star game and had even won the MVP honors in that game due to his excellent play.
Despite all of this he had some disappointment when none of the larger colleges recruited him so he stayed local in Cedar Rapids and played for Northern Iowa in the Division I-A level. At first he didn’t have much luck in getting playing time at the college level. Warner was red-shirted in year one and then sat the bench the next three seasons. If it were not for the encouragement of his family he would have quit playing altogether, but he stayed on the team for his last season of eligibility.
His patience paid off, Kurt Warner ended up getting the starting nod, and then led Northern Iowa to a winning record and a playoff appearance and as an individual he won his conference’s Player of the Year Award for the 1993 season.
Northern Iowa gave him something even better than the opportunity to play the game as he met his future wife Brenda Meonio, who was a single mother of two young sons. One of the boys, Zach, had suffered a brain injury as a baby. The couple fell in love and eventually married in 1997 and Kurt soon after adopted the boys as his own.
After college
Warner tried to keep his career going into the NFL but after being undrafter in 1994, he did get an invite by the Green Bay Packers to go to camp but was cut after spending five weeks with the team. His dream was bruised a bit but his spirit was not broken. He took a job restocking shelves at a local Cedar Rapids store until he had received an opportunity to play arena football with the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League.
Kurt had some great success in the arena game so that the Rams took notice and sent him to NFL Europe to develop. Eventually he became the starting QB of the then St. Louis franchise after the quarterbacks ahead of him suffered injuries. Rams coach Dick Vermeil had faith in the 28 year old journeyman and it paid off as Kurt led them to a Super Bowl victory in his second season with the team.
Warner found himself to be the ring leader of what the media called the Greatest Show on Turf. A prolific passing offense that was complimented by a strong running back named Marshall Faulk. In the Super Bowl win Warner was named the games MVP after throwing for a whopping record 414 yards on the big stage.
In his pro career he earned the league's annual MVP award twice, played in three Super Bowls and inspired people everywhere not to give up on their dreams. He is also a great role model as a father, a husband and just an awesome human being. His great faith in God is his core and molds him into who he is. He eventually played for the Giants and the Cardinals before retiring and becoming an analyst on the NFL Network.
Warner has used his fame to help others. He and Brenda have established the Kurt Warner First Things First Foundation, which is dedicated to impacting lives in a lasting way through Christian values and ecouragement that all things are possible when people put first things first. The organization has helped ill children with trips to Disney Worldand building recreation centers in children's hospitals for the kids. You can vistin the foundations website and help the cause by going to their website by clicking here.
Kurt’s truly inspiring story is being made into a movie titled American Underdog: The Kurt Warner Story, due to hit theatres sometime in late 2020 or early 2021. Per February 2020 article on NFL.com the film is based off of Warner's own memoirs an will be co-produced by wife Breda and written by "Friday Night Lights" David Aaron Cohen. Kurt is quoted in the NFL.com article about the movie to say, "I am extremely excited to bring this story to the big screen. In hopes of encouraging all who see it not to never stop believing in themselves and what God can do with them."
