Kurt Warner's job change front page news in Cedar Rapids

Kurt Warner sure got a lot of attention over the weekend for, essentially, changing jobs. And really, that's all that happens when someone who was born a month after I graduated from high school retires from his current job.

The Gazette newspaper, in Warner's home town, was in the middle of that media blitz and the coverage was warranted. He is a local guy who is doing well. Plus, his life story transcends sports.

Warner has given back to Cedar Rapids and other parts in Iowa in many ways, with his well-chronicled work ranging from being with Special Olympics kids to flood relief. Last June he, his wife, Brenda, and their family helped build homes in Habitat for Humanity's AmericCorps Build-a-Thon. The local Habitat folks were thrilled with the Warners and what they did on behalf of the cause.

Gazette sports editor J.R. Ogden says Warner probably has been involved in other philanthropy in town, too, but we just haven't known about it because Warner did it without making a big deal of it.

Warner's humanitarian work is not limited to Iowa. His foundation, First Things First, promotes projects elsewhere, along with his well-known Christian faith. ESPN.com posted this on Warner's good deeds.

Our approach in The Gazette newspaper was to focus on Warner, the athlete, on the sports pages but also Warner, the man, in Saturday's front news section. Like another athlete, golfer Zach Johnson, Warner ranks as one of Cedar Rapids' most famous sons.

Has Warner fed a world, like recently deceased Iowa native Norman Borlaug did, or revolutionized the way scientists few Earth's atmosphere like another Iowa native, James Van Allen, did? No.

But Warner has given hope to a countless number of people through his words and deeds while also thrilling football fans by being one of the best at the job he's held for more than a decade.

Plus, he has represented Cedar Rapids well. So when he made a move that the rest of the country paid attention to, retiring from his job as a National Football League quarterback, we did, too.