Hlas: With a smile, Warner walks off on his terms

TEMPE, Ariz. - This is how an athlete should go out.

No dithering, no stewing, no flip-flopping. No worries about second thoughts down the road. Just eagerness to discover what else can be found on that road.

This is how an athlete should go out.

No concerns about whether or not he'll get voted into his sport's Hall of Fame five years from now when eligible. Just a focus on the things in his career most worth remembering.

Kurt Warner's retirement press conference was devoid of sadness Friday at the Arizona Cardinals' training facility. Other than a tinge from Warner's coach, Ken Whisenhunt.

“But I certainly understand where he's coming from at this point,” Whisenhunt said.

Warner said he couldn't commit himself emotionally to another season with the Cardinals, couldn't be sure he could play at the same high standards he has in his last three seasons here and in his first three as a starter with the St. Louis Rams.

You know the tote board. Three Super Bowls, including a victory with the Rams when he was the big game's MVP. Two NFL regular-season MVPs. The three top passing-yardage performances in Super Bowl history. Taking two franchises to Super Bowls that had been down-and-out for a long time.

Those are milestones, things that truly should get him getting inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2015. But they don't define Warner. In his mind, the journey really was as good as the destination.

“The one thing I always wanted to leave people with when I thought about my career ending and getting to this point,”

Warner said, “is I wanted people to remember that anything is possible; that, with my story, with the way it came about, the fact that it took so long to get here.”

This was going undrafted out of Northern Iowa, the only college that offered him a scholarship. This was the now-legendary story of stocking shelves in a Cedar Falls Hy-Vee after getting cut early in training camp with the Green Bay Packers.

This was playing three years of arena football in Des Moines before landing a contract with the St. Louis Rams. After holding a Lombardi Trophy in his first year as an NFL starter, this was about looking for another football home a few years later after the Rams no longer wanted him.

This was returning to a Super Bowl last year at age 37 with a forever-downtrodden Arizona franchise.

“I know there are a lot of people that gravitate to that part of it,” Warner said, “that understand the struggles, that understand when it takes a little bit longer to try to achieve your goal; when there are moments that you want to give up and you question whether you should continue to follow your dream.”

From his opening remarks, Warner thanked God and insisted God placed him in his position in life - and the unconventional way he got to that position - to be “a living example of when you make yourself useful, when you continue to work hard, when you continue to believe in yourself.”

The God stuff Warner always touts is a turnoff to some people. Some mock it. He knows it and doesn't care. He could have left his faith out of his public remarks these last 12 years and probably scooped up a lot more endorsement dollars.

He knew it and didn't care. And he walked the walk.

His First Things First Foundation, among many things, has taken many underprivileged children to Disney World with Warner accompanying them. He has worked with Habitat for Humanity in Cedar Rapids and elsewhere.

His annual coat drives have helped needy people in the St. Louis area for many years. He has held many events for special-needs children.

That's not talking about being a Christian, that's being one.

He was a pretty decent quarterback, too.

“When you run across guys like that set a standard for others in the locker room to follow,” Cardinals General Manager Rod Graves said Friday, “their impressions and their impact on your football team will be felt for years to come.”

Shortly after Arizona's season ended with an NFC semifinal loss at New Orleans, Warner processed what he wanted to do.

He said he had leaned this way since midseason. There will be no un-retirement.

“It felt good,” he said of his decision. “It felt right.”

Most players, understandably, try to squeeze every ounce they can get out of their playing days. The game is who they are, what they are. It can almost be sad.

Seeing someone retire from a sport with a smile on his face and excited to take on new challenges, that is how an athlete should go out.