With retirement, Kurt Warner returns to family, helping others

His retirement news conference Friday focused on 12 years and 12 years only - his time as an NFL quarterback.

But after Kurt Warner's time at the podium was done, he happily spoke to and about the people from his Cedar Rapids hometown and Iowa home state.

“The thing I would just say to all the people back in Iowa is thanks for the support,” Warner said. “I think I the work ethic and faith that I developed came so much from my time there, my roots there, what I was taught from all the people in that area.

“My family's still there. I grew up there. And that's really when it all began, whether you talk about professionally with the (Iowa) Barnstormers or when I was in fourth-grade and I played my first football game.”

Perhaps the unlikeliest success story in National Football League history came to an end Friday when Warner retired. As America knows, if for no other reason than Warner stocked shelves in a Cedar Falls Hy-Vee after college career at Northern Iowa ended, Iowa provided the foundation to his rags-to-riches sports saga.

He grew up in Cedar Rapids, met his wife-to-be in Cedar Falls, and sharpened his skills with the Arena Football League's Barnstormers in Des Moines before signing a contract with the St. Louis Rams.

Among fans who came to the Arizona Cardinals' facility Friday to try to get in a word of thanks to Warner was Cardinals fan Tyrone Larson. He lives in nearby Queen Creek, having moved here from Sioux City nine years ago.

“I used to travel three-and-a-half hours to watch him play for the Barnstormers,” Larson said.

“When he joined the Cardinals, I got season-tickets.”

A few years ago, Larson went to Flagstaff, Ariz., to watch the Cardinals' summer training camp. He was using a wheelchair to get around at the time because of ankle surgery.

“Kurt jumped the fence after practice and spent a half-hour talking to me,” Larson said.

The following year, Larson took his baby boy with him to the Flagstaff camp.

“Kurt remembered me. He asked if he could hold our baby because he missed his kids so much.”

Larson gave his son the middle name “Warner.”

“So many athletes are not nice people,” Larson said. “Here's a nice person. Everything he does and has done for people in Iowa and the Midwest, and here with his foundation, it's just wonderful.”

Warner said his time in Iowa is “where my beliefs, where my character – that's where Kurt Warner was developed. The football stuff only came later.”

So what comes next for the 38-year-old who was a two-time NFL regular-season Most Valuable Player and the MVP of the Super Bowl 10 years ago? First of all, family. He has seven children.

“I'm going to watch them play football on Saturday mornings,” Warner said. “I'm going to watch them grow.”

Professionally, he said “I know ministry will be a part of it. I'll spend time preaching.

“I like to write. I'm interested in doing some of that.

“My charity is going to be huge. I want to continue to work on impacting peoples' lives.

“And then, I would like football to be part of it. I don't know if that means television, radio or broadcast. ... We're going to leave the door open and see what comes our way.”