Larry Fitzgerald

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.

Larry has two sons.

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

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 haemorrhage in 2003, while she was undergoing breast cancer treatment. Larry later established the ‘Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund’ in her honour.

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 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 the #1 jersey of Larry on July 1, 2013, and with this he became the ninth player of the university to receive this honour.

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 ‘St. Louis Rams’ on December 19, 2004. The record was later broken in 2010 by Aaron Hernandez of ‘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 as "The Best Hands in the NFL" and "Sticky Fingers.” ‘Arizona Cardinals’ signed 4 years contract extension, worth $40 million, with him at the end of the season.

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