Fitzgerald garners College Football Hall of Fame honor
The National Football Foundation announced its inductees to the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame class on Monday and distinguished Pitt wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald is among this year’s inductees. Fitzgerald becomes the 19th player in Pitt history to join the College Football Hall of Fame and the 25th person associated with the program to make the claim.
Fitzgerald is considered among the greatest wide receivers in the history of the sport. He finished second in the Heisman balloting in 2003 with an unbelievable season where he caught 92 passes, for 1,672 yards, and 22 touchdowns. Fitzgerald won the Walter Camp Award that year becoming the first ever sophomore to do so.
Despite only playing in two years, Fitzgerald ranks near the top in most receiving categories in Pitt history. He posted 161 catches for 2,677 yards, and still holds the all-time record with 34 receiving touchdowns.
Walt Harris was the head coach at Pitt from 1997 to 2004 and was there for both of Fitzgerald’s seasons with the Panthers. Harris and Fitzgerald teamed up to go 17-9 over those two seasons with the Panthers spending many weeks ranked while Fitzgerald chased down a Heisman trophy as a sophomore.
“I think it’s awesome,” Harris told Panther-Lair.com about Fitzgerald’s induction. “What he did, nobody had done before. The way he did it, nobody has done before. I don’t think anybody has had more unbelievable catches than that young man.”
Fitzgerald was known for his consistency, but also has jaw-dropping catches. Perhaps no performance reinforces that more than Pitt’s 2003 week four game against Texas A&M when Fitzgerald was a sophomore.
The Panthers entered that nationally televised showdown ranked 17th in the country and Kyle Field had over 79,000 fans in attendance that day. Fitzgerald put on a show with the country watching. He totaled seven receptions for 135 yards and three scores against the Aggies, including several of the best catches in Pitt’s history.
“That was his coming out party for the Heisman,” recalled Harris. “That was a big-time team, big-time place, big-time atmosphere and he wore them out.”
Harris recollected the joking nature in his relationship with his star wide receiver. Larry Fitzgerald Sr., Larry’s father, played on the defensive line back in his playing days, and had a bigger frame than his son, and Harris would tease him from time to time about that.
“I used to kid Larry about his weight, ‘you’ve got to watch your weight or you’re not going to be able to run.’ So we’re getting ready to play Texas A&M and that summer I was kidding him and I’d say, ‘We’re playing Texas A&M in September and it’s going to be so hot and humid down there and we have to travel.”
Of course, Fitzgerald put on the show that he did. His third quarter touchdown was when he won a jump ball over an Aggie defender on a short fade route, a signature play during his career. One thing Fitzgerald also became synonymous with was handing the ball to the official after every single touchdown, except for this play.
“The only time I ever saw Larry Fitzgerald not do what we coached him to,” Harris recalled fondly. “That was the only time he threw the ball down because the guy missed the catch. After that catch he came up and nudged and made sure he knew he was on my side and he goes, ‘Hey coach, you think I’m in shape?’
Fitzgerald’s was often recognized for his character throughout his time in college and also as a professional. He was the Walter Camp Man of the Year back in 2016 as a member of the Arizona Cardinals. And that aspect is what stands out most about Fitzgerald to his former coach.
“The only thing he’s better than his ability to catch a ball is the kind of person he is,” said Harris. “He’s just a great person to everybody. He loves people, remembers their names, just really an impressive man.”
Following his two-year run of dominance at Pitt, Fitzgerald went on to have one of the most decorated careers in the history of the NFL for a receiver. He ranks second all-time in league history in both catches (1,432) and receiving yards (17,492). Fitzgerald will almost assuredly someday become Pitt’s 11th all-time former player to be enshrined in Canton.