He Bagged Groceries

I published a new YouTube video this week.

Then something crazy happened…

The player I made the video about – legendary MLB closer Billy Wagner – watched it.

And took the time to leave a comment!

Now I have a question. If a Hall of Famer is endorsing this video, why haven’t you watched it yet?!

Tap here to fix that.

In today’s edition…the story many of you requested is finally here (with juicy details you haven’t heard before).

He bagged groceries for $5.50 an hour as his NFL dream slipped away.

But then a mysterious bug bite almost ended everything.

A few years later, he was holding up the Lombardi Trophy.

Let’s dive in 👇

This Grocery Bagger Became an NFL MVP in Just 6 Years

No time to read now? Click here to save it for later 🐶

“What I’ve found is that 99 percent of people went through something like I went through.”

“Moments where people say there is no chance, and you only can believe yourself. It happens in football, but outside of football, too. That’s why my story resonates with so many people – because that’s what real life is.”

While his story has been told many times over, on everything from ESPN to a full-length silver screen feature, Kurt Warner’s underdog tale is one that never gets old.

A long shot in the truest sense of the word, he went from bagging groceries to winning the Super Bowl six years later.

But long before he piloted the St. Louis Rams to the Super Bowl XXXIV title, Warner had little hope of even being given the chance to step on an NFL field.

The youngest of Gene and Sue Warner’s two sons, Kurt was born in Burlington, Iowa, in 1971.

A multi-sport athlete growing up, he went to Regis High School in nearby Cedar Rapids, where he earned All-State honors as the team’s star quarterback.

Despite the accolades, there weren’t many college coaches knocking on Kurt's door. 

Accepting a spot with the University of Northern Iowa Panthers – not exactly a powerhouse football school by any means – he roamed the sidelines for the better part of his first three seasons.

“It was bad timing on Kurt’s part,” UNI coach Terry Allen said in a 2000 interview.

“The only time there was legitimate competition between the two was when Jay [Johnson, the starting QB] went into his senior year, and Kurt was a junior. I knew Kurt had a big-time arm, but that year, we were the No. 1-ranked Division I-AA team. We didn’t lose many games.” 

Finally, given the chance to start during his senior season, Warner did not disappoint.

He finished with an 8-4 record and earned the Gateway Conference (now Missouri Valley) Offensive Player of the Year, along with First Team All-Conference honors. 

While his play may have raised a few eyebrows from pro scouts, it certainly wasn’t enough to tempt any NFL team to select him for the 1994 Draft.

As with many undrafted players, Kurt was able to land a free-agent tryout.

But matched up against Brett Favre, Mark Brunell, and Ty Detmer, he wasn't able to impress the Green Bay Packers coaching staff.

They released him before the regular season started.

Now he was at a career crossroads.

With his award-winning resume, Kurt probably could've found himself a coaching position at a local high school or small college.

Or if that wasn't in the cards, maybe a job related to his degree in communications.

But he didn’t want to completely give up on his dream of playing pro football.

So he kept training and practicing while working a blue-collar job bagging groceries and stocking shelves at a Hy-Vee supermarket.

He made $5.50 per hour.

While it wasn’t the NFL, Kurt eventually found himself an opportunity to play football in 1995, joining the Iowa Barnstormers of the Arena Football League.

Wanting to make his presence felt during their inaugural season tryouts, he may have turned the dial up a notch too high.

“The way he was playing, he was trying to impress me with how hard he could throw the ball,” Coach John Gregory said.

“He threw it to a kid, he was little but real fast, Kurt threw him one, it hit him, and he tore his Achilles tendon.”

While many fans and critics scoff at the AFL, it provided Warner the small stepping stone he needed.

On a smaller field, in a more chaotic and faster style of game, during his two seasons with the Barnstormers, he dominated the league.

Kurt set a number of league records and earned First Team All-Arena accolades, while leading the team to the ArenaBowl – their version of the Super Bowl – in both seasons.

The summer before the 1997 NFL season, the Chicago Bears asked Kurt to come in for a tryout.

There was only one problem.

His wedding was scheduled that same weekend, with his honeymoon in Jamaica right after.

So they rescheduled the tryout for when he'd be back in the States.

But on the last morning of his honeymoon, Kurt woke up to find his throwing elbow swollen to "the size of a grapefruit."

"To this day, we still don't know what it was that bit me," he said.

"Of course, I had to call the Bears back again and go, 'OK. You're not going to believe this. Yes, the first time it was my wedding, the second time it was my honeymoon. And now, I got bit on my throwing elbow by something in Jamaica.'"

"And you can only imagine what was going on on the other end of the line, going, 'Who is this dude? Like, we're trying to give him a chance to make it in the NFL, and this is what he comes up with three times?'"

They hung up and never called back.

Just like that, Kurt lost his chance to fly to Chicago for that tryout. And in hindsight, the Bears lost their chance at a Hall of Fame quarterback.

Fortunately, two weeks later, Kurt's AFL resume caught the eye of another team: the St. Louis Rams.

Sort of.

After singing with the Rams at the end of the 1997 season, the team shipped Warner out to play with the Amsterdam Admirals of NFL Europe.

Just as he'd done with the Barnstormers, Warner took the opportunity and ran with it.

Leading the league in touchdowns and passing yards, his impressive play earned him – yup, you guessed it – a spot on the Rams' bench as the third-string quarterback.

Prior to the start of the 1999 season, the Rams left Warner unprotected as part of the NFL Expansion Draft.

Unfortunately for him, this became a double whammy as the Rams didn't think enough of him to protect him, and the Cleveland Browns didn’t think enough of him to grab him.

Ironically, the Rams then traded starting QB Tony Banks for draft picks, let backup Steve Bono walk in free agency, and signed Trent Green to be their new QB1.

But Green suffered a season-ending ACL injury in the preseason, ultimately resulting in Warner moving all the way up the depth chart.

With little other in the way of option, Rams head coach Dick Vermeil gave a teary eyed press conference announincing how the team “will rally around Kurt Warner, and we will play good football.”

“Rally” doesn't exactly do justice to how the team performed.

With the ball in his hand and the freedom granted to starting QBs, Warner went ballistic.

Throwing 11 touchdowns and nearly 1,000 yards in his first three games, he turned the Rams from a 4-12 team into a 13-3 playoff-bound squad.

Finishing the season with 41 touchdowns and over 4,300 yards, Kurt Warner was the ringmaster of the “Greatest Show on Turf.”

“I had been waiting and hoping and trying,” he said.

“That was my moment…I didn’t know how long it was going to last. I just wanted that chance. I wanted that opportunity. I fully believed in who I was and what I was capable of.”

At the end of the 1999 regular season, Warner’s MVP heroics not only landed the Rams in the playoffs – their first appearance in a decade – but also captured them their first division title in 15 years.

Defeating the Vikings in the Divisional Round and the Buccaneers in the NFC Championship, the Rams advanced to meet the Tennessee Titans in Super Bowl XXXIV.

Controlling the scoreboard for the first three quarters, the Rams were once again in need of something special from Warner.

It came in the form of a bomb to wide receiver Issac Bruce for a 73-yard championship-sealing touchdown. 

At the end of the night, Kurt finished with a record 414 passing yards and a pair of touchdowns, helping the Rams win their first Super Bowl championship, while adding the Super Bowl MVP to his historic season, becoming just the sixth (at the time) player to win both the Super Bowl MVP and NFL MVP in the same season.

During the offseason, the Rams rightfully rewarded Warner with a 7-year, $47 million contract.

Following a disappointing 2000 season, impacted by a broken hand suffered midway through the schedule, the star QB returned to greatness the following year.

With 36 touchdowns and 4,830 yards, Warner led the Rams to a league-best 14-2 record while collecting his second NFL MVP award.

A second trip to the Super Bowl in three years ended in a 20-17 defeat to the New England Patriots, but it wasn’t void of another heroic display by Kurt.

Two more seasons in St. Louis, followed by a short stint with the New York Giants, led to Warner finishing his career with the Arizona Cardinals.

Battling injuries and a young Matt Leinart for playing time, he struggled in his first three seasons with the Cardinals.

But in 2008, at the age of 37, Kurt looked like his former self, throwing for 4,583 yards, completing 67% of his attempts, and connecting on 30 touchdown passes.

With a 9-7 record, the Cardinals won the “turtle derby” that was the NFC West.

A 30-24 defeat of the Falcons kickstarted the Cardinals' playoff run, which was followed by victories over the Carolina Panthers and Philadelphia Eagles to earn a spot in Super Bowl XLIII.

In his third trip to the championship game, Warner once again put on a display of greatness, completing 31 of 43 passes for 377 yards and 3 touchdowns.

But his heroics wouldn't be enough as the Pittsburgh Steelers held on for a 27-23 victory.

Kurt wrapped up his career a season later after once again leading the Cardinals to the playoffs, capping off what was not just an unforgettable playing career, but an unforgettable journey.

For a player who likely heard the word “no” more than he did “yes” from the time he first picked up a football, he made a career out of proving people wrong.

As noted by former NFL and Northern Iowa running back David Johnson, “Kurt’s legacy was a guy that didn’t get anything handed to him.”

From undrafted to Super Bowl champion, from stocking shelves to setting NFL records, Warner spent his entire football career being overlooked, underestimated, and written off multiple times over.

Yet somehow, every time someone seemed to shut the door, he found a way to kick it open.

His resume – Super Bowl champion, Super Bowl MVP, two NFL MVPs, four Pro Bowls, and a place in the Hall of Fame – is a reminder that greatness can come from the most unexpected places.

“If you're willing to put yourself and your dreams on the line, at the very least you'll discover an inner strength you may not have known existed.”

🐶 

Today’s story was written by our pal, Steve Lee. If you enjoyed it, consider sharing it on social media or sending it to a friend: https://jokermag.com/kurt-warner-nfl-story/

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Thanks for reading!

Did you like the Billy Wagner video?

How about the Kurt Warner story?

A quick reply would mean the world to me (and it’ll help me make this email just a bit better each week).

Til next time,
Tyler

Extra Innings…

🌟 Trivia Answer: B) Strike out Tony Gwynn. Here’s proof from Stathead. Which means, yes, he might be the only D3 walk-on to both teach himself how to throw left-handed and strike out all-time HR leader Barry Bonds.

⚾️ An MLB pitcher started his morning with an underdog story from Joker Mag, then this happened.

📕 I love this reader’s review of my book, The Underdog Mentality: “I’ve been a subscriber to the author’s newsletter for a good while, so I knew that I would love this book. I actually enjoyed it even more than I thought I would.” Grab your copy here and enjoy stories I’ve never shared anywhere else!

💪 Tom Brady wrote about the blessing of being overlooked in his newsletter.

🕺 I gotta learn moves like these fellas.