Photo: John Trainor (Flickr profile) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0
Kurt Warner’s story is told in every Iowa grocery store break room.
After playing at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, Warner went undrafted in 1994 and was cut by the Green Bay Packers. He took a night job stocking shelves at a Hy-Vee in Cedar Falls for $5.50 an hour. He played arena football for the Iowa Barnstormers in Des Moines, then in NFL Europe.
In 1999, after the starter got hurt, he became the St. Louis Rams’ quarterback and won the MVP and the Super Bowl. He took the Arizona Cardinals to another Super Bowl in the 2008 season.
He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2017. The 2021 movie “American Underdog” told his story, with Zachary Levi playing Warner.
Kim Sanders writes for Clarion News Online.