Larry Fitzgerald Sr., a longtime Minnesota sports radio and journalism figure, died Monday at 71. His son, Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Larry Fitzgerald Jr., reflected on the doors his father opened as friends and colleagues described how Fitzgerald Sr.’
When the Hall call was officially revealed in San Francisco for Super Bowl 60 week, Larry Fitzgerald Jr. was celebrating a moment he’d long been chasing. But in the middle of the spotlight. something darker hung over the scene: his father. Larry Fitzgerald Sr. died Monday at 71. and the absence will be felt all the way to Canton.
During NFL Honors in early February, shortly after Fitzgerald Jr. finished up a press conference with other members of the newest class of Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees. it looked like the perfect time for a familiar memory. Fitzgerald Sr. stood beside his son and, as he often reminded others, liked to identify himself as “The Original Larry Fitzgerald.”.
The story was simple on the surface: Fitzgerald Sr. told a reporter that when Fitzgerald Jr. was first emerging as a serious talent in the late ‘90s, he was the one who vouched for him. The exact line stuck years later, and it came back in the same tone—Fitzgerald Sr. declared, “I think he might be pretty good.”.
The meeting itself took place in a garden in Honolulu during Pro Bowl week, with wives in tow at an NFL reception. Fitzgerald Sr. didn’t just talk. He pulled out his wallet and showed proof: a newspaper article about his son, neatly folded and tucked away as a “show-and-tell” reference.
More than a quarter-century later, at the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco, the memory landed differently. Fitzgerald Jr. smiled and told the reporter, “He probably wrote the article.” The response—delivered then the way it is remembered now—was that someone else wrote it.
Even after all these years, that exchange captured what Fitzgerald Sr. gave his family: certainty, encouragement, and a kind of lived-in confidence that he could hand to anyone who needed it.
Fitzgerald Jr. later posted on X that “My father was a man of strength, love and encouragement.” He said Fitzgerald Sr. “opened countless doors for me and my brother. ” that he “believed in us and pushed us to pursue every opportunity with conviction. ” and that he was “the rock of our family.” Fitzgerald Jr. added that he would carry his father’s “love, words and wisdom with” him “always.”.
Fitzgerald Jr. will still be enshrined. But Fitzgerald Sr. won’t be physically there for the enshrinement ceremonies in August. His spirit, friends said, will have to be enough—along with the presence of Larry and Marcus’ mother, Carol, who passed away in 2003.
Those close to the family described a father who didn’t just watch from the sidelines. Cris Carter. the Hall of Fame receiver and former Vikings star. said it was “a family that did a lot right.” He also emphasized how Fitzgerald Sr. shaped access and representation when it came to covering games and speaking for African-American audiences.
Carter recalled Fitzgerald Sr.’s impact as an early, influential voice of social consciousness. Fitzgerald Sr. wrote columns for The Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder for decades, a longtime staple of the Black press. He was also a host and reporter across several stations. including KMOJ-FM. where he ran “The Dennis Green Show” for several years with the late Vikings coach. He also established a sports talk show distributed on a network of stations.
“He had an impact on African-Americans covering the games and their access,” Carter said. “That was one of his biggest contributions, making sure our community had a voice.”
The relationship between Carter and Fitzgerald Sr. went deeper than player-and-reporter familiarity. Carter said Fitzgerald Sr. had a talent for relating to players in a way that helped draw perspectives beyond the game itself. When Fitzgerald collaborated with Green on the show. Carter said it opened doors for teenage sons to work with the Vikings as ball boys.
Ray Richardson. who produced the Green show on KMOJ and spent many years as a sportswriter and radio figure in Minnesota. described it as a chain reaction. “That ball boy connection started a lot of stuff,” he said. Richardson pointed to the timing. saying he believed Fitzgerald started around when Randy Moss was a rookie in 1998 and that Fitzgerald had Cris Carter and Jake Reed around him. “Those guys gravitated to him,” Richardson said.
Richardson also connected the access to what it did for Fitzgerald Jr. “It gave Junior so much insight into what all went into being an elite athlete. It rubbed off on him,” he said. Richardson described how they would sit on the sideline at Fitzgerald Jr.’s high school games at Academy of Holy Angels. and how Carter became. in Richardson’s words. “like a surrogate uncle to Junior.”.
There were also details that made it feel less like networking and more like family life. Carter said Fitzgerald Sr. routinely brought his sons to Vikings headquarters on Fridays, with players ordering soul food. Carter recalled that the kids would bring their bags and come home for the weekend.
Fitzgerald Jr. absorbed more than football routine. Carter said the connections gave him a rare window into the pro-sports world as it actually worked. In a recent taping for a Hall of Fame podcast, Fitzgerald Sr. even named Twins players—including Kirby Puckett. Dave Winfield. Kent Hrbek and Dan Gladden—highlighting how broad his sports gaze always was.
That broader view matters because, in the NFL, Fitzgerald Jr.’s achievements will always be measured by numbers. During a 17-year NFL career, Fitzgerald Jr. totaled 1,432 catches and 17,492 receiving yards. Those totals rank only behind Jerry Rice on the all-time list.
And yet, the access and the education—Richardson and Carter described it as access to how excellence is built—may explain why the football story grew into something larger.
Fitzgerald Jr. who is also a College Football Hall of Famer after starring at Pitt. has expanded his footprint beyond playing. Among other ventures, he holds a minority ownership stake in the NBA Phoenix Suns. During NFL meetings in March. he was introduced as an investment partner in a flag football league being developed by the NFL.
Rich Desrosiers, the Pro Football Hall of Fame spokesman, tied those moves back to the kind of person Fitzgerald Jr. became. “It’s a great reflection on Larry Sr., to see the kind of person Larry Jr. is outside of football,” Desrosiers said. “He’s already an ambassador for the Hall. A lot of the traits that Larry has come out of the house he grew up in.”.
Richardson said he saw that reflection up close. He was with Fitzgerald Sr. in Chicago in 2004 as they celebrated the NFL Draft in Fitzgerald Sr.’s hometown, when Fitzgerald Jr. was selected third overall by the Cardinals. Richardson said. “That’s the first time I saw Larry cry. ” and added that it was “probably his happiest day.” Richardson also said it made it more special that Dennis Green chose Fitzgerald Jr.
But there was also another chapter—less public, more emotional, and carried in memory because it involved fear.
Richardson described a period, “maybe halfway through Junior’s NFL career,” when Fitzgerald Sr. didn’t have contact with his son for an extended stretch. “something like a couple weeks or so” as Richardson recalled. Fitzgerald Jr., an avid traveler with a knack for adventure, was on a journey in South America. Richardson said Fitzgerald Sr.’s nerves were “working overtime. ” fearing the worst that could happen “in a jungle. ” in the way a loving father does when communication breaks down.
It’s those contradictions—public confidence and private worry, sports talk and family devotion—that friends say made Fitzgerald Sr. so distinctive.
One thing won’t change, though. Fitzgerald Jr. is still moving toward Canton, and his mother Carol is remembered as part of the family story. But the man who insisted, in that Honolulu garden, that his son “might be pretty good,” will be absent from the ceremonies in August.
Those who knew him say the void won’t just be ceremonial. It will be personal, and it will be felt in the way people speak about the man who opened doors—and the way those doors kept leading his son forward.
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