Former Arizona Cardinal receiver Larry Fitzgerald now a member of Pitt Hall of Fame
Former Arizona Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald was inducted into the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame this past weekend in Pittsburgh. He was part of a class of 12 former Panthers who made up this year's group of inductees.
Fitzgerald, an 11-time Pro Bowler who played all 17 seasons of his NFL career with the Cardinals, had a standout college career as well. Widely recognized as one of the best players in Panthers program history, he had 2,677 receiving yards and 34 touchdowns in 26 games, all Pitt records.
Fitzgerald won both the Walter Camp Player of the Year and Fred Biletnikoff awards in 2003, finishing second in Heisman Trophy voting. He is set to join running back Craig Heyward and quarterback Matt Cavanaugh on the 2024 College Football Hall of Fame ballo in his first year of eligibility.
The university held a dinner in honor of the inductees last Friday night, then introduced Fitzgerald and the other honorees on the field at Acrisure Stadium on Saturday, when Pitt hosted North Carolina.
Fitzgerald told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about how he had not originally planned to visit Pitt when being recruited in high school.
"We had no intention of actually visiting the University of Pittsburgh. I was being recruited pretty heavily by Joe Paterno and Penn State," Fitzgerald said. "They ended up closing the turnpike going to Happy Valley because of the storm, which led to my visit at Penn State being moved back from the following morning to the evening. That gave us pretty much all morning to do whatever we wanted, and my coach suggested that we should stop in and visit Pitt."
Cardinals running back James Conner, himself a former Pitt football player, was asked about Fitzgerald's induction on Thursday.
"Well deserved. Legendary. That's Fitz. You know, super happy for him. Hall of Famer," Conner said. "Hall of Famer everywhere, every league, every category."
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ex-Cardinal Larry Fitzgerald is in a Hall of Fame as of last weekend
