Behind the Bronze: Warren Moon

Hall of Famers Published on : 11/16/2011

Only 267 bronze busts reside in the Hall of Fame Gallery inside the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. They "immortalize" the greatest players, coaches, and contributors that this game has produced. Each week during the 2011 NFL Season we will sit down for a Q&A with one of these legends.

Warren Moon, Class of 2006



Warren Moon's Hall of Fame bio>>>

HOBBIES:
I’m not a big hobby guy to tell you the truth. I’m not a big golfer, I’m not a wood maker or anything like that. I love watching live entertainment. I love watching live sports. I love going to different sports venues that have a lot of tradition to them.

FAVORITE MUSIC:
My all-time favorite is jazz, but I like all different types of music. I love country western, I love R&B, I love a little bit of Hip Hop, just a little bit. Jazz though I really like, it’s very soothing.

FAVORITE MOVIE:
I have a couple, I don’t think you can have just one favorite. I loved “Silence of the Lambs” and I loved “Remember the Titans.”

FAVORITE FOOD:
Any type of chicken, prepared a million different ways.

FAVORITE NFL TEAM AS A CHILD:
Los Angeles Rams. I grew up in Los Angeles.

FAVORITE NFL STADIUM OTHER THAN ASTRODOME OR OTHER HOME STADIUMS:
The Meadowlands. Whenever you played well in New York in that environment you knew it was going to have big repercussions around the country so New York was the place to make your mark.

WHY DID YOU PICK NO. 1?
I think it signifies where I always wanted to be as far as my status as a quarterback and also what my team could look at and focus and say this is where we always want to end up.

DID YOU HAVE ANY PRE-GAME SUPERSTITIONS?
I had a ton (laugh). I had a routine that I went through that I did not interrupt from week-to-week. It started from when I woke up in the morning and what I ate, and how I got dressed. It was quite an elaborate routine.

WHAT’S BETTER ABOUT THE NFL TODAY THAN WHEN YOU PLAYED?
The paychecks. The exposure that you get now because the amount of media that’s out there. The rules, the way they protect quarterbacks now is a lot better than when I played.


Watch: Warren Moon recalls his favorite NFL moments.

WHAT WAS BETTER ABOUT THE NFL DURING YOUR CAREER THAN THE GAME TODAY?
I think the guys that I played with know more about the history of the game, cared more about the history of the game than the guys today, they're more individualized. I think that the players didn’t move around as much during the time that I played so you got to really know your teammates a little bit better as opposed to with free agency now guys moving around all the time.

FAVORITE ATHLETE EVER IN ANY SPORT:
Muhammad Ali in boxing.

ONE PERSON WHO INFLUENCED YOU MOST IN LIFE:
My mom, no question about it, raised seven of us by herself and did it with very little, but did it proudly and it’s something I always admired about her.

TOUGHEST PLAYER YOU FACED:
There are three, Reggie White, who’s in the same Hall of Fame Class with me, Bruce Smith, who came in (to the Hall of Fame) shortly after, and Derrick Thomas, who came in (to the Hall of Fame) shortly after him.

WHAT MAKES YOU MOST PROUD ABOUT YOUR HALL OF FAME CAREER?
That fact that I was able to get there when a lot of people didn’t even think I could play the position of quarterback. I went to another league first (the Canadian Football League), then I came here and was still able to make it into the Hall of Fame in the National Football League.

WHEN IF EVER DID YOU REALIZE YOU MAY SOMEDAY MAKE THE HALL OF FAME?
I think after I retired and people started talking about that I had the possibility just because of my productivity and success during the time that I played. Because as a player you don’t even think about the Hall of Fame, you look at Hall of Famers as bigger than God and then all of the sudden you have the chance to be one, it’s pretty mind-blowing.

HOW DID YOU LEARN OF YOUR HALL OF FAME ELECTION?
I was driving down the street in a snowstorm in Detroit on my way to the press conference, because I was told to come down there because there was a possibility I might be called. I was very reluctant to go because I didn’t want to get down there and not be called, but my wife talked me into going and we did it. (Do you remember your reaction?) It was a very emotional reaction. She had to take the wheel of the car, I burst into tears and it got very emotional.

WAS LEIGH STEINBERG YOUR ONLY CHOICE AS A PRESENTER?
No, I thought about my son, but I didn’t want to single out any of my four kids. I also thought about my best friend, a guy by the name of Clyde Walker, who had been with me through a lot of the tough times in my career.

IF YOU COULD DO YOUR ENSHRINEMENT SPEECH OVER TODAY, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY DIFFERENTLY?
Nothing, I wish I could recognize more individuals in my speech but you don’t have that much time to really go down names so you just say teams and teammates, you use more general terms.

WHAT’S YOUR GREATEST ACCOMPLISHMENT OFF THE FOOTBALL FIELD?
My scholarship program through my foundation and that I have been able to help over 200 high school students further their education through college.



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