It only seems fitting that the inaugural winner of the NFL’s Art Rooney Award is a player with Pittsburgh ties.
Former Pitt receiver and Arizona Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald was named the award’s first winner Saturday night in Phoenix.
The award was created by the NFL this year to honor the player who demonstrates the best on-field sportsmanship. The league announced earlier this month that it would name the honor after Rooney, who founded the Steelers in 1933.
Fitzgerald was selected in a vote of his peers and will be presented with the Art Rooney Trophy as well as $25,000 to a charity of his choice.
Fitzgerald, a Minneapolis native, played two seasons at Pitt in 2002 and 2003. As a sophomore, he was a unanimous All-American, finished second in the Heisman Trophy voting and won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football.
Pitt retired Fitzgerald’s No. 1 jersey in 2013, just the ninth former player to receiver such an honor. Despite playing in just 26 collegiate games, Fitzgerald finished his Pitt career with 161 catches for 2,677 yards and a school-record 34 receiving touchdowns.
After leaving Pitt, Fitzgerald was selected third overall in the 2004 NFL draft by Arizona, where he has played his entire career.
Over his 11-year NFL career, Fitzgerald has racked up 909 catches for 12,151 yards and 81 touchdowns. This season, he caught 63 passes for 784 yards and two touchdowns.
There’s a chance Fitzgerald’s contract could necessitate a move away from the Cardinals this offseason, but in a radio interview earlier this week, Cardinals coach and former Steelers offensive coordinator Bruce Arians called Fitzgerald “the ultimate team player.”
“I’m hoping and praying every day that [he stays],” Arians said, according to the Cardinals website. “I’ve expressed to him personally how much it means to us.”
Fitzgerald is already one of the league’s most decorated receivers, with nine Pro Bowl selections. Now, he can add the inaugural Rooney Award to his mantle.
“The Art Rooney Award is a special tribute to my father, who always believed in sportsmanship and fairness to everyone,” Steelers chairman Dan Rooney said last week when it was announced that the award would be named after his father.
“This award is one our entire family will be proud to see, and we are grateful the NFL made this choice.”
Sam Werner: swerner@post-gazette.com and Twitter @SWernerPG.
First Published: February 1, 2015, 2:00 a.m.
Updated: February 1, 2015, 4:02 a.m.
