Warren Moon

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For the footballer (soccer), see Warren Moon (footballer).

Warren Moon
Warren Moon during a game against the Buffalo Bills
Date of birth	November 18, 1956 (age 50)
Place of birth	Los Angeles, California
Height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight	218 lb (99 kg)
Position(s)	QB
College	Washington
Career Highlights
Pro Bowls	1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997
Awards	1997 Pro Bowl MVP, 1990 AP Offensive POY, 1990 UPI AFC POY 1982 Grey Cup MVP 1980 Grey Cup MVP 1978 Rose Bowl MVP
Retired #s	Tennessee Titans #1
Records	Houston Oilers Career Passing Yards
Stats
Statistics	Pro Football Reference DatabaseFootball
Team(s)
1978-1983 1984-1993 1994-1996 1997-1998 1999-2000	Edmonton Eskimos Houston Oilers Minnesota Vikings Seattle Seahawks Kansas City Chiefs
Pro Football Hall of Fame, 2006

Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American and Canadian football quarterback who played for the Canadian Football League's Edmonton Eskimos and the National Football League's Houston Oilers, Minnesota Vikings, Seattle Seahawks and Kansas City Chiefs.

He is the only player ever to be enshrined by both the Pro Football Hall of Fame and Canadian Football Hall of Fame. Bud Grant is also enshrined in both, but as a coach. Moon was also the first, and currently only, African-American quarterback elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Moon held the record for most passing yardage in professional football until surpassed by Damon Allen on September 4, 2006.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 College years 1.2 CFL career 1.3 NFL career 2 Personal life 3 NFL stats 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Biography

[edit] College years

Moon attended Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. He was recruited by a number of colleges, but some, like UCLA, wanted to convert Moon to another position as was the norm for many major colleges recruiting black high school quarterbacks.^[1] Moon decided to attend West Los Angeles College in 1974-75 where he was a record-setting quarterback. After Moon showed his ability at West L.A., the University of Washington was one of the few four-year colleges that was willing to sign the rifle-armed Moon, who was adamant that he play quarterback, considering himself to be perhaps a slightly above-average athlete who was either too small, too slow, or not strong enough to play other positions.^[2] The Huskies went 11-11 in Moon's first 2 seasons as a starter; but during his senior year, Moon led the Huskies to a 27-20 win over the favored University of Michigan Wolverines in the 1978 Rose Bowl and was named the game's Most Valuable Player on the strength of two short touchdown runs and a third quarter 28-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Robert "Spider" Gaines.

[edit] CFL career

Despite his collegiate success, Warren Moon went undrafted in the National Football League. Many pundits believe that it was because Moon was black and refused to switch positions - Moon has stated in interviews that before the draft some scouts advised him to switch to tight end. With no takers in the NFL, his only alternative was the Canadian Football League. Moon signed with the Edmonton Eskimos, where he and Tom Wilkinson shared signal-calling duties and helped lead the Eskimos to an unprecedented five consecutive Grey Cup victories in 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1982.^[3] Of note is that in the 1981 Grey Cup, the quarterback of the opposing team was J.C. Watts. Moon won the offensive Most Outstanding Player award in the 1980 and 1982 games. In his final CFL season of 1983, Moon threw for a league record 5,648 yards. Throughout his CFL career, Moon amassed 1,369 completions on 2,382 attempts (57.4 completion percentage) for 21,228 yards and 144 touchdown passes. He also led his team to victory in 9 of 10 postseason games. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2001 and is also a member of the "Esks'" team Hall of Fame.

[edit] NFL career

Moon's decision to enter the NFL touched off a bidding war for his services, won by the Houston Oilers. However, with the NFL field being so much shorter and narrower than the CFL's, Moon had a difficult adjustment period. Even so, he still threw for a franchise record 3,338 yards in his first season with Oilers in 1984. It was only in 1986 when Oilers head coach Jerry Glanville found ways to best utilize Moon's strong arm that he began having success. In 1987, a season shortened by a players' strike that eliminated the third week of the regular NFL season, the Oilers posted a 9-6 record. It was the Oilers' first winning season since 1980, when Bum Phillips was the head coach and Ken "The Snake" Stabler was the quarterback. Moon then passed for 237 yards and a touchdown while leading the Oilers to a 23-20 overtime win over the Seattle Seahawks in the wildcard round of the playoffs in his first NFL postseason game.

Before the start of the 1989 season, Moon was given a 5 year, $10 million contract extension, which made him the highest paid player in the National Football League at that time.^[4] In 1990, Moon led the league with 4,689 passing yards. He also led the league in attempts (584), completions (362), and touchdowns (33), and tied Dan Marino's record with nine 300-yard games in a season. The following year, he again led the league in passing yards 4,690. At the same time, he joined Marino and Dan Fouts as the only quarterbacks to post back-to-back 4,000-yard seasons. Moon also established new NFL records that season with 655 attempts and 404 completions. In 1991, Moon threw for a career-high 655 passes.

In 1992, Moon played only 11 games due to injuries, but still managed to lead the Oilers to a 10-6 record, including a victory over the Buffalo Bills in the final game of the season. Moon and the Oilers then faced the Bills again in the first round of the AFC playoffs. Aided by Moon's 222 passing yards and 4 touchdowns in the first half, Houston built up a 28-3 halftime lead, and then increased it to 35-3 when Buffalo quarterback Frank Reich's first pass of the third quarter was intercepted and returned for a touchdown. But the Bills managed to storm back with 5 unanswered second half touchdowns to take a 35-38 lead with time running out in the final period. Moon managed to lead the Oilers on a last second field goal drive to send the game into overtime, but threw an interception in the extra period that set-up Buffalo kicker Steve Christie's game winning field goal. It was the largest comeback victory in NFL history and is now known in NFL Lore simply as The Comeback. Moon finished the game with 36 completions for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns, with 2 interceptions.

1993 was the Houston Oilers' best season with Warren Moon under center — and it would also be his last season with the team. The Oilers went 12-4 and won the old AFC Central division crown, but lost to Joe Montana and the Kansas City Chiefs 28-20 in the divisional round of the playoffs.

As a Houston Oiler, Moon set a franchise record for wins with 70, which stood until Steve McNair broke it in 2004, long after the team had become the Tennessee Titans.

He was traded to the Minnesota Vikings after the season, where he passed for over 4,200 yards in each of his first two seasons, but missed half of the 1996 season with a broken collarbone. After the season he signed with the Seattle Seahawks as a free agent. The Vikings' starting quarterback job was given to Brad Johnson after Moon refused to take a $3.8 million pay cut to serve as Johnson's backup.^[5] After a two year stint in the Pacific northwest, an aging Moon signed as a free agent with the Kansas City Chiefs as a backup in 1999.^[6] He played in only three games in 2 years with the Chiefs before announcing his retirement in January of 2001.

Combining his NFL and CFL stats, Moon's numbers are staggering: 5,357 completions for 70,553 yards and 435 touchdowns, all of which are massively higher than the NFL records for each category. Even if his Canadian League statistics are discounted, Warren Moon's career is still exceptional: 3,988 completions for 49,325 yards (the fourth-highest in NFL history), 291 touchdown passes, 1,736 yards rushing, and 22 rushing touchdowns.

During his NFL career, Warren Moon was named to nine Pro Bowl games (1988-1995, 1997). Moon currently works as a broadcaster for the Seattle Seahawks. He was elected into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006, becoming both the first undrafted quarterback and the first African-American quarterback to be so honored. Moon was elected in his first year of eligibility. The Tennessee Titans retired his number at halftime on October 1st vs the Dallas Cowboys, and on October 29th the Kansas City Chiefs also retired his number.

[edit] Personal life

Moon married the former Felicia Fontenot Hendricks on March 8, 1981. He was acquitted in July 1995 of charges of assaulting her in an argument over credit cards and money. Felicia declined to file charges, and begged prosecutors not to pursue the case. At the trial, she took the blame for the incident that their son had called 911 to report. The couple appeared on "Larry King Live" in February 1996, and claimed their relationship was "better than ever," but Felicia later filed for divorce after 19 years of marriage. She has since become an advocate for domestic abuse victims and their children. Their daughter, Blair, was a member of Tulane's Women's Volleyball team. Following his retirement, Moon has become a well-known fantasy football fan. He and fellow QB Erik Kramer host a fantasy football sports show, "Ultimate Fantasy Football", during the season on Fox Sports Net. He has also done broadcasting work for Seahawks and Titans preseason games.

[edit] NFL stats

Passing Stats

Year	Team	G	Passing Att.-Comp.	Yards	Pct.	TD	Int.	Sacks-Lost	Pass Rating
1984	Houston	16	450-259	3,338	.576	12	14	47-371	76.9
1985	Houston	14	377-200	2,709	.531	15	19	46-366	68.5
1986	Houston	15	488-256	3,489	.525	13	26	41-332	62.3
1987	Houston	12	368-184	2,806	.500	21	18	25-198	74.2
1988	Houston	11	294-160	2,327	.544	17	8	12-120	88.4
1989	Houston	16	464-280	3,631	.603	23	14	35-267	88.9
1990	Houston	15	584-362	4,689	.620	33	13	36-252	96.8
1991	Houston	16	655-404	4,690	.617	23	21	23-174	81.7
1992	Houston	11	346-224	2,521	.647	18	12	16-105	89.3
1993	Houston	15	520-303	3,485	.583	21	21	34-218	75.2
1994	Minnesota	15	601-371	4,264	.617	18	19	29-235	79.9
1995	Minnesota	16	606-377	4,228	.622	33	14	38-277	91.5
1996	Minnesota	8	247-134	1,610	.543	7	9	19-122	68.7
1997	Seattle	15	528-313	3,678	.593	25	16	30-192	83.7
1998	Seattle	10	258-145	1,632	.562	11	8	22-140	76.6
1999	Kansas City	1	3-1	20	.333	0	0	0-0	57.6
2000	Kansas City	2	34-15	208	.441	1	1	5-46	61.9
Totals		208	6,823-3,988	49,325	.584	291	233	458-3,415	80.9
Playoff Totals		10	259-403	2,834	.643	17	14	n/a-n/a	85.8

[edit] References

1. ^ Moon's Minute: My Recruitment Experience. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
2. ^ How Warren Moon Improved His Athleticism In High School. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
3. ^ CFL Legends >> Warren Moon. Retrieved on January 22, 2007.
4. ^ Moon Says New Pact Is Richest in N.F.L.. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
5. ^ Vikings Release Moon. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.
6. ^ Moon Joins Chiefs. Retrieved on January 19, 2007.

[edit] External links

• Pro Football Hall of Fame: Member profile
• Pro-Football-Reference.com - career statistics.
• Warren Moon-CFL Legend
• Canadian Football Hall of Fame profile
• Warren Moon Becomes the First Black QB in Canton Ohio by Urban Celebrity News

Preceded by Chris Rowland	Washington Huskies Starting Quarterbacks 1975-77	Succeeded by Tom Porras
Preceded by Tom Wilkinson	Edmonton Eskimos Starting Quarterbacks 1978-1983	Succeeded by Matt Dunigan
Preceded by Oliver Luck	Houston Oilers Starting Quarterbacks 1984-1993	Succeeded by Bucky Richardson Billy Joe Tolliver
Preceded by Jim McMahon Sean Salisbury	Minnesota Vikings Starting Quarterbacks 1994-1996	Succeeded by Brad Johnson
Preceded by Rick Mirer	Seattle Seahawks Starting Quarterbacks 1997-1998	Succeeded by Jon Kitna
Preceded by Rich Gannon	Kansas City Chiefs 2nd String Quarterback 1999-2000	Succeeded by Todd Collins
Preceded by Richard C. Chapman Maurice "Bo" Ellis Herman Frazier Betsy King John Naber Rodney E. Slater	Silver Anniversary Awards (NCAA) Class of 2003 Debbie Brown Ann Meyers Drysdale Dale Kramer Kenneth MacAfee Warren Moon Gifford Nielsen	Succeeded by Trish Millines Dziko Bruce Furniss Virginia Gilder Stacey Johnson Gregory Kelser Kellen Winslow
Preceded by Vince Evans	Rose Bowl MVP 1978	Succeeded by Charles White Rick Leach