Randy Moss once handed his $67,000 BMW to a teenage ball boy who needed a ride to prom.
That ball boy retired with more receiving yards than Randy Moss.
This story is unreal so stay with me.
Late 90s Vikings. There's a kid hanging around the locker room doing odd jobs. Shagging punts, running errands, washing cars. His dad covered the team as a writer, so he had the kind of access most kids would kill for.
That kid was Larry Fitzgerald Jr.
Most of the players were cool with him. Randy Moss basically adopted him.
Moss ran routes with him after practice. Showed up at Larry's HIGH SCHOOL practices. Gave him his cleats — they both wore size 14.
And when Larry did jobs for him, Moss paid the only way Moss ever paid anybody. Fitz's words: "Straight cash, homie. I don't think he ever wrote a check."
Then prom season rolls around.
And teenage Larry Fitzgerald has his eye on one thing. Randy's blue 99 BMW 740. About $67K back then. Like $130K in today's money.
So he works up the nerve and goes: "Randy, hey man, listen... I was curious if you weren't busy, I'd love to drive the BMW. Just got my license last week."
JUST GOT MY LICENSE LAST WEEK. To borrow the nicest car in an NFL parking lot.
Randy said yes.
So Fitz pulls up to prom in a superstar's BMW and, in his words, "brought it back without a scratch."
Now here's where it turns into a movie.
That ball boy goes #3 overall in the 2004 draft. In 2017 he passes Moss — his mentor — on the all-time receiving yards list. Finishes with 17,492 yards, second most in NFL HISTORY. 1,432 catches.
And this year? First ballot Hall of Famer. Joining Randy in Canton.
But my favorite part is that Fitz never let this just be a funny story. He tells it as proof of who Moss really was:
"The kind of stuff this man did behind the scenes for people, with no notoriety, no fanfare, was so inspirational to me. I'm one of the many charity cases that Randy looked out for."
Moss was visiting homeless shelters and schools all over Minneapolis and never wanted a single camera there. He just did stuff like this.
One legend handed a teenager his car keys.
The teenager handed him back a legacy.
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Kevin Durant compared LeBron joining the Sixers to him joining the Warriors:
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