Warren Moon

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

Harold Warren Moon (born November 18, 1956 in Los Angeles, California) is a former American 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, and is in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He is also a member of the Canadian Football Hall of Fame, and is the only player to be enshrined in both.

Biography

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. The University of Washington was one of the few who 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. ^* It paid off. 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.

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. 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.

During his relatively short CFL career, Moon amassed amazing statistics: 1,369 completions on 2,382 attempts (57.4 completion percentage), for 21,288 yards and 144 touchdown passes. He was inducted into the CFL Hall of Fame in 2001 and is also a member of the "Esks'" team Hall of Fame.

NFL career

Despite his success in the Canadian league, Warren Moon realized that real financial success would only come in the NFL. He signed as a free agent with the Houston Oilers, who won a bidding war for his services. 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 first week of the regular NFL season, the Oilers posted a 9-6 records. 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 ever postseason game.

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 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 38-35 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 after the Vikings' starting quarterback job was given to Brad Johnson. 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. 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 70,613 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(1988-1997, 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.

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, is a member of Tulane's Women's Volleyball team.

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