Steve Largent-A Football Life (Special Father's Day Post)...

It's been a little while since I posted, as (being a teacher) I've found myself fairly focused with all of the many things we teachers do in closing out the school year. I just found this and saw it for the first time ... and thought in light of Father's Day coming up on Sunday, this would be perfect to share here.

This video is unlike most things we see, discuss, etc. here at Seahawks.net. It does cover the Largent-Harden experience ... but this is a very human ... very personal side of Steve Largent and of football.

For me (and for many of us who are around or over the age of 40), Steve Largent was our hero growing up. He was certainly my hero. He was the Russell Wilson of his day for this Seahawks team and the entire greater Pacific Northwest and then some.

Steve Largent was so unbelievably influential in my life. In so many ways, he helped set the pattern of how I approached (and still do to this day approach) sports, faith, life, and family. In the words of the late great Pete Gross: "He [Steve Largent] is not only a Hall of Fame football player, he is a Hall of Fame human being -- a Hall of Fame father -- a Hall of Fame husband. And these are the things that I think are important to Steve Largent as he goes through life. People will remember him for his football here in the Seattle area, but I think even more remember him as a human being."

For those of you especially out there who never had a father ... or whom had fathers who were real bad/negative examples in your own lives -- this video is definitely for you. Steve Largent is a living testimony to the fact that who you are ... how you live your life ... and what you ultimately become IS NOT defined and destined by the family you come from, the wrongs done to you, or even the past sins you may have committed.

With all of that said, I wish all of the Fathers out there a very Happy Fathers Day. Enjoy Steve Largent: A Football Life ...

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Thanks. I would love to watch it again but someone has been chopping onions and I need to be careful.

Hawkscanner is awesome. I really miss you posting more bro, you are my fav. and I appreciate this.

Largent80":q30onwi4 said:

Hawkscanner is awesome. I really miss you posting more bro, you are my fav. and I appreciate this.

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Thanks Rob. I appreciate that. Truth be told, I'm a bit jealous honestly. When I first looked to register here at Seahawks.net years ago, the initial username that I tried to sign up with was Largent80. Unfortunately, some other poster had already snagged it. *Ahem* (Just/Kidding) Glad you liked it and I hope others do as well.

As a follow up to the initial post, I was doing some research and came across an article on Steve Largent from People Magazine that was written back in 1988. There's a snippet from that article that really paints the picture of the kind of family Steve Largent grew up in ...

Largent's theory involves desire. "I've seen guys come along with more ability—they've been faster or bigger or stronger—but they never worked hard to develop themselves. Sometimes I've wondered what I could have done with their talent. On the other hand, the tag that I was too small and slow made me work hard."

Truth is, Largent is a soul on fire, burning to prove himself through football, goaded by a childhood full of hurt and loss. As a boy growing up in and around Oklahoma City, Largent was, he says, "small, slow and insecure." When he was 6, his father walked out of the house, never to return. Largent today has a casual relationship with his father, Jim, a Pennsylvania real estate developer, but at the time, he says, "I didn't have a clue what was going on." Three years after Jim Largent left, Steve's mother, Sue, married John Cargill, an electrician with the Federal Aviation Administration, and the family moved four times in the next two years. "I never had any friends," says Largent. "I never felt I belonged." To make matters worse, he says, his stepfather drank heavily, and the household, with four boys, was in constant turmoil. "Any kid who grew up with an alcoholic parent will tell you how nauseating it feels never to know what it will be like when you come home," he says. Often, Steve had to physically separate his arguing mother and stepfather, who eventually divorced. "I remember Mom coming to me crying, asking me, 'What should I do?' " he once told a reporter. "I'd think, 'I don't know, I'm only in 10th grade.' "

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Source:
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20100598,00.html

In looking at the man many of us affectionately call "Saint Largent" today, you would never know that's the kind of household he grew up in. His story should be a real testimony to all of us fathers out there of this one inescapable truth ...

You're aren't always in control over the cards life deals you ... but you CAN control how you play your hand.

Hawkscanner":yvey1dbu said:

Largent80":yvey1dbu said:

Hawkscanner is awesome. I really miss you posting more bro, you are my fav. and I appreciate this.

Click to expand...

Thanks Rob. I appreciate that. Truth be told, I'm a bit jealous honestly. When I first looked to register here at Seahawks.net years ago, the initial username that I tried to sign up with was Largent80. Unfortunately, some other poster had already snagged it. *Ahem* (Just/Kidding) Glad you liked it and I hope others do as well.

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I don't know how I got it first but it was 2002 is all I can remember.

The older they get, the more Montana and Largent look alike to me.

Now that it's actually here, let me officially wish all of you dads out there ...

Happy Father's Day!!

Last year, many of the Seahawks players and coaches took to social media to share their Father's Day sentiments. Though many of them haven't done so yet this year, I'm assuming that more will later on today and that what they shared last year pretty much applies to this year as well ...

http://www.seahawks.com/news/2015/06/21/happy-fathers-day-seahawks

Michael Bennett was on with Gee Scott and talked about fatherhood. Definitely worth a listen (you can listen to the interview at the bottom of the page) ...

http://sports.mynorthwest.com/141637/michael-bennett-taking-his-family-to-italy-for-fathers-day/

Hawkscanner gets it.

Big time.

Happy fathers day!

Nice post, indeed! I like in particular your Russell Wilson analogy. They are my two favorite Seahawks, perhaps my two favorite professional athletes of all time. The two are extremely similar in their disposition. Too bad they never played on the same field.

Steve Largent is the first HOF player in any sport whose career I followed from his first professional game until his retirement. He was unique. Here's a few other things he's done/didn't do that separates him from others:

He spiked the ball after scoring a touchdown just once, then apologized for it afterwards. He would say "act like you've been there."

During the strike when nearly every player held out of the 'scab' games, Largent returned to play, citing that he signed an individual contract and that it was his obligation to fulfill it, that his signature was his word. Go tell that to Kam.

He never got into trash talking with other players. Lester Hayes, a notorious trash talking DB from the Raiders and a damn good player, said once that he thought Largent was deaf as he wasn't reacting at all to his jibes, until Largent burned him for a 30 yard reception and got up laughing at him.

After being elected to Congress, unlike many politicians, Largent upheld his pledge not to run for a 4th term. Subsequent to his stint in Congress, he ran for governor of Oklahoma, during which a newspaper reporter grilled him on where he was on 9/11/2001 (he was on a hunting trip and didn't know about the attacks until later) to which Largent replied "bullshit.". After losing a very close election, Largent never sought public office again.

Anyhow, those are just a few things that stick out in my mind that define Steve Largent. He's one of the most principled men I've ever known...er, followed.

A few years ago, I had the distinct honor to have dinner with Steve Largent in wash DC, I was doing some lobbying for our National Association. I have had dinners with some pretty "important" people in my life, BUT I have never been so excited to have that one!!!! What a great player, and even better MAN I have never met. Like I said it was an honor that I will never forget,

M.M.