Marshall’s own Randy Moss finds football immortality after entering the hallowed halls of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
Randy Moss has always known how to make an entrance.
It was a Thursday afternoon in August, two days before the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Canton, Ohio. Fans outside the facility turned toward the sights and sounds of a police escort. As the caravan rolled to a stop, Moss and fellow inductee Ray Lewis hopped out of their luxury SUV in front of a throng of onlookers. Moss then walked through a gauntlet of number 84 Vikings jerseys and number 81 Patriots jerseys as fans yelled his name from behind the barricades. He then strode into the Hall of Fame for an autograph session.
He had arrived.
All his life Randy Moss’ talents have been mesmerizing. Whether he was hurtling past yard lines or hurdling over defenders, he had an innate gift as an athlete to catch a football and run past defenders with that ball in his hands. Now, after all those years of gazelle-like exploits on the football field, he can finally catch his breath.
He had found the promised land of professional football. His induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame was a celebration of his whirlwind career. A player who — whether it was at Dupont High School, Marshall University or the NFL — seemed like he played the game in a different stratosphere than most.
“We put two guys on him every play, that’s how much he changed the game for us,” fellow inductee and former Chicago Bears’ linebacker Brian Urlacher said. “His speed, his size, his range and his catch radius were phenomenal. He did things on the football field that no one’s ever done before.”
It all started just off the hardscrabble sidewalks of Rand, West Virginia, where Moss, at 6-years-old, began to show his talents. He won the Kennedy Award as West Virginia’s best high school player and, frankly, the plaque only reinforced what everyone in the state already knew. Moss was in a class all his own.
During that senior year there were plenty of weeknight recruiting calls from coaching legends like Lou Holtz, Steve Spurrier and Bobby Bowden. Moss originally committed to Notre Dame, but his application was denied. He would enroll at Florida State and redshirt his freshman year, but later be dismissed after a positive marijuana test.
“A lot of the path that I had to travel — some of the wounds were self-inflicted,” Moss admitted at the Hall of Fame media session. “A lot of them were immaturity. But hey, man, I wouldn’t change it because that’s what made me the man I am today.”
After those missteps, home-state Marshall University entered the picture.
Bob Pruett said Moss to Marshall “was a natural fit.” Pruett was an assistant to Steve Spurrier when the Gators recruited Moss. Then he took the Marshall job in 1996 as the Herd was competing in its final year of Division I-AA football. Pruett knew Moss could play for the Herd without sitting out a year, and the following season Marshall was moving up to Division I-A. The mercurial Moss could showcase his talents against tougher competition in 1997, and then he could leap to the NFL.
Moss helped Marshall to an undefeated season and the I-AA national championship in 1996. The next year he won the Biletnikoff Award as the best receiver in college football, and was a Heisman finalist. He scored 54 touchdowns at Marshall in a dizzying array of gravity-defying highlights. And he helped make Marshall football a nationally recognized brand.
No one knew that better than Pruett.
“If somebody in Utah or Kansas or California asked us where we were from and we said, ‘Marshall,’ most of them would give us a blank stare,” Pruett explained. “But when we said, ‘Randy Moss played for us,’ they would perk up and say, ‘Oh, Randy Moss!’ That’s what I mean when I say he put us on the national map.”
Moss’ off-field persona and the way he played the game couldn’t have been more different. Away from football he was guarded, private and wary of those outside his inner circle. On the field, his ability to ad lib, to outrun and out jump defenders, became legendary. The football field was his playground and his sanctuary, at the same time.
“The only time I could feel free to go out there and enjoy myself was between the lines,” Moss said. “Where I felt most free was in between the white lines. That’s just something you’ve heard me say time and time again — that I love the game.”
Moss’ son Thaddeus introduced him at the Hall of Fame induction ceremony. That gold jacket and bronze bust are symbolic of the highest honor in the game. He became only the sixth wide receiver ever to be a first-ballot inductee, and the first since Jerry Rice. His 156 touchdown catches rank second all-time to Rice.
The very next day after his induction, Moss was back in his home state signing autographs at the Town Center Mall in Charleston. That was one of the few times that Moss announced ahead of time his willingness to give back. In the past, he made sure his charity efforts went unnoticed. For him, it was about helping those in need, not shining the spotlight on himself.
“I’ve never felt that I needed to be the one to broadcast what I’m doing,” Moss said. “It’s kind of like I always wanted to put smiles on people’s faces and I didn’t need this (motions to cameras and reporters) to be able to do it. A gentle handshake, a hug, a thank you meant a lot to me.”
With that he hinted at bringing a special event to Huntington next summer, emphatically emphasized as he recognized the reporter at the other end of the microphone.
“Hey, I’ve got something coming this summer,” Moss told the reporter. “And remember I told you, you hear me?”
Whatever it is, it will have to be in June or July because he’s booked for early August when Canton beckons again. That’s reserved for his now-annual Hall of Fame class reunion, and Randy Moss will no doubt remember the dress code.
Gold jacket required.
Keith Morehouse is the sports director at WSAZ NewsChannel 3 in Huntington. He is a two-time Emmy winner and the recipient of the West Virginia Sportscaster of the Year award in 1999, 2007 and 2012. He graduated from Marshall in 1983 with a B.A. in Broadcast Journalism.
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Randy Moss was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2018.
Moss’ career at Marshall saw him break several school records in just two seasons, including scoring at least one touchdown in every single one of his 28 games. He was also a 1997 Heisman Trophy finalist, the first in the school’s 181-year history.
Moss helped the Herd to an undefeated season and the I-AA national championship in 1996. The following season Marshall moved up to Division I-A. Moss was able to showcase his talents against tougher competition in 1997, and leap to the NFL.
Moss played seven consecutive seasons with the Minnesota Vikings, before being traded to the Oakland Raiders in 2005. Moss’ 14-season NFL career also included appearances on the New England Patriots, Tennessee Titans and San Francisco 49ers.
Moss said the only time he could feel free to enjoy himself was when he was “in between the white lines.”