Of all of the issues Larry Fitzgerald completed throughout his other-worldly athletic profession, it’s one thing he didn’t try this sticks with me.
The University of Pittsburgh legend final performed an expert soccer recreation 5 years in the past. Already a member of the College Football Hall of Fame for his two-year star flip as a Panther, he’s a lock to enter the Pro Football Hall as early as subsequent 12 months.
Yet, Fitzgerald by no means truly retired — at the least publicly — from the profession he dominated for twenty years.
“Life is like a book,” he stated in 2022. “I didn’t feel like I should say I was retiring because that’s not what I was doing. I’m simply turning the page to the next chapter in my life.”
I do really feel a sure kinship (although under no circumstances athletically) to Fitzgerald on this entrance. Until final fall, I’d lived in Arizona for 25 years, not all that removed from the place he was a record-breaking broad receiver for the Arizona Cardinals.
And whereas I’m nonetheless a long time from my very own retirement, the concept of turning the web page — a brand new journey — has fueled me of late.
This version marks my first as Pitt Magazine’s editor-in-chief, a badge I put on with immense delight. That’s as a lot so for its service to Pitt’s devoted alumni, dedicated group supporters, school, workers and college students as it’s for the chance to work with a proficient staff that pours its coronary heart into each version of this award-winning publication.
I visited Pittsburgh with my spouse, Lindsey, for the primary time barely a 12 months in the past. We stared on the metropolis views from PNC Park and the highest of the inclines; we noticed the rivers and bridges up shut; we embraced a rain-and-mud-soaked live performance on the outdated Carrie Blast Furnace; and, by some means, we discovered ourselves repeatedly within the Oakland neighborhood. We’d people-watch from Schenley Plaza and I’d catch myself marveling that, 99 years after its groundbreaking, the Cathedral of Learning continues to be probably the most seen and lasting image of this pioneering establishment.
We went again to Arizona, not sure once we’d go to Western Pennsylvania once more. Seven weeks and one fortuitous job alternative later: our dwelling was on the market, our belongings and puppies have been packed, and a cross-country drive marked the start of that subsequent chapter.
But finally, it’s the individuals — these I work with and also you, our valued readers — who make me most proud to be a part of this Pitt group. Fitzgerald spoke on this throughout his May graduation speech to a file 5,000-plus Pitt grads.
“It is this special place,” he stated of Pitt, “the people of this community, the culture that it manifests, the values it cultivates
in us, and the love it saturates us with that shape my life.”
Sounds like Larry and I are nonetheless on the identical web page.
— Brett Fera, editor-in-chief