Number 11
On October 25th, State Farm Stadium will give Larry Fitzgerald the sendoff he never officially asked for. It’s long overdue, and it should be perfect. There’s a version of Larry Fitzgerald that will always exist in the memory of this state, frozen somewhere between that Super Bowl catch in Tampa and the last quiet fade of his final season. On October 25th, that version finally gets its moment, with Fitzgerald at midfield and his No. 11 jersey rising toward the rafters. If you’re in the building, or watching from your couch in Glendale or Goodyear, it will be something worth remembering. The halftime ceremony against the Denver Broncos will fold two honors into one night: Fitzgerald’s induction into the Cardinals Ring of Honor as its 20th member, and the official retirement of No. 11, only the sixth number in the history of the franchise to receive that distinction. He will join Larry Wilson, Pat Tillman, Stan Mauldin, J.V. Cain and Marshall
Goldberg in that small, permanent group. Fitzgerald has still never formally announced his retirement. He simply stepped away after the 2020 season, which makes the evening feel perfectly in character for a man who was never interested in spectacle for its own sake. The ceremony will also be a reminder of just how rare his story was. Seventeen seasons. One team. Two hundred and sixty-three games. No rumors of leaving, no contract holdout, no tearful press conference announcing a move to a contender. In a league built on transactions and leverage, Fitzgerald played all of it in cardinal red and never made a fuss about it. Owner Michael Bidwill put it cleanly when the team announced the honors: his excellence on the field was only surpassed by the way he represented the team and the community off it. That tracks. His charitable work in the Valley has been as consistent and low-key as everything else about him.
10 Estrella Publishing - The Park magazine
October 2026
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