He holds their record for the most games started (197), total yards gained (13,396), receiving touchdowns (100), receptions (819), receiving yards (13,089), and most games of 100 or more receiving yards (40).
Largent was originally drafted by the Houston Oilers in 1976, but was traded to Seattle after only playing four preseason games for them. He spent the rest of his 14 year career playing for the Hawks. During his tenure, he made the Pro Bowl roster seven times and was also a member of the NFL All-Decade team during the 80's. When he retired at the end of the 1989 season, he held every major NFL receiving record.
In 1992, the Seahawks retired #80 in honor of him. When Jerry Rice was traded to the Seahawks in 2004, he was given permission by Largent to use #80. There have only been two numbers retired in the history of the franchise... #80 in honor of Largent... and #12 in honor of their fans.
After football, Mr. Largent became a member of Congress. He served from November 29, 1994 to February 15, 2002 as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Oklahoma's 1st district. In 2002, he decided to run for Govenor of Oklahoma, but lost the election by less than 7,000 votes.
Although favorite players come and go... Largent is still one of my PC focuses after all of these years. I admire him for everything he's done for the Seahawks franchise, but also because he seems to be a stand-up guy who has good family values.
This past weekend.. I finally completed my Steve Largent sports card trifecta with the purchase of his rookie card:
Rookie Card: 1977 Topps #177
Autographed Card: 1997 SP Authentic "Mark of a Legend" #ML6
Memorabilia Card: 2002 Leaf Certified "Fabric of the Game" #29
I have wanted a Largent rookie card for a long time now... and I'm stoked to finally have one in my collection. It goes perfectly with the 90's on-card autograph and memorabilia card.
Thursday's question of the day:
Who's your favorite wide receiver... both present and past?
Right now... James Jones of the Green Bay Packers is my favorite receiver... because he's on my favorite team... plus he grew up in the Bay Area and went to SJSU.
Damn it's been a long week. Thank goodness it's almost Friday. Sayonara!
Oops... Actually Seattle has retired three jersey numbers, not just two. #71 worn by 9x Pro Bowler Walter Jones, who played left tackle for 12 years for the Seahawks. Thanks for info Mariner1. Here's a little Jones bonus for you:
8 comments:
Deion Branch current. Because he's so scrappy and seems like the perfect opposite of Randy Moss this year, especially with the Moss our Branch in we win thing.
All time...dunno. I liked speed guys a lot so Joey Galloway is probably up there. Josh Cribbs doesn't really count since he's mostly a returner. Troy Brown is up there too.
My all-time fav wr is James Lofton.
Eddie Royal. I was at VT the same time as him. Such a pleasure to watch play in person.
Just an update, the Hawks recently added a third. They retired #71 for Walter Jones.
My favorite of today would be Marques Colston. As a Hawks follower as a kid, Largent was definitely the gold standard.
My current favorite would have to be Devin Hester. From the past it would be the lanky Fred Biletnikoff from the 1960's-70's Oakland Raiders.
spastikmooss - i loved galloway! he was definitely one of my favorites during the 90's... until his contract issues. then when he was traded to the cowboys... my interested waned.
charles - you must have been reading my mind... lofton (& john jefferson) were #'s 2 and 3 during the 80's. one of these days i'll grab a lofton rookie and have his trifecta.
spankee - i hope royal bounces back... that rookie year was amazing.
mariner1 - thanks for the info... now that you mention it... i vaguely remember the hawks saying they'd retire his number soon after he retired. article has been updated at the bottom.
hackenbush - great choices... i like hester and living in the bay area, biletnikoff is a household name. i just hope hester keeps things in check this weekend against the hawks ;-)
@ Fuji, I grabbed a Lofton RC at a mega antique show over the summer. The seller had thousand and thousands of 70's football and baseball cards of commons, semi-stars and HOF'ers. I went through about a 10th of the cards there for 2 hours pulling cards of players the people next to me were looking for. I grabbed 4 cards for myself for $1.00, including the Lofton RC. Lots of fun to look through.
charles - that's awesome... 1st, because you helped others out and 2nd because you picked up a lofton rc for super cheap. there's a few lofton rcs in the 2 to 3 dollar range on COMC, so i'll probably pull the trigger and pick one of those up. have a great weekend buddy!
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