Warren Moon Was Rejected by the NFL… Then Became Its Highest-Paid Player
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How did Warren Moon’s early life and high‑school experiences shape his dream of becoming a quarterback?
Welcome back to All the Smoke here live at the Pump Gala 2026. And this one is gonna be a special one. Um I've been working on this one for a few years, and the pumps were able to close it for me. Um one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. Welcome to the show. What did
you say? You've been working on this for a long time, dude. I told you three years ago.
You guys
are so busy now, you had
to
slip me in. Never
never never too busy for you, man. How's how how's life
out in the Pacific Northwest these days? It's good. It's when I'm there, you know, I'm flying all over the country doing different stuff. But uh I love that being home, you know, when I when I finally settle down and come home for a few days and wash my underwear and get back on the road again.
Let's take it back. I mean, you have such an incredible journey and story. Um, quarterback was something that was in you and you became that But along the way You were almost pushed into other positions, but you refused to to bend. Yeah. Tell us about your journey in high school, um, not being recruited out of high school uh very heavily and just the persistence of I'm not a receiver, I'm not a D B, I'm a core I'm a black quarterback in a game that didn't have very many black quarterbacks.
Yeah, first of all I you know, I grew up in this area. Uh I grew up and went to high school ten minutes from here at Hamilton High School and um Grew up in a home where my dad passed away when I was seven years old. So I had six sisters and my mom and it was me. So I was the only boy. So she got me involved in sports at a very early age just to get me around other boys, to get me around other m mentor males and and people like that in my life. And uh so I played all the different sports and Basketball was my favorite and still is today. Um Baseball was I was probably the best at. Really? But for some reason football just I gravitated to it because of the position. the leadership part of it, because I think growing up in a house where you're kinda considered the man of the house at seven years old.
Wow. I kinda grew up a little bit faster than most kids my age and um You know, I had a lot a little m more maturity in that and Uh quarterback was just something that seemed like it was part of my personality and And uh in our neighborhood I organized all the games from different streets that we played against or whatever. So Good old days when we played outside. Yeah, in the street. Man, right. Tackle foot. We we played tackle in the street for a
little
bit. Yes we did too. But um but yeah, it so it it kind of started there and then I w played Pop Warner football for four years, played quarterback there. Uh went on to high school and played uh high school quarterback and but then when it was time to get recruited You know, the schools were coming in saying that they wanted to change my position 'cause it was just a time when uh we weren't looked at that favorably at the quarterback position. What year is this? This is probably nineteen seventy four when I graduated. Okay. I actually um committed to Arizona State to play quarterback. And then they supposedly signed the two top quarterbacks in the country that year, uh, a guy by the name of Dennis Sprout.
Another guy by the name of um Bruce Hardy, who ended up being a tight end in in the in the uh NFL and Dennis Fraud never made it. But uh they told me they was keep my I still would have my scholarship, but um I had to change position. So I I just told 'em I was gonna decommit, I wasn't gonna come 'cause I d I wanted to play quarterback. So I went to junior college for you. I went to West L A. Junior College about ten minutes from my high school and Uh, had another really good year there and got a lot more scholarship offers to actually play quarterback at some schools and that's why I went to Washington 'cause they were they were gonna give me a chance to play quarterback and compete early, even though I had
had um lost a year going to J C. I didn't wanna go somewhere where I'd have to redshirt or or have to come you know, have a big competition with somebody that's already been there as a starter.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
How did Warren Moon’s early life and high‑school experiences shape his dream of becoming a quarterback?
0:00–8:18
2
What obstacles did Moon face during college recruiting, and why did he choose the CFL over the NFL?
8:18–15:55
3
How did playing five straight Grey Cups in the CFL change Moon’s perspective on race and football?
15:55–24:21
4
What was the bidding process that led Moon to sign with Houston and become the NFL’s highest‑paid player?
24:21–31:55
5
Why did Moon start seeing a therapist while still playing, and how did mental‑health stigma affect him?
31:55–39:28
6
What were the toughest physical hits and on‑field challenges Moon endured in the NFL?
39:28–47:19
7
How did Moon’s number‑one jersey become a legacy symbol and influence younger players?
47:19–54:59
8
What lasting lessons does Moon share about perseverance, mentorship, and the evolution of the Black quarterback?
54:59–1:01:20
Speakers
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