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Community Corner

A Hometown Hero Makes National News

Former St. Louis Rams running back, Marshall Faulk, gets kudos from across the country with Pro Football Hall of Fame induction.

While we would like to claim former St. Louis Rams running back, Marshall Faulk, as our own, he has shared his special brand of eliteness with other teams. His induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame brought kudos from admirers throughout the U.S.

Not only was he inducted, he got into the Hall in his first year of eligibility, a special feat, indeed. He came from the mean streets of New Orleans where he attended G.W. Carver High School. Coach Wayne Reese saw the athletic potential in Faulk, and the rest, as they say, is history.

www.goaztecs.cstv.com, the sports website of San Diego State University where Faulk was a three time All-American for the Aztecs, quoted Faulk as saying during his speech, “To the red and black Aztec Nation. It’s plain and simple, Aztec for life.”

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That Faulk is a native of New Orleans is no surprise and www.nola.com reported that he came close to losing his composure when he began thanking all those who had helped him on his journey. “My father told me, ‘If you are ever traveling on a road and there are no speed bumps, you are headed on a dead end. Life is a challenge.”

www.colts.com quoted Faulk as saying that the five seasons he was with the Indianapolis Colts prepared him well for his stint with the St. Louis Rams.  Faulk came to the Colts from San Diego as a self-described “fiery 21-year old kid who wanted the football and wanted to make things happen.”  He credited Coach Gene Huey who mentored him and taught him to appreciate the preparation for the play, not just the play itself.

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“The Greatest Show on Turf” remains in the minds of many St. Louis football fans and it lingers with Faulk as well. He told www.sb.nation.com that he would love to be in the huddle with Kurt Warner and his teammates again, behind by six points on the 80-yeard line with one minute to go. The fans would like that too

In an interview with www.washingtonexaminer.com former Rams quarterback and future hall-of-famer Kurt Warner said that Faulk always had ideas on how to run various plays and that Coach Mike Martz was open to ideas from the team. . “You never knew where it came from,” Warner was quoted as saying. “But I knew was a big part of helping develop that offense.”

On a pre-induction interview on the NFL network, Warner said Faulk made him a better quarterback, and that he seemed to know what Warner was going to do even though they had not communicated the play. He added that Faulk could turn a broken play into a winner.

St. Louis Rams fans who saw Faulk in action know they were seeing something special, and it’s gratifying to know that the rest of the sports world knows it too.

 

 

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