Delaware's gift to NFL at the top of his game
By Ferd Lewis
Advertiser Columnist
"Who won it? Who got the (player of the game award)?" NFC wide receiver Torry Holt inquired at midfield, where officials were gathering to make the presentation after the conclusion of yesterday's Pro Bowl.
Told that it went to Rich Gannon, Holt said, "Oh, man, he always wins it."
No, it has only begun to seem that way.
The Oakland Raiders quarterback became the first back-to-back winner in the 19-year history of the Dan McGuire Award and the only player other than Johnny Unitas (1960-'61) to win an offensive award in consecutive games.
This one, and the new car that went with it, were earned in a 38-30 AFC victory in which Gannon guided the offense to its first 28 points, completing 8 of 10 passes (two were dropped) for 137 yards and two touchdowns in a little over a quarter's labor.
Another year, another piece of sparkling hardware for the already crowded Gannon family mantel. And another significant reminder of the player Gannon has become at a position many thought he not only couldn't succeed at but also wouldn't get a chance to play at the NFL level.
Another opportunity to hoist the spoils and shout I told you so to the dwindling list of disbelievers in the Aloha Stadium crowd of 50,301 and on national TV.
Instead, Gannon, secure in the continued validation of his abilities, would only smile and say, "What it says is that draft evaluation isn't an exact science. Look at Kurt Warner, Jeff Garcia, Tom Brady...We're all here. And, we're here for a reason."
For everybody who was not deemed quarterback material or who didn't fit the prototype in a neat high-round package — and only two of the six quarterbacks in this year's Pro Bowl did go in the first three rounds — there was Gannon in triumph again to say that it could still be done.
Indeed, when Gannon was drafted out of Delaware in 1987, it was as a 6-foot-3, 200-pound athlete, not a quarterback. Never mind that, as a record-setting quarterback, he was the Yankee Conference Offensive Player of the Year and an honorable mention All-American as a senior.
His future — if there was to be one in professional football — was thought to be as a defensive back or wide receiver. Let him catch passes or try to break them up, anything but throw 'em, scouts had said.
When the San Francisco 49ers gave him a tryout, the first thing they told him to do was back pedal. When he asked why, Gannon was told it was so they could see what kind of a defensive back he might make.
Even when Gannon was taken by New England in the fourth round of the 1987 draft, "the talk in all the newspapers at the time was that he would be a wide receiver or defensive back," recalls his father, Jim.
"Richard and I had lunch and he told me, 'I'll go to Canada first and play there before I'll play DB or receiver,' " Jim said.
The Patriots traded Gannon two weeks after drafting him, beginning the circuitous route that would keep him at quarterback but take him to Minnesota, Washington and Kansas City before striking it big with the Raiders.
At 36, a 14-year NFL veteran and the fourth-oldest player in yesterday's Pro Bowl, Gannon has merely been a late bloomer hitting his stride.
"He's gotten better every year he's been in the league," said Ken Dilger, who caught a touchdown pass from Gannon yesterday. "You've got to be pretty good to win this MVP award every year."
