Super Bowl hero puts first things first Super Bowl 2000 hero Kurt Warner gives God the credit. by Stephani Keer       When the dust settled on Super Bowl Sunday, St. Louis Rams’ quarterback Kurt Warner was the undisputed hero of the game.     But his finest moment didn’t come when the final gun sounded with the rival Tennessee Titans just one short yard away from tying the game. It wasn’t when Warner, 28, set a Super Bowl passing record, or when he connected with Isaac Bruce for the winning 73-yard pass-and-run play, or even when he was named the Super Bowl’s most valuable player.     Rather, Warner’s moment came when defensive back Blaine Bishop of the opposing team was injured. The tradition in professional football is to look away from an injured player to spare him the embarrassment of witnessing his pain and to keep from reminding yourself that it could be you.     But Warner left the sidelines and crossed the field. With every eye in Atlanta’s crowded Georgia Bowl on him, Warner knelt and prayed for his injured rival. When he stood up, medical personnel removed Bishop by stretcher for treatment of a strained neck.     It was the grace note to what commentators call the greatest human interest story of the year.     In five short years, Warner went from being a football wannabe, supporting his family by stocking grocery shelves in Iowa at $5.50 an hour, to the National Football League’s Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player.     He was, he admits, a lousy stocker. Hands designed to throw a football couldn’t cope with small jars and his co-workers mercilessly called out, “Warner fumbles,” every time he had a disaster. Today, other hopefuls stock the same shelves with cereal boxes bearing Warner’s picture. Those five years have been fraught with difficulties.     He was rejected, repeatedly, by NFL and CFL teams. He ended up playing in the much-reviled indoor Arena Football League, and then spent a year in the NFL Europe League, for most players the last refuge before the dream dies.     His personal life wasn’t a picnic, either. He married Brenda in 1996 after a five-year courtship, the same year her parents were killed in an Arkansas tornado. That meant taking on a ready-made family, including Zachary, now 10, who is legally blind and suffers from developmental problems; and Jesse, born after Brenda’s first husband left because he couldn’t cope with Zachary. Son Kade has since joined the family.     Zachary can’t watch his father play, and is not a football fan. “What I love about him so much is that football doesn’t matter,” Warner said in a recent interview on ESPN. “It doesn’t matter all the fortune and fame and everything that has come about this season. He just loves me for being Dad.”     Warner now works with physically and mentally challenged children and donated the $30,000 he won with the NFL’s Player of the Year award, as well as money from the game show Wheel of Fortune, to Camp Barnabas, a Christian camp for challenged young people.     It wasn’t until 1998 that Warner got the call to join the Rams — as third-string quarterback. For most of the year, he sat and watched. The 1999 season looked like a repeat after the Rams signed high-priced, free-agent Trent Green. During the first pre-season game, Green smashed his knee and coach Dick Vermeil, at 63 the oldest coach to win a Super Bowl, gave Warner a chance. The worst team in the NFC in 1998 became the best. The bench-warmer became the NFL’s story of the year and NFC starting quarterback at the Pro Bowl.     But it isn’t the awards that matter most to Warner.     “The great part about it is, it has given me the opportunity to share my testimony, to share my faith, to let people know it is the Lord who helped me get to this point, through the strength I have had in Him.” Wife Brenda shares that perspective. In a sideline interview during the Super Bowl, she didn’t hesitate when asked why, suddenly, her husband was such a star. “Our faith in God has brought him to where he is.”     In his first post-game interview after the Super Bowl, Warner made his point again. The interviewer said, “First things first. Tell us about the pass (that won the game).” With his slow, radiant smile, Warner agreed, “First things first: praise and glory to my Lord and Saviour up above! Thank you, Jesus!”     Then, courteously, he talked about the game. [LLN-Online] [Adopt-a-Block] [Newsbriefs][Event Calendar] [Lifestyles] [Juke Box] [Cover to Cover] [Movieguide][Casting the Net] [Viewpoints] [General Info] [Rates & Sizes][Marketplace/Classifieds] [Volunteer Ops] [Writing Guidelines] [Contact Us] [Subscribe][Archives][Good News] [About Us][Links]