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Warren’s Warfield lends message to home
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Paul Warfield visited his former school, Warren G. Harding, to be honored as a Hometown Hall of Famer. He was presented with a plaque which will be displayed at Harding. Warfield played at Ohio State and in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns and Miami Dolphins.
WARREN
Paul Warfield scored 85 touchdowns in a 13-year NFL career. Yet, he’ll never forget the first time he crossed the goal line as a Warren Harding Panther.
It came on his first carry as a varsity player in his sophomore year.
“I can’t tell you how that happened,” he said, laughing about the 50-yard score. “When I got the ball and got across the line of scrimmage, it was a wide-open space. All I had to do was run through it.
“For me that night, it was a parting of the Red Sea.”
And for the city of Warren and teachers, staff and students of WGH, Tuesday was a day to celebrate the life, accomplishments and story of Warfield.
The Hall of Fame wide receiver ,who spent eight years with the Cleveland Browns and five with the Miami Dolphins, was recognized as part of the “Hometown Hall of Famers,” a national program honoring the hometown roots of professional football’s greatest players.
The event at the Harding gymnasium was sponsored by the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton and Allstate Insurance.
“That ceremony [in 1983] has a national emphasis with it, this ceremony allows me to come back to my hometown where it all started,” Warfield said. “I want this to be inspirational to all the young men and women. As a youngster, you’re not sure what your capabilities are. There are people out there who believe in you.”
For example, take Danny Smith. A lifelong friend of Warfield’s, Smith played against him in a Warren youth football league.
“This guy always listened,” Smith said. “To his mom, dad and teachers. When we were going somewhere else — he was going home. That’s how I knew he was going to grow up and be successful.”
But Warfield always thought he’d be a baseball player or a track runner.
“I felt more comfortable doing those things,” he said. “I didn’t think I was good enough [in football]. I wasn’t the most self-confident individual.”
So his message to the overflow crowd was simple:
Believe.
“I had to hang in there and persevere,” he said. “You do, too. Nobody can do anything for you. It takes your ‘stick-to-it-iveness’ to overcome the hard times. You have to believe that there is a purpose. Things will happen for you.”
In 1972, Warfield was the leading receiver on the Dolphins team that beat the Washington Redskins in Super Bowl VII to complete a 14-0 season.
“As the clock was ticking down I felt that sense of satisfaction,” he said. “Not just individually, but as a member of a great football team. The greatness of that team still resonates today.”