It took 13 years, but Larry Fitzgerald fulfilled the promise he made to his dying mother.
The Arizona Cardinals' receiver graduated from the University of Phoenix on Saturday. He majored in communications.
Fitzgerald, 32, attended the University Pittsburgh in 2003 when his mother, Carol, died after a battle with breast cancer. The wideout said he promised his mother before she died that he would get his degree.
This weekend Fitzgerald made good on that promise.
Last year, the receiver described to the Arizona Republic what going to school meant for the memory of his mother.
"I feel blessed to have had her for 19 years, and she was around long enough to shape me into the man I am today," Fitzgerald explained at the time. "But I'm sad at the fact that she busted her ass for so many years so I could live my dream, and she never saw the things I could've given her. That hurts.
"But I know when I'm out doing things in the community, she would be proud, because who I am now is a result of lessons she taught me when I had her."
