Bob McManaman

azcentral sports

He only spent five seasons with them, but Kurt Warner will be immortalized by the Cardinals when they add him to their Ring of Honor at University of Phoenix Stadium.

The popular quarterback with the rags-to-riches story will be inducted Sept. 8 during halftime of the team's home game against the Chargers on "Monday Night Football."

Cardinals President Michael Bidwill made the announcement Wednesday, sitting alongside Warner at the team's Tempe training facility.

"The one thing I always say to myself is I want to make sure that when a team invests in me that they get their investment's worth," Warner said, "and I'm honored to think that now that I'm going into the Ring of Honor that, hopefully, that shows that you were happy with your investment."

Said Bidwill: "Absolutely!"

Warner, 42, will become the 14th member of the Cardinals' Ring of Honor and just the third player from the team's Arizona history to be inducted, joining the late Pat Tillman and recent Hall of Famer Aeneas Williams.

Warner, who guided the Cardinals to their only Super Bowl appearance during the 2008 season and took the Rams to two others before that, is eligible for the Pro Football Hall of Fame ballot this year.

Inductees will be announced in February, the day before Super Bowl XLIX is played at University of Phoenix Stadium. Bidwill said the Cardinals decided to put Warner in their Ring of Honor this year in part because it coincides with the quarterback's first year of Hall eligibility.

"When you think about what Kurt symbolizes in terms of the great things he did on the field, what he and (wife) Brenda have done off the field, he's just a great Cardinal in our history and we want to permanently recognize him," Bidwill said. "And we want to do it in a big fashion where everybody can see on national television, and start off this 2014 season, his first year of eligibility for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, by shining the light on what a great player and what a great person he is."

Warner, who twice was named the NFL's MVP and was also Super Bowl MVP during the Rams' win in Super Bowl XXXIV, said he was "humbled" by the Ring of Honor induction.

After all, nobody could have expected him to come as far as he did. Undrafted out of Northern Iowa, Warner spent time in the Arena Football League and stocked shelves at a Cedar Falls, Iowa, supermarket while waiting for an opportunity in the NFL. The Rams gave him one in 1988, but he first was allotted to NFL Europe's Amsterdam Admirals, where he led the league in passing yards and touchdowns.

Warner made his mark with St. Louis the following season, guiding the Rams to their lone Super Bowl victory when he ran a high-powered offense that would become to be known as "The Greatest Show on Turf."

Warner passed for 4,583 yards and 30 touchdowns the year he helped the Cardinals make it to Super Bowl XLIII, where they lost to the Steelers 27-23. He has the three highest single-game passing yardage totals in Super Bowl history.

"The thing I'm most proud of in my career was to be able to help two organizations go someplace that they've never been before," said Warner, now an analyst for the NFL Network. "Not many people get that opportunity to do it with one."

As for his chances of making the Hall of Fame and possibly being elected as a first-ballot inductee, Warner said it may depend on if voters believe he put in enough time in the league and did enough in that time to warrant consideration.

"It would be a tremendous honor," he said, "but at the same time, my career will not be defined by that."

Warner retired following the 2009 season with the Cardinals and finished his career having passed for 32,344 yards and 208 touchdowns. He said he's never regretted his decision to walk away from the game but acknowledged Wednesday that "there's definitely moments where I feel like I could go out and play right now."

"But, no," he said, "it was the right decision for me at the time. As great as those last three years were, they took a lot out of me both physically and mentally. It was tough. … I would have loved to have taken a few more snaps or taken the Cardinals to another Super Bowl. It would have been fun. But it was the right decision at the time, and I couldn't be happier with retirement."

The Rams have yet to include Warner into their version of the Ring of Honor, although that could happen as early as next year. Here in Arizona, Warner's place in immortality is less than three short months away.

"For young fans in particular who may not know who some of those names are (in the Cardinals' Ring of Honor)," Bidwill said, "I know there are kids and grandkids who will be coming into that stadium and be able to look up at that permanent part of our history and get the stories told about who Kurt Warner is and what he stood for. Not only his performance and how he played the game and his sportsmanship, but also what he did off the field."

Members of Cardinals' Ring of Honor

Charles W. Bidwill, Owner, 1933-1947 (Hall of Fame 1967)

Ernie Nevers, Fullback, 1929-1931 (Hall of Fame 1963)

Jimmy Conzelman, Coach, 1946-1948 (Hall of Fame 1964)

John "Paddy" Driscoll, Quarterback, 1920-1925 (Hall of Fame 1965)

Charley Trippi, Running Back, 1947-1955 (Hall of Fame 1965)

Ollie Matson, Running Back, 1952, 1954-58 (Hall of Fame 1972)

Dick "Night Train" Lane, Cornerback , 1954-1959 (Hall of Fame 1974)

Marshall Goldberg, Running Back, 1939-1948

Dan Dierdorf, Tackle, 1971-1983 (Hall of Fame 1996)

Pat Tillman, Safety, 1998-2001

Larry Wilson, Safety, 1960-1972 (Hall of Fame 1978)

Roger Wehrli, Cornerback, 1969-1982 (Hall of Fame 2007)

Aeneas Williams, Cornerback, 1991-2000 (Hall of Fame 2014)