Larry Fitzgerald Sr., veteran sportswriter and father of NFL legend Larry Fitzgerald, dies at 71

Larry Fitzgerald Sr., the father of Arizona Cardinals legendary wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald Jr., has died at the age of 71. Marcus Fitzgerald, Fitzgerald Jr.’s brother, announced the news on X. He said Fitzgerald Sr. died Monday afternoon, June 1 surrounded by his family and “the people who loved him most.”

“A devoted father, husband, grandfather, and a true pioneer in the Minnesota broadcasting community, he spent his life pouring into the people and the city he loved so much,” Marcus Fitzgerald said in the post.



The death comes just two months before Fitzgerald Jr. is set to be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The family did not share a cause of death.

Fitzgerald Sr. was born and raised in Chicago before playing college football at Indian Hills Community College and Indiana State University. After graduating in 1978, he began a lengthy career in sports media, working as a broadcaster and sportswriter in the Minneapolis area.

He later joined the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder as a sportswriter and became a respected figure in Minnesota’s media and broadcasting community.

Following the death of his wife, Carol, from breast cancer in 2003, Fitzgerald Sr. established the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund to support breast cancer and HIV research, according to The Arizona Republic. Fitzgerald Sr. is survived by his two sons, Larry Jr. and Marcus.