Larry Fitzgerald fulfills mom’s wish, earns a degree

Minnesota native and future football Hall of Famer Larry Fitzgerald has fulfilled his mother’s dying wish.

Fitzgerald, 32, a star with the Arizona Cardinals, graduated yesterday with a degree from the University of Phoenix.

“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 told the Arizona Republic. “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.”

She died in 2003.