Back to his roots: Jon Kitna's living the dream

“Jon Kitna really has got a great future in the NFL.”

– Seahawks coach Dennis Erickson, July 1996

Eyes rolled a bit at Dennis Erickson’s assessment. Really, Coach?

The same Jon Kitna that you got as a free agent for $3,500 because none of the 30 NFL teams wanted to draft him?

The guy you know about only because your nephew was his teammate at Central Washington – the NAIA school he attended when nobody offered him a scholarship out of Tacoma’s Lincoln High?

That Jon Kitna?

When pressed, Erickson stood firm: “Jon Kitna can play in this league, I really believe that.”

Jon Kitna believed it, too, which turned out to be more important.

At the time, Kitna was at the bottom of the Seahawks’ quarterback depth chart behind Rick Mirer, John Friesz and Stan Gelbaugh.

“Really, I want to have fun,” Kitna said back in 1996. “But I also understand that I’m probably only going to get one chance at this.”

That was all Kitna needed: One chance and a strong belief.

Sixteen years later, the 39-year-old Jon Kitna retired with 29,745 passing yards in the NFL, having played for the Seahawks, Bengals, Lions and Cowboys.

That passing total surpassed the production of 14 Hall of Fame quarterbacks. Statistics from different eras make comparisons difficult, but his yardage output exceeded that of passers notably named: Terry Bradshaw, Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, Bob Griese and Bart Starr.

Kitna hardly looked the part when he showed up that distant summer, his head glaring white from a tight crewcut that suggested readiness for a Marine boot camp if not an NFL training camp. But as Erickson predicted, he had a good arm and an uncommon understanding of the game and its demands on a quarterback.

And even in early interviews, Kitna revealed a rare grasp of a larger picture. He would give football everything he had, he stressed, but he was entirely prepared to get on with his real goal, to be a teacher and a coach, preferably back in Tacoma, where he could make a difference in the lives of kids.

Last week, he was named head coach at Lincoln High, where he also will teach math.

For so many, the dream is to play in the NFL. But for Kitna, the football career was a diversion that forestalled the real dream.

Those who talk about lives tracing an arc over time, with a certain trajectory, don’t understand Kitna’s geometry. For him, it has amounted to a complete circle, encompassing 16 seasons, 29,745 yards, and hundreds of lives touched – just to get back to where he started.

The place he wanted to go in the first place.

“It’s not really about football and it’s not about money.”

— Jon Kitna

For someone trained in mathematics, Kitna defies accepted calculus, weighing assumed variables on a scale all his own.

His salary with the Dallas Cowboys last season was $3.2 million. For teaching three math classes a day and coaching football at Lincoln High, he’ll pull down less than 1 percent that amount.

Pythagoras had no theorem to explain that logic.

His grasp of the game and his reputation as a quarterback mentor in the NFL has caused pro and high-level college programs to inquire about his interest in lucrative coaching positions. He has politely declined.

“My message to them was that if this was about football, I would have stayed in the pro level or college level,” Kitna said Thursday after the announcement of his hiring. “If it was about money, I would have stayed in Texas. This is about what I see in Tacoma and Pierce County, and how my little life can have some impact here. This is about trying to maximize that in the place I love the most.”

Last year Kitna researched the career longevity of all the college players who came into the NFL with him in 1996. Only six remained in the league. Amazingly, two of them were graduates of Lincoln High: Himself and Seattle Sea-hawks safety Lawyer Milloy.

It’s a message of potential he wants to get across to the students walking the Lincoln hallways now.

Milloy had a different professional path than Kitna, making it to four Pro Bowls and two Super Bowls as a second-round draft pick out of Washington. But he, too, saw the experience at Lincoln as a fundamental cornerstone of both their careers.

Because of gang influence in east Tacoma during the late 1980s and early 1990s, “we had a lot of choices to go the other way,” Milloy said of their shared experiences. “When you’re faced with grown-up experiences as early as age 15, especially in my case, it propels you into manhood. There were a lot of life lessons early on and we had the right people come into our lives at the right time.”

For Milloy, one of those people was his teammate.

“Jon was mature beyond his age,” Milloy recalled. “He always gave me words of wisdom. He’s a very kind soul, somebody that everybody gravitates to.”

Eric Boles, a Tacoma minister, speaker and consultant, played with Kitna at Central Washington before playing for the New York Jets. He says that Kitna, despite the lengthy career, never surrendered his Tacoma and Lincoln roots.

“There’s a reason Jon wants to go back to Lincoln, that’s still his social circle,” Boles said. “Jon always got along with everybody, with all the races. It’s a real credit to his parents; he grew up in an environment where everybody was the same. He knows what it’s like to be the minority in a group.

“So, in so many places (in the NFL) he was an intermediary; he could be the catalyst to bring these different people together.”

Milloy saw that trait in Kitna back in high school.

“I definitely have to say growing up in Tacoma played a big part of that,” Milloy said. “It wasn’t like he was some kid from the suburbs. He had a gift of being able to communicate with everybody. That’s what you need in a leader, especially a quarterback.”

“Jon cared so much about learning the game he was like a sponge, trying to soak up everything he could.”

- Warren Moon

In a curious quirk of timing, future Hall-of-Fame quarterback Warren Moon found himself relying on young Kitna for advice on the Seahawks’ offense.

Moon had already played 19 seasons of professional football when he arrived in Seattle in 1997, but the Seahawks’ scheme was new to him, while Kitna had spent a year learning it on the practice squad.

They formed a quick bond.

“He was a kid with a tremendous work ethic,” said Moon, who saw interesting skills on the field. “He had a different type of release, but the ball always got there. He knew the offense so well that he could anticipate where the ball needed to be.”

Moon was more impressed by the leadership skills he saw in Kitna from the start.

“He was such a well-rounded guy with very high character,” Moon said. “He’s a family guy, polite and respectful to everyone – All those things that come together to make a great person make players respect him. You root for a guy like that to be successful.

“So he got along with everybody on the team,” he added. “He is so strong spiritually, but he didn’t try to push it on anybody, he just lived that life.”

Milloy did not play with Kitna in the NFL, but he understood the roots of Kitna’s leadership strengths.

“In order to lead, you have to be willing to step out in front and do everything first; that’s how you gain respect. And you have to know each individual you’re going to war with. That’s the kind of stuff you can’t coach, and Jon had that gift.”

Kitna started 33 games with Seattle, earned NFL Comeback Player of the Year (2003) with the Bengals, passed for more than 4,000 yards in 2006 and 2007 with the Lions, and filled in so well for injured Dallas starter Tony Romo in 2010 (16 TD passes) that some suggested he deserved to unseat Romo.

But Kitna’s influence in the locker room was so strong throughout his career that few seem interested in discussing his on-field performance.

The political economy that often dictates decisions in the NFL caught up with Kitna in Cincinnati, where the $63 million contract given to former Heisman Trophy winner Carson Palmer forced Kitna to the bench, despite his strong performance.

Palmer watched Kitna one season and was cast into the starting role thereafter. Kitna’s response: To unsparingly contribute to Palmer’s progress.

“Jon was an open book for Carson Palmer,” Boles said. “(Palmer) would tell you what an impact Jon had on his life and career. Jon said, ‘Man, I’m going to pour everything that’s in me into you so that you can be great.’ ”

When asked for his best on-field memory, Kitna recalled the first time he set foot on the field in an NFL exhibition game in the Kingdome. He was sent into the game, called the play and rushed to the line of scrimmage.

“The ref had to grab me,” Kitna said. “He said, ‘Son, we have a TV timeout right now.’ To which I responded, ‘Oh, we didn’t have TV at Central Washington.’ ”

The stronger memories, he said, were from his relationships in the locker room or off the field.

“It was a lot of fun, certainly a dream come true,” he said of the NFL. “But more than anything it prepared me for this (teaching/coaching). To me, this is a greater dream than the NFL ever was.”

“That school up there will be enriched beyond their greatest expectations by Jon Kitna.”

– Steve Lineweaver, coach at Euless Trinity High, Euless, Texas

When Jon Kitna reached a low point of partying and trouble-making at CWU, Eric Boles was part of his lifestyle change and focus on religious conviction. Boles has been close to him through his path across the NFL.

“In almost every city he’s been in, Jon spent a lot of time out in the community, talking to kids; nobody knew about it and it was never in the papers because he was doing it solely because it was so important to him,” Boles said.

“Even during the (NFL) season, he would make time to talk to kids, and coach them on what it was to be a real man, to accept responsibility, to lead courageously.”

Two years ago, Kitna taught a leadership class at Grapevine Christian Academy in the Dallas area, where he also helped mentor a young quarterback with learning disabilities, who is now on a college scholarship.

“I’ve watched a lot of people with kids, and I’ve coached thousands of kids, so I know a good coach when I see one,” said Kris Hogan, Grapevine coach. “And (Kitna) definitely is one. The kids are drawn to him and want to be around him. That’s the sign of a good coach.”

Lineweaver, at the very successful Euless Trinity, had an interesting response when asked about doing a telephone interview about Kitna. “I hear the name Jon Kitna and a big smile comes over my face,” Lineweaver said.

“For a usually ego-driven profession like professional sports, where men have to guard their precious time, to have him volunteer to come to speak to our boys was just humbling to all of us.”

Kitna’s experience and ability to communicate will make him successful in the normal ways coaches are judged, Lineweaver said.

“But he goes way beyond that … he knows that the wins and losses are fleeting,” Lineweaver said. “He talked to our boys about making sure you’re climbing the right ladder, and growing into men of responsibility, of family and character. I believe his talks will have a lifelong influence on these boys.”

Kitna has been asked for thousands of autographs in his career, and when he signs for someone young, he always adds: “Dream Big.” He might now add: Dream Local.

“I’ve already lived one of the big dreams,” Kitna said. “But I think this one, now, is bigger. Think of it … if I can help graduate 30 seniors every year who have a vision that is bigger than this 20 square blocks, if I can impart some of myself in these young men … that can be huge. Really, that’s the fulfillment of things that are not quantifiable.”

Well, 30 each year, that could lead to a quantifiable mathematical progression, it was suggested.

“Yes, actually,” Kitna said in the tone of an educator. “Exponential growth.”

Dave Boling: 253-597-8440
dave.boling@thenewstribune.com