Late Friday afternoon in front of anxious family and close friends Christian Kirk sat stoic on a plush sofa before casually glancing down and answering the most important phone call of his life.
On the other end was Arizona Cardinals‘ General Manager Steve Keim relaying to the former Saguaro High and Texas A&M star that his hometown team was going to select him with their second round pick (47th overall).
After the brief conversation Kirk hung up the phone.
“I’m going to the Cardinals,” he announced moments before the room erupted into a deafening chorus of ovation and excitement.
Christian’s coming home!
Welcome to the squad, @ChristianDavon2! #CardsDraft pic.twitter.com/28zUYgNO0T
— Arizona Cardinals (@AZCardinals) April 28, 2018
Good things come to those who wait.
“The chip on my shoulder just grows even bigger,” Kirk said with a grin to Sports360AZ.com about not being selected in the first round. “[Thursday night] just made it grow even bigger and it’s not going to stop because I’m not going to stop until I prove I’m the best.”
Through his greatness on and off the field, Kirk remains grounded by the examples set at home by his parents, Melissa and Evan Kirk.
“My particular message, and he gets a lot of them between his dad and I,” Melissa explained to Sports360AZ.com. “Is just because you get to the top, it doesn’t mean your climb is over.”
It’s a similar sentiment shared by his father who has served as Christian’s mentor, both on and off the field. When Evan wasn’t coaching his son as a youth, he was overseeing him as Christian helped run the family auto detailing company.
Those life lessons have been paid forward and never forgotten.
“It’s all about leading by example,” Evan said to Sports360AZ.com. “I showed him that at a very young age. I wanted to do that because at those young ages is when children are very attentive.”
Attention to detail is one of Kirk’s greatest strength and a reason he’s never satisfied in his quest to master his craft.
Never the biggest, sometimes not even the fastest player on the field, the 5-foot-11, 200-pounder has always kept his focus in-check and his priorities straight.
“I just know who he is inside and out and how much this means to him,” close friend and former Texas A&M teammate Kyle Allen said to Sports360AZ.com. “The energy in that room when he got picked. It was unbelievable. He treats people the right way.”
We’re proud to call Christian Kirk one of Arizona’s finest.
Clearly the local NFL team feels the same way.
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Eric Sorenson
A Valley native, Eric has had a passion for the Arizona sports scene since an early age. He has covered some of the biggest events including Super Bowls, national championships and the NBA and MLB playoffs in his near 20 years in local media.