As Kitna sits in his cart on the fairway of the par-5 16th, Puget Sound just a few hundred yards to the west and the Olympic Mountains looming beyond, he shakes his head at how busy his life has become.
“I never knew what busy was when I was in the NFL,” he says. “The NFL is the most normal sports job. It’s really a 9 to 5. My wife and I, when we were in college, we talked about how we really want to be in the NFL and all that. But our biggest dream was that we would teach and work in the same high school. And now we’re doing it. And it’s a lot harder than I ever thought it would be. But it’s a lot more rewarding than I ever thought it would be, too.”
If you were creating the perfect person to bring the message of leadership, responsibility and courage to kids in Tacoma’s roughest neighborhoods, you couldn’t do better than Kitna. In fact, he’s so well-suited for the job — a product of the same neighborhood, the same school and the same failed socio-economic system, who made the same mistakes before reclaiming his life and attaining the highest pinnacle of hero worship in America today, NFL quarterback, before giving up that lifestyle to return home and humble himself for the betterment of his community — that honestly, nobody would ever believe you could find such a perfect match.
“I’m a product of my dreams,” he says. “There were plenty of people who didn’t think the dream could happen, but I didn’t pay attention to them. I paid attention to the people who thought the dream could happen. Maybe it was naive, but I never gave up on the dream. So whatever opportunity I had, no matter how small, I looked at as a golden opportunity.”
In the days following the Dallas Cowboys’ season-saving 24-23 win over the Washington Redskins on Dec. 22, 2013, Kitna received one last opportunity from the NFL. Word began to spread that Cowboys’ quarterback Tony Romo, who had played through a back injury for much of the season, wouldn’t be able to suit up for the team’s Week 17 game against the Eagles — a game that would decide the NFC East title.
Kitna, hearing the news at home, sent a text to Cowboys coach Jason Garrett, saying, “Hey, if you need someone to come in for four or five games, I can make that happen.” Garrett texted back, “Are you serious?” To which Kitna replied, “I’m serious if you’re serious.”
The day after Christmas, Kitna signed a one-week contract with the Cowboys, flew to Dallas and spent the next three days brushing up on the Cowboys’ offense, reminding himself of the plays he had been running for Dallas just two years before. Come game day, Cowboys backup Kyle Orton made it through four quarters unscathed, and Kitna flew back home to Tacoma — with a $53,000 check for the Lincoln High School booster club.
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For many around the country, Kitna’s decision to donate his salary to the school was seen as particularly magnanimous. For Kitna, it was merely an extension of the way he has lived his life for the better part of the last 20 years — for others. In particular, for those who have helped him become the man he is today, and for the future men he may be able to influence with his words and actions.
“I was the ultimate reclamation project,” he says. “Christ redeemed me from this life of destruction, and I owe him my life. Tony Evans always said, ‘A blessing is never a blessing if it stops with you.’ We just feel like it’s what we’re called to do, what everyone is called to do.
“To live generously. To give back.”