1 week Ago By Matt Young | Houston Chronicle
HOUSTON — Warren Moon's legacy in Tennessee is complicated. He never played there, yet he's still considered a franchise legend. All of Moon's legendary moments came with the Houston Oilers before owner Bud Adams pulled up stakes and moved the team to Tennessee in 1997.
Still, the Titans have put several Oilers players in their Ring of Honor and have retired the jersey numbers of six players who only played for the franchise when it was in Houston, including Moon, Earl Campbell, Mike Munchak, Elvin Bethea and Jim Norton. So, when the Titans drafted Columbia High School product Cam Ward with the first overall pick of the NFL draft on Thursday night, there was some question whether Ward would be allowed to wear the No. 1 that he wore in his time at Washington State and Miami, since it's been retired in honor of Moon.
Moon put that talk to rest when he surprised Ward at his introductory press conference Friday in Nashville, and presented him with the Titans' No. 1 jersey. "I wore the No.
1 for a lot of different reasons and I wore it for a long time starting back in 1976 when I was in college. I think I wore it very honorably for the Houston Oilers organization to the point to where I created a Hall of Fame career for myself," Moon said at the podium after making the jersey handoff. "Now, I'm part of the Tennessee Titans family and my Houston Oilers jersey will probably never be worn again, I hope it won't, but the Tennessee Titans jersey is going to be worn by Cam and Cam will be starting a new, not regime here, but just a new freshness in this organization to kind of revitalize it and get it back to where it was a number of years ago, one of the more successful organizations in the league.
I'm excited to see what he's going to do with his legacy wearing this number and I'm proud of the things I did to establish my legacy in the time I wore that number." Ward said he called Moon "about a month ago" to ask him about the possibility of wearing the number when it became obvious the Titans were going to take him with the first overall pick. "I didn't know this was going on, but I knew this was going to happen," Ward said of the surprise.
"I'm excited that Mr. Moon was able to bless me with giving me this number, but to me, the number will never mean anything, it's all about the plays you make on the field. So, I'm ready for this opportunity with my teammates.
" Ward, who said he would have gone with No. 7 from his high school days if Moon hadn't given his blessing, will wear No. 1 with the Titans, but whether he'll ever actually wear that Oilers' No.
1 jersey actually is in question. For the past couple years, the Titans have worn Oilers throwback uniforms, including when the Houston Texans visited Nashville, but they announced they wouldn't be wearing them in 2025. If they ever bring them back, however, Ward would be wearing the identical jersey to what Moon wore in his 10 seasons in Houston.
Calvin Ward, Cam's father, even had a Columbia Blue No. 1 jersey on while sitting in the crowd watching his son's press conference. "Cam, I'm going to be watching your career.
I'm here for you," Moon said. "I'm going to help you as much as I can possibly do it whenever you need it. I wish you the best of luck.
You come from a great family, I think that's where a lot of it starts. I think you'll do well here.".
