"Kurt Warner took a job stocking grocery store shelves in Iowa after his first rejection from the National Football League, just one of the stops on Warner's unorthodox path to stardom. There was no stint at a top college or selection in a high draft round. Instead, Warner wound through the backwaters of the Arena Football League and the now-defunct N.F.L. Europe.

But on Friday, when Warner retired after a dozen years in the N.F.L., he went out as a possible future Hall of Fame selection, having built an extraordinary career with one Super Bowl title and two league Most Valuable Player awards from an out-of-nowhere start and stunning resilience.

Warner walked away with a year remaining on a two-year, $23 million contract, and he displayed as much dignity during his exit as he did during the twists and turns of his playing years.

"Obviously, it's been 12 unbelievable years, some of the best years of my life," Warner said at a news conference in Glendale, Ariz. "But I want everybody to know that I'm just as excited about the next 12, that I'm excited about what lies in front of me. I'm excited about spending more time with my family, and seeing what God's going to do next."

The humble beginning to Warner's career - he did not start his first N.F.L. game until he was 28 - gave way to one in which, with surgical precision, he resurrected two also-ran franchises, carrying both to the Super Bowl while also becoming known as one of the league's most charitable players. Warner, his wife, Brenda, and their seven children routinelya family at a restaurant and anonymously pay their dinner tab, as a way to teach the children charity."