By SHELDON MICKLES
Written for the LSWA
Compared to some of his NFL peers, Joe Horn ran a decidedly different pass route to stardom.
After all, the many twists and turns that led Horn, a multi-sport high school star, to becoming one of the league’s premier wide receivers would have probably left even a Hollywood script writer a bit dizzy.
From his hometown of Fayetteville, North Carolina, to being selected in the fifth round of the 1996 NFL Draft by the Kansas City Chiefs, Horn’s long, winding journey was unique to say the least.
It was unconventional, unimaginable and — most of all – highly unlikely.
It was also largely unfulfilling until a 28-year-old Horn, who toiled in relative anonymity in his four seasons with the Chiefs, joined the New Orleans Saints as an unrestricted free agent on Feb. 13, 2000.
Prior to signing a four-year, $9.9 million contract with the Saints, one of Horn’s top highlights came when he and Chiefs teammates Derrick Thomas and Neil Smith performed the national anthem before a Monday Night Football game in a jam-packed Arrowhead Stadium.
Many more highlights were to come within the white lines after Horn’s pro career took off with the Saints, which eventually led him to induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2026.
Horn is part of a 12-member Class of 2026 going into the LSHOF to conclude three days of festivities Thursday, June 25-Saturday, June 27 in Natchitoches. For participation information, visit LaSportsHall.com or call 318-238-4255.
To be sure, his journey to fame was anything but easy.
For starters, the many obstacles Horn had to navigate before he could contribute and put together a productive seven-year stint with the Saints from 2000-06 would have made even the most talented players give up on the sport.
Academic difficulties in high school kept him from being recruited to a Division I program, which meant he wasn’t widely exposed to college and pro scouts. Financial considerations for his single mother and six siblings, and his wife and baby daughter also weighed heavily on the 6-foot-1, 207-pounder.
Yet, there was no stopping Horn even though he played just two seasons of high school ball, then two seasons at Itawamba (Miss.) Community College. After that, he was out of football for two years while working in a furniture factory and a Bojangles restaurant.
Then, his determination paid off in a huge way.
Years later, Horn told reporters how he was down to two or three dollars in his pocket, which he used to buy a Jerry Rice workout video from a Blockbuster store.
Studying and emulating the drills the future Pro Football Hall of Famer was doing led Horn to put together his own tape which he sent to multiple NFL and Canadian Football League teams.
“It sharpened up my mind and skills, and it helped me stay focused on my dream to play in the NFL,” Horn said of Rice’s video. “It helped me mold my career and stay on my path. It helped my life … it kept me out of the streets.”
The CFL, which expanded to the United States a year earlier, was first to spot Horn’s potential. He was with the Baltimore Stallions and Shreveport Pirates practice squads before getting a big break with the Memphis Mad Dogs in 1995.
Flashing deep speed and shiftiness all over the field, Horn piled up 71 catches for 1,415 yards with a long of 90, averaging 19.9 yards per reception on the way to earning CFL Southern All-Star honors.
But the CFL’s South of the Border experiment failed following that season because of financial woes and poor attendance, which meant players would have to head north to continue their careers.
The numbers Horn put up in Memphis and his homemade highlight tape caught the attention of NFL scouts, which got him workouts with several teams prior to the 1996 draft.
After Horn posted unimpressive 40-yard dash times of 4.5 to 4.6 seconds for a couple teams, Chiefs running backs coach Jimmy Raye was dispatched to Fayetteville to work out the unusual prospect.
Horn had been working on his speed with his high school track coach and clocked a swift 4.35 for Raye, then put down an eye-catching 4.31 – leading the Chiefs to take a fifth-round flier on Horn with the 135th overall pick.
It was vindication for Horn, who took a call from Chiefs coach Marty Schottenheimer that officially welcomed him to the NFL.
“I thought about everybody who ever doubted me, everybody who talked (expletive) about me, everybody who laughed at me,” Horn said, “everybody who didn’t give me an opportunity and a chance to make it.”
Because he lacked bigtime experience, Horn still had to wait and study the position while performing mostly on special teams his first three seasons.
“He struggled some with the learning curve, but he was a core special teams player,” Raye said. “He had the prerequisites to be a good position player, but we kept him (on teams) early on.”
Nicknamed “Hollywood” for his flashy threads in the locker room and swagger on the field, Horn was willing to do anything to stay in the league. So, in his third season in 1998, he switched to defensive back.
When a Chiefs wideout went down with an injury in a preseason game, however, Horn went in at wide receiver.
A catch on a go-route prompted Schottenheimer to give his receivers coach a directive: “‘Put Joe Horn at wide receiver, and don’t you change him,’” Horn recalled his head coach saying. “That’s when I knew I wasn’t going to be cut.”
A year later, Horn responded with 35 receptions, 586 yards and six TDs. But as an impending free agent, his bid for a big payday from the Chiefs never materialized.
Horn wound up in New Orleans as the second UFA signed by the new Saints regime led by general manager Randy Mueller and head coach Jim Haslett after they picked up veteran quarterback Jeff Blake.
It didn’t hurt that new offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy was the Chiefs quarterbacks coach during Horn’s first three years in Kansas City and knew the potential of the fiery wide receiver.
So did Mueller, who was the Seattle Seahawks vice president of football operations when his team faced Horn and the Chiefs twice a year.
Horn didn’t do much in his first three seasons against the Seahawks. But late in the 1999 season, he had a 76-yard TD – the longest gain of his 12-year NFL career — and had 92 yards on just three receptions with Mueller watching from the press box.
“Obviously, I knew him well from our past history,” Mueller said recently. “Joe was the Chiefs’ fourth or fifth receiver and didn’t play a ton. But every time our guys lined up against him, I would see our cornerbacks shuffle back a couple steps pre-snap.
“You don’t see that in the NFL very much, so our guys knew he could run. They were worried about him running by them.”
Mueller said the Saints needed the skills Horn possessed to rebuild a franchise that had suffered six consecutive losing seasons — capped by a 3-13 mark in 1999.
“We needed speed and playmaking, and the fact our (Seahawks) cornerbacks respected him that much as a backup receiver made me dive into the film even more,” Mueller said. “He just lacked opportunity. Once he got them, he was able to come through and be very productive.”
Haslett, an aggressive linebacker as a player with the Buffalo Bills, watched intently as a fearless Horn put his toughness on display early in his first Saints training camp.
“He’s got great speed and he doesn’t mind blocking,” Haslett said then. “He’s not afraid to go deep and he can catch the ball over the middle. But he likes to block and hit those safeties.”
When Horn’s career blossomed with 94 receptions for 1,340 yards and eight TDs, the Saints won 10 games and the NFC West title and shocked the reigning Super Bowl champion St. Louis Rams for the franchise’s first playoff victory.
Horn was just getting started. He continued to rack up big numbers, catching 80 or more passes and piling up at least 1,250 yards in four of his first five seasons in New Orleans — earning Pro Bowl berths in 2000, 2001, 2002 and 2004.
In that five-year span, he set numerous club records while averaging 87 catches, 1,257 yards and nine TDs in playing 79 of a possible 80 games.
Known for his crowd-pleasing touchdown celebrations, Horn had a memorable one when he pulled in the second of a career-high four scores in a 45-7 rout of the New York Giants on Dec. 14, 2003.
Upon reaching the end zone, Horn reached under the goalpost’s padding and retrieved a cell phone to keep a promise to his children.
“Since it was a Sunday night game, my kids couldn’t go,” Horn, who was fined $30,000 by the NFL for the stunt, said. “When I was leaving the house, they were yelling and crying, so I said, ‘I’ll call you.’ I had to say something because I had to go.”
Even though he was the 17th wideout chosen in a 1996 draft that produced future Hall of Famers Marvin Harrison and Terrell Owens and No. 1 overall pick Keyshawn Johnson, Horn turned out to be one of the most productive and dependable receivers of that year and his era.
By the time nagging injuries took a toll on Horn in his final two seasons with the Saints, he had a club-record 27 100-yard receiving games and was second in receptions (523), receiving yards (7,622) and TDs (50).
Given the numbers and what he meant to his team, Mueller could only chuckle when thinking how the Saints hitched their wagon to and gave millions of dollars to someone who had 53 catches in his first four NFL seasons.
“Well, it worked out,” Mueller said with a laugh. “I just think the traits he showed in the times he played against us in Seattle were what sold me on him. His background was unique and he was hungry.”
Horn’s four Pro Bowl bids, the most for a wide receiver in club history, endeared him to the fans as a physical competitor who played with an edge on every play. As a result, he’s revered as one of the three best UFAs in franchise history along with Drew Brees and Demario Davis.
“I tried to bring a swagger every day, every practice, every game,” Horn said of his NFL career. “I always wanted to bring an attitude and bring a swagger so when gameday came, I wanted to have fun.”
Yes, he did.
